McDonald's, Yum release supplier data after China food safety scare

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SAN FRANCISCO - FEBRUARY 09: A sign stands outside of a McDonald's restaurant February 9, 2009 in San Francisco, California. Fast food chain restaurant McDonald's reported a 7.1 percent increase in same store sales for January as people look towards cheaper food alternatives in the weakening economy. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Five fast food chains including McDonald's (MCD.N) and Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) have published details of their suppliers on their Chinese websites, following a request from Shanghai authorities after the latest food safety scare.

Shanghai's Municipal Food and Drug Administration said on Saturday that it had asked the two chains, along with Burger King (BKW.N), Dicos and Carl's Jr, to publish the usually closely-guarded information as part of efforts to strengthen oversight of food suppliers.

The five firms were among a range of companies that were supplied meat by Shanghai Husi Food, a unit of U.S.-based OSI Group LLC, which was alleged by a TV report to have improperly handled meat and used expired food. The Shanghai authority said the companies published the information on Aug. 9.

Details published on Yum's Chinese website showed it had 26 suppliers that provided it with products such as chicken pieces and shortening, while McDonald's issued supplier lists according to items such as beef patties and frozen chicken wings.

The scare is testing local consumers' loyalty to foreign fast-food brands. Yum said earlier this month that the scare had caused 'significant, negative' damage to sales at its KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants across the country while McDonalds on Friday reported its worst monthly performance in a decade.

Reuters