In China meat scandal, McDonald\\\'s Japan switches to Thai chicken

McDonald’s Corp has suspended sales of chicken nuggets and other items in Hong Kong after it said it imported products from Shanghai Husi Food, the US-owned Chinese company at the center of a food safety scare in China. McDonald's said it imported certain products from Shanghai Husi between July last year and June this year, although no food items from the Shanghai supplier remained in stock. In Japan, McDonald's Holdings Co (Japan) said on Friday it would halt all imports of chicken products from China and shift that business to Thailand, boosting purchases from existing suppliers McKey Foods Services (Thailand) Ltd, a unit of Keystone Foods, and Cargill Thailand. Last year, Thailand supplied 62 per cent of McDonald's Japan's chicken product imports, with China supplying the remainder. China is McDonald's third-biggest market as measured by the number of restaurants. The latest food safety scare in China has also ensnared KFC parent Yum Brands Inc, which has required all its KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants to seal up and stop using all meat materials supplied by the Husi factory. Food safety is one of the top issues for Chinese consumers after a scandal in 2008 where dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine led to the deaths of six infants and made many thousands sick, according to Reuters.