6 senior executives detained amid food investigation fallout

Six senior executives of Shanghai Husi Food have been detained over a scandal in which expired meat was sold to fast food chains and restaurants, Shanghai police said on Sunday.

The six executives were deemed responsible for the food scandal, Bai Shaokang, vice mayor of Shanghai and director with local bureau of public security, said during an interview with a local radio station, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Bai said that the municipal government will undoubtedly take tough measures against those companies violating food and drug security policies and take a zero-tolerance stance toward them.

Shanghai police detained five people from Husi on July 23 for investigation, two days after the scandal was exposed by Shanghai media.

But Shanghai police did not reveal the personal information of the five people or the six senior executives.

The OSI Group, the parent company of Shanghai Husi Food, issued a statement on July 26 announcing it would withdraw all products of its Chinese subsidiary from the marketplace and apologized. The Group held a press conference on July 28 where it announced it would restructure and incorporate its Chinese operation team into the international management team.

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration admonished OSI's general manager for the Asia-Pacific region Brent Afman and other heads in charge of the investment operation in China on Wednesday for a second time, and told the OSI Group to cooperate with the authorities and the police to conduct an extensive investigation.

Yum! China, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, announced on July 23 that it has stopped all purchases from OSI's China branches.

McDonald's also halted cooperation with all OSI's China branches on July 25.

The rice-based menu and 13 kinds of hamburgers were unavailable in most Beijing McDonald's outlets last month, but they have resumed sales of some kinds of burgers since the beginning of August, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Sunday.