

Kazuki Teshiba

for Expatree for Expatree

When almost all people are expecting and enjoying the 2013 New Year approaching, but someone have spent endless nightmares during this time. After “ Milk Scandal Incident ”, it’s then the turn for KFC China being pushed in front of public opinion.Indeed, health concerns have been one of the biggest concerns for expats living in China. Fortunately, it seems that food safety in China has improved recent years. However, Chinese Fast Food safety has been brought to question again at the last month of 2012. According to Reuters , the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) revealed that 8 out of the 19 butches of chicken samples supplied by Liuhe Group Co. for Yum Brands (a parent company of KFC, and Pizza Hut chains) in 2010-2011 were contaminated with some antibiotics. This was announced a few days after CCTV revealed that some of the chicken supplied to KFC in Shandong province was found to contain antibiotics and hormone drugs in order to grow the animal faster.Some of you might think this news sounds a little bit strange, because SFDA released the test result which was more than a year old from the farm that KFC no longer trades with. Although, there is no way that we can know why they released the result now rather than a year ago, the implication behind this can be assumed that the Government is now trying to emphasize the importance of food safety, as this has been a huge issue in China for a long time.Unlucky for KFC, after the test result was released, Chinese consumers seemed to react negatively against their food safety, which reflected on the share price of Yum Brands which fell approximately 4% at the close in New York Stock Exchange, due to the fact that 44% of their revenue came from China last year.Sadly, this was not the first time that food safety in China became a discussion. We found an article about KFC posted in August 2011, which says “KFC has not changed their frying oil as frequently as they should”, and “they keep selling their product which was dropped on the floor”. However, even though KFC had an issue with their food safety, somehow they still kept their reputation.The story seems far from over. Due to this big scandal, government started a hugeinvestigation into the fast food field. McDonald, Pizza Hut etc. famous fast food brands are in the suspect listing. Although McDonald manager made a clear statement that chicken in McDonald has no problem because the supplier who manages quality control process is totally different from KFC, however after the exam result were released, McDonald suddenly changed their mind and admitted one of the chicken supplier is the same as the KFC supplier. Like how one stone dropped in the river, everyone, even loyal followers are shock at this explosive news.Just a few hours ago, KFC president finally stood up and announced a letter of apology to the Chinese people on KFC’s official weibo. In this letter, KFC admitted to a lack of good quality control process, lack of internal communication with supplier and the delay of sending reports to official departments about product exam result etc, several major issues.Therefore, I am sure that they will get back on their own feet soon, but the Government still needs to investigate the food safety issues not only in KFC, McDonald, Pizza Hut these worldwide brands but also in other fast food chains and their suppliers.