OAK BROOK, ILL. — McDonald’s Corp. announced tougher food-safety procedures for its restaurants and suppliers in China in an effort to regain consumer confidence and boost customer traffic.
The chain has outlined plans to enhance food safety at its suppliers. The company said it would review surveillance footage from meat processing facilities in China and increase audits of its suppliers. A majority of the new audits will be unannounced, and audit teams will include third-party auditors and McDonald’s management teams.
Additionally, the company appointed Cindy Jiang as interim head of national food safety. Ms. Jiang will report directly to Don Thompson, chief executive officer of McDonald’s. Ms. Jiang currently is senior director of McDonald’s global food safety, quality and nutrition.
Other initiatives include anonymous hotlines to report unethical or noncompliant behavior.
McDonald’s has taken other steps to restore its business in China, which has been hurt by allegations of food safety lapses on the part of its suppliers. Comparable sales in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region decreased 7.3%, reflecting the impact of the food safety scandal. The affected markets, which include Japan, represent approximately 10% of global system-wide sales and negatively impacted the segment’s July comparable sales by more than 700 basis points.
“McDonald’s China also announced how it has, over the past six weeks, completed third-party audits on all its meat and produce suppliers to confirm safe assured supply to our restaurants,” the company said. “McDonald’s China has stopped sourcing from the HUSI Shanghai plant and it has suspended all sourcing from all other OSI plants in China. Its current network of meat suppliers have stepped up their capacity to supply to McDonald’s China and for all new suppliers, due diligence and qualification are being carried out before they can supply to McDonald’s.”
