'The meat just disappeared'

Scandal shows challenges in policing safety of restaurant food supplies

When inspectors visited Shanghai Husi Food Co earlier this summer, the production line at the plant now at the center of an international food scandal appeared in good order, with fresh meat being handled by properly attired workers and supervisors keeping a watchful eye over the process.

But if they had arrived unannounced a day before, they would have found piles of blue plastic bags filled with out-of-date meat stacked around the factory floor, a facility worker, said, adding that the old meat was often added back into the mix to boost production and cut costs.