No leniency on food crimes
SHOULD HUSI FOOD BE CONFIRMED TO HAVE supplied unsafe beef and chicken to McDonald's, KFC and other food chains, whether it eventually receives the penalty it deserves will matter a great deal to food safety control in China. The scandal will also make a difference to the amending of the Food Safety Law, which is being reviewed by lawmakers of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
An investigation by journalists found the US-funded food supplier, a unit of Illinois-based OSI Group, used beef and chicken up to seven months past the expiration date in the meat products it supplied to outlets of multinational chains. When inspectors came to check, they would put away the problematic meat.
What Husi seems to have done is no different from what the Virginia-based Peanut Corp of America did, which resulted in its being forced out of business after it was found to be the cause of a salmonella outbreak in 2009 that killed nine people and sickened hundreds in the United States.
