McDonald's sold expired food, Chinese TV says

An officer of Beijing Health Inspection talks to the media at a McDonald's restaurant at Sanlitun after the restaurant was accused of having sold expired food on March 15, 2012, in Beijing, China. / ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

(CBS/AP) BEIJING - Chinese state television has accused McDonald's and French retailer Carrefour of selling expired chicken products in separate incidents amid public anxiety in China over food safety.

McDonald's Corp. and Carrefour Inc. issued public apologies Friday and said they were investigating the report by China Central Television.

China is McDonald's third-biggest market, with over 1,400 stores throughout the country, according to Reuters.

The report Thursday said a McDonald's restaurant in Beijing sold chicken wings 90 minutes after they were cooked while the company's rules set a 30-minute limit. The McDonald's store in question was shuttered temporarily, Reuters reports. It said employees at a Carrefour store in the central city of Zhengzhou changed expiration dates on some chicken and sold regular chickens as more expensive free-range birds.

Food safety is a sensitive issue in China, which has been rocked by scandals ranging from deadly infant formula to chemical-laced pork and recycled restaurant oil.

"McDonald's China attaches great importance to this. We will immediately investigate this isolated incident, resolutely deal with it earnestly and take concrete actions to apologize to consumers," said a statement by the U.S.-based restaurant chain on its website.

Employees who answered the phone at McDonald's China headquarters in Shanghai said a spokeswoman was not available and declined to give any other details.

Carrefour, based in Paris, said it was setting up a team to investigate and would cooperate with Chinese authorities.

"We will further enhance the training and take measures to ensure to earnestly implement the relevant provisions to safeguard the interests of consumers," said a statement on the website of Carrefour's China unit.

Last year, U.S. retailer Walmart Stores Inc. was fined by authorities in the southwestern city and 13 stores were ordered to close for two weeks on charges of passing off regular pork as higher-priced organic meat.

[jtdev1]

This can't be true...

We all know that ALL McDonald's food never goes bad. Those dropped french fries in my car from last year are still in pristine condition.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Well, jeez! Everyone knows that expiration dates are notoriously inaccurate. Sometimes they need a correction ..... any old freezer pen is suitable (Dear ..... make a note. How about we try Wendys tonight?)

[credibility2]

The Chinese being concerned over food safety is hilarious. I guess it's OK for them to put toxins and poisons in much of what we get from them.

[Ruteger7000]

Who eats at McDonald's? If you have children, and take them there to eat, you should be charged with child abuse and sent to a concentration camp.

[Dukme]

Are you kidding me, 60 minutes after the chicken is cooked is not expired meat. How many of us leave food sitting after it's cooked? McDonald has set high standards for its food but this doesn't pose health risk to the consumers. If anything then blame and terminate the Chinese managers for not following McDonalds guidelines for its food. The Chinese culture leaves raw meat sitting for hours/days that poses more health risks than this complaint. The US should bring back its manufacturing to put China back to the stone age. Automation has become more advanced that human labor is no longer needed.

[chatmandu7451]

How about all those dead chickens you see hanging in the Chinese market places. Or the dead fish laying around without ice.

[tjcrew1]

Don't they understand that when you want to make money and increase profit--sometimes you do what you have to do.
Even if it is making a bad part, to guarantee repair, you do what you have to do.
It's not fair if the banks and oil companies are the only ones who get to screw us.

[Dgunner]

THE MORE MCDONALDS THEY EAT AND FEED THIER CHILDREN THE FASTER THEY WILL DIE FROM HEART DISEASE AND OBESITY.THEY WILL HAVE TO HURRY TO BEAT THE UNITED STATES . WE FEED OUR CHILDREN TO DEATH AND A WOMAN DIES EVRY EIGHT MINUTES FROM HEART DISEASE. A RECENT STUDU FROM THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE STATED THAT AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE NEXT DECADE WILL ACTUALLY START DROPPING DEAD IT WILL BECOME SO COMMON THAT NEWSPAPERS WILL QUIT CARRYING THE NUMBERS AS THE EPIDEMIC BECOMES OLD NEWS ON A DAILY BASIS.

[Herne42]

I eat leftovers...90 minutes cooked and under a heat lamp is perfectly safe....I think ANY fast food chain is a waste of resources and life....I'd take 90 minute old chicken any day over some of the "Fresh" food they serve on a regular basis that they consider "safe".

[forrestt56]

What about the Pink Slime? Is McDonalds serving it to the Chinese? Why do the serve it to anybody anyway? Why do the FDA and USDA allow it?

[MIO42]

So it's a little Green in spots " Suck it up, it's St Paddys day"