Chicken off McDonald's HK menu after food scandal

(AP)—McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong have taken chicken nuggets and chicken filet burgers off the menu after a mainland Chinese supplier was accused of selling expired meat.

The fast food chain said late Thursday that it "suspended relevant food ingredients" at Hong Kong outlets in light of the scandal surrounding Shanghai Husi Food Co.

Chinese authorities detained five Husi employees after a TV station reported last weekend that the company repackaged and sold meat past its use-by date. Investigators have seized hundreds of tons of material but haven't yet confirmed finding expired meat.

McDonald's in Hong Kong said it stopped using nuggets and thigh patties from a Husi factory in Hebei province, not the Shanghai factory at the center of the initial allegations against the company.

However, according to local media reports, the company said it also imported chicken and pork from the Shanghai factory on three occasions over the past year. Neither the fast food chain nor Husi could be reached for comment.

McDonald's is also halting the sale in Hong Kong of salad, lemon tea and corn because they used ingredients from another Husi factory in southern Guangzhou province.

The government of the semiautonomous Chinese territory said that imports of Husi products would be suspended as the investigation on the mainland continued and local food safety inspectors carried out their own tests.

McDonald's Corp. restaurants in mainland China had already withdrawn products made with Husi products. So have other chains including KFC and Pizza Hut, which are owned by Yum Brands Inc., pizza chain Papa John's International Inc., Starbucks Corp., Burger King Corp. and Taiwan sandwich chain Dicos.

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