U.S. Meat Producer Linked to Reported China Meat Scandal

Jul 21, 2014

China has closed down a factory of a U.S. food provider, Illinois-based meat producer, OSI Group, for selling expired meat to restaurant giants including: McDonalds’s, KFC and Pizza Hut outlets.

The allegations of the reported meat scandal were first reported on Shanghai television, which said that workers at the OSI China plant took old meat and mixed it with fresh products, knowingly fooling plant inspectors from McDonald’s.

Chinese officials put a stop to factory operations on Monday and seized the expired meat products, according to a release from the Shanghai food and drug administration.

The statement says that police are investigating the incident and noted that there could be “severe punishment” in the future.

One of the food chains at the centre of the expired meat case, McDonald’s, said in a release that it had “immediately” stopped buying the plant’s meat products until an investigation into the incident had been conducted. In separate statements, KFC and Pizza Hut said they have also halted meat purchases from the processor in question.

China has been in hot water in the past with a series of food and tainted food issues, often due to poor oversight and enforcement of food safety regulations. Perhaps most notably was in 2008 when melamine, an industrial chemical, was found in dairy products - killing half a dozen babies and causing 300,000 others to fall ill.

Earlier this year, U.S.-based Walmart said it would tighten inspections of its suppliers in China after its donkey meat products had been found to contain traces of fox.

Video: New colours and more durability for Case IH RB6 round balers

Farmers will see a new look and more efficiency and durability from Case IH's RB6 Series variable chamber round balers for model year 2026. In this report from the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, Case livestock product specialist Brian Williams notes that the first thing farmers will notice is a new colour scheme. "For the tailgate, the frame, and also the pickup, we've changed to our Case IH red colour. One of the really nice things about changing that colour scheme is that you're able to see that crop flowing into the baler much better from the tractor." There's also changes to the pickup with the addition of a second roller. "On the 566 model, you can get it with the double windrower roller," says Williams. "For our customers that are baling corn stalks or large windrows, it helps to push that windrow down to let that feed into the chamber, so that they're able to bale a little bit faster, because everyone's looking for better efficiency." There are also modifications to the rollers in the bale chamber — the stripper roll and the fixed roll have been combined into a one-piece roller. "There's no welds on those rollers, so the dependability is going to be far greater than our previous model," adds Williams.