[August 04, 2014]
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - McDonald's
Corp <MCD.N>, which has over 2,000 restaurants in China,
will restore its full menu in some Chinese cities this
week, a fortnight after a food safety scandal forced the
company to halt the sale of staples such as Big Macs and
Spicy McWings.
The world's biggest restaurant chain will resume full menus in
Beijing and Guangzhou this week, while menus in Shanghai will return
to normal this month, a company spokeswoman in China told Reuters on
Monday.
She said some other cities had also resumed full menus, but declined
to give more details.
McDonald's last month cut ties with Shanghai Husi Food, a unit of
U.S.-based OSI Group LLC, after a television report triggered
investigations into improper meat-handling procedures at Shanghai
Husi's factory. McDonald's decision led to meat shortages at many of
its restaurants in China.
The scandal highlights the challenges facing inspectors in China's
fast-growing and sprawling food industry. China is Yum Brands Inc's
<YUM.N> biggest market and McDonald's third-largest by outlets. The
resumption process is taking longer than expected, the McDonald's
spokeswoman said.
"We will go back to the origin of the food, where the food comes
from, so it will take a longer time and is not as easy as people may
think. We are doing a very stringent inspection to make sure the
food meets the government's requirement and McDonald's standards,"
she said.
In Hong Kong, McDonald's said it was now directly importing lettuce
and fresh onions from the United States and Taiwan, and items on its
menu such as Big Mac, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, McChicken and
Grilled Chicken Burger were restored on its menu on Monday.
Shanghai Husi was accused earlier this month by a television
documentary of mixing expired meat with fresh produce and forging
production dates. Shanghai regulators said the company had forged
the dates on smoked beef patties and then sold them after they
expired.
Chinese police have taken six executives of Shanghai Husi into
custody, state media reported on Sunday.
The food safety scare is testing local consumers' loyalty to foreign
fast-food chains. Yum, owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut chains, said
last month that the scandal had caused "significant negative" damage
to sales at its restaurants.
(Reporting by Donny Kwok in HONG KONG and Brenda Goh in SHANGHAI;
Editing by Ryan Woo)
