Ten people who have been tied to a 2014 Chinese food safety scandal have been charged in court for their alleged involvement in the case.
According to an Industry Week report, the suspects have been charged by a Chinese court “on suspicions of producing, selling inferior products.”
The charges stem from an incident brought to light in July 2014, where employees of Husi Food Co., owned by the U.S.-based OSI Group, allegedly repackaged outdated chicken and beef, then allegedly sold the expired products with false labels to restaurant chains in China and Japan, including McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and Dico’s.
In a statement on its website, OSI Group said it would address the charges according to legal procedures, and “We have confidence in China’s legal system and believe that the judicial authority will come to a fair and reasonable judgment with full respect to the facts and laws.”
OSI Group has publicly apologized for the scandal. Sheldon Lavin, chairman, CEO and owner of OSI Group stated in 2014: “On behalf of Husi and OSI, I sincerely apologize to all of our customers in China. We will bear the responsibility of these missteps and will make sure that they never happen again. That is my personal commitment and that of our organization.”
Since the scandal took place, OSI Group made substantial changes to the organizational and management structures for its China operations. The company also closed the plant under investigation and removed Husi products from the marketplace.
