Carrefour ordered to close store

Authorities in Central China have ordered European retail giant Carrefour to temporarily close one of its stores, a local government official said on Monday, days after State media reported the chain was passing off regular chicken as free-range meat.

The closure is the latest case of foreign companies' brand image getting suffered and comes after food safety authorities said last week they were investigating a Beijing branch of McDonald's Corp, the world's biggest hamburger chain, after reports of quality problems there.

State media had reported that the Carrefour store in Zhengzhou, capital city of Henan Province, had been selling meat past its expiring dates and mislabeled ordinary chicken as free-range chicken.

"According to the law on protection of consumer rights and interests, our office on March 18 issued an order for Carrefour's Huayuan branch to cease and reorganize operations," an official at the local industry and commerce department said.

"After reorganization is completed to meet standards, it can resume operation," the unnamed official said, without giving further details.

Carrefour China earlier had posted an apology for the incident on its website, saying the company was taking immediate measures to resolve the food safety issues.

The French supermarket operator, along with the US retailer Wal-Mart, were found to have engaged in pricing fraud, including fabricating the purported original prices and overcharging shoppers, in Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenyang, among other places, early last year.