Big food brands tainted by scandal

The involved international fast food chain stores might have enjoyed quite high reputations, but that has much to do with the strict food safety practices in their home countries. Without strict supervision, they can also fall astray and break rules.

Guangzhou Daily, July 22

Chinese consumers in general are quite tolerant with producers; at the same time, we also have high expectations of international brands. However, the scandal over the expired meat has destroyed them all. The fact that KFC and McDonald's are trapped in scandals does not mean other brands are naturally free - the problem with Husi Food had been discovered with other meat suppliers, too. The whole food industry needs a thorough investigation.

Qianjiang Evening News, July 21

A dilemma has long existed in the food industry. Some large-sized enterprises, especially international chains, enjoy good records so the supervisors have tended to relax their monitoring of them. But being without supervision for too long they turn bad. Husi Food is such an enterprise and we hope the authorities can break that dilemma by strengthening their supervision.

Beijing Youth Daily, July 22

While it is shocking enough that a time-honored enterprise like Husi Food uses expired meat, worse is the fact that such materials enter the processing lines of McDonald's, KFC and other big brands without any hindrance. The international fast food brands have long boasted about their food safety supervision systems. Can they explain where these supervision systems are?

Southern Metropolis Daily, July 22

Several years ago, the country's prosecutors pointed out that corruption of supervisors is one of the essential causes of food safety problems. Facing the food safety scandal today, it is time to investigate whether there is corruption in the food safety administrations.

Modern Express, July 22

After similar scandals in the past, the government has paid more attention to food safety supervision by granting responsible departments more power, but the latest incidents show this has been far from sufficient. To improve its food safety supervision system, China needs to give up the old concept of "closed-door supervision" and establish a comprehensive net that relies on multiple social resources. Only with the public and the media freely supervising food producers will safety be ensured.

rednet.cn, July 22