Eateries spurn 'instant chicken'
Yonghe King has stopped using chicken from the Shandong Liuhe Group, supplier of the "instant chicke…Yonghe King has stopped using chicken from the Shandong Liuhe Group, supplier of the "instant chicken" exposed in a TV report.
The move follows publication of a list by Beijing authorities showing that 23 restaurants and food companies in the capital had bought chicken from Liuhe.
Yonghe King, founded in Shanghai in 1995, was on the list. An official surnamed Yang told the Shanghai Morning Post that the company had purchased chicken wings from Liuhe but no longer used them in its dishes.
Yang said Yonghe King restaurants used chickens reared in Anhui Province and there was no connection with Liuhe. Chicken dishes were still on the menu and the company had not received any orders from supervisors to seal the products, Yang said.
Another Yonghe King official surnamed Xue told the newspaper that the chicken wings they purchased from Liuhe made up a very small part of the restaurants' menu.
The company had not tested the raw chicken, but it received third-party test results from Liuhe every year and all reports had shown the chicken met the country's standards, Xue said.
Another fast food restaurant on the list - Beijing Yoshinoya Co - said on its website that it had resumed sales of its chicken dishes as official test results had shown no problems with the chicken purchased from Liuhe.
Its chicken dishes had been withdrawn from sale last Friday, according to reports.
The company said the dishes they are now selling do not contain chicken from Liuhe.
An official surnamed Xu with Yoshinoya Co's Shanghai operation told the Shanghai Evening News yesterday that the company had never purchased chickens from Liuhe but from China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation in recent years.
Last week, China Central Television reported that some poultry farmers in Shandong Province had given their chickens excessive amounts of antibiotics to help them survive in overcrowded conditions and encourage rapid growth. Its program about "instant chicken" triggered concerns about food safety.
Bi Meijia, a Ministry of Agriculture spokesman, told reporters yesterday that chicken farms and manufacturers involved in the scandal had been shut down and the ministry was investigating other chicken farms. Bi said the ministry would strengthen supervision over the entire farming industry and strictly punish chicken farmers or companies found abusing antibiotics or veterinary drugs, according to the People's Daily website.
The ministry has sent experts to Shandong and ordered local authorities to investigate, he said.
"In the following steps, we will enhance supervision over the entire poultry raising industry, raise the quality of the industry and scale up the crackdown on those who feed animals excessive amounts of antibiotics and veterinary drugs," he said.
Foreign fast food chains such as Yum Brands' KFC had become embroiled in the scandal.
Last Friday, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said the level of antibiotics found in KFC chicken samples was fine, but it found a suspicious level of an antiviral drug in samples.
The watchdog has asked KFC to recall the tainted products and launch inspections throughout its outlets in the city.