McDonald's was exposed to tampering with the expiration date of ingredients, food safety was questioned again, and consumer trust was in jeopardy.
Less than two months have passed since 315, and the matter of "giving food a life" has happened again, this time it is McDonald's turn.
According to the Beijing News, recently, the reporter went undercover for McDonald's Zhengzhou Excellent Agricultural Federation Restaurant and McDonald's Jinan University Restaurant, and found that both restaurants had problems such as tampering with food shelf life labels, using expired ingredients, selling food after the expiration date, and cutting corners. McDonald's Zhengzhou Excellent Agricultural Union Restaurant also has the situation that the quality of fried oil exceeds the standard.
In response to the situation that "McDonald's replaces the label of expired ingredients to continue their lives", McDonald's headquarters has not publicly responded, and a person in charge of McDonald's China's public relations department responded to the media that "we are still in the process of confirming and verifying"; Some media called the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau to which the store involved belonged, and the relevant staff all said that "they have gone to the store involved to investigate and collect evidence".
On the Meituan platform, the reporter of "Consumer Reports" found that the two restaurants involved were still in a normal state of business, and the reporter called the McDonald's Jinan University restaurant, and the phone was connected by intelligent customer service, and the manual service was not contacted; The staff of McDonald's Zhengzhou Excellent Agricultural Federation Restaurant said that it was inconvenient to respond, and asked the reporter to leave contact information and inform that relevant colleagues would contact the reporter, but did not receive a reply before press time.
In addition, Consumer Reports asked McDonald's China for confirmation of the store's "changing the label of expired ingredients to extend its life", but has not received a reply as of press time.
Is "renewing the life of expired ingredients" a routine operation or a "riotous" operation of individual stores?
According to a staff member of a McDonald's store in Guangzhou, "This is an illegal operation, and the store (itself) is not allowed." ”
In fact, in order to ensure the credibility and long-term development of the brand, chain catering brands have standardized expiration date regulations for all ingredients, such as requiring the expiration date label on raw ingredients and semi-finished products. The expiration date label contains the name of the ingredient, the producer, the production time, the expiration or best time, and the storage method, which is convenient for the store staff to judge the use time limit of the ingredient on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can strengthen the management of the expiration date of the ingredient by the company's inspectors to avoid food safety problems. For the expiration date of the ingredients, it is usually required that they must be poured out or thrown away if they are not used up on the same day.
However, in the face of the "loss problem", some stores will feel that "it is a pity to throw it away", so they choose to "tamper with the shelf life label of ingredients" to reduce costs.
The issue of the shelf life of ingredients has always been the "Achilles heel" of the catering industry.
In February this year, a chain milk tea brand was exposed to the problem of stores frequently tampering with the expiration date labels of ingredients and using ingredients that should be "discarded". The Nanjing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation conducted an on-site inspection and ordered the shops involved to rectify.
In March, the Blue Frog Restaurant was also exposed to problems such as black and rotten fruits used in salads, vegetables that have exceeded their expiration dates are still used, and the expiration date labels of ingredients are changed at will. After these problems were exposed, Blue Frog Restaurant immediately issued an apology statement, but public opinion is still fermenting.
Modifying the shelf life of ingredients is not the first time for McDonald's.
As early as 2012, CCTV's "3.15" party named a McDonald's restaurant for illegal operations such as refurbishment and resale of expired food; In October 2021, McDonald's was exposed to a McDonald's restaurant in Hefei, Anhui Province, and found that the restaurant had problems such as blackened lettuce and still in use, and replacing expired ingredient labels; In March 2022, an employee at a McDonald's store in Nanjing reported that the meat ingredients in the store were still served to customers after they had expired.
As one of the world's most successful fast-food chains, McDonald's has become a brand known to consumers around the world with its iconic golden arches and brand slogan "I love it". Since entering the Chinese market in 1990, McDonald's has adhered to this philosophy and has been sought after for providing customers with delicious, safe and high-quality food.
Today, McDonald's has more than 38,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and regions, serving hundreds of millions of customers every day. By the end of 2023, McDonald's had 5,903 stores in China. According to McDonald's official disclosure, McDonald's China is moving towards the goal of exceeding 10,000 restaurants by 2028.
However, McDonald's, which has been soaring all the way, is frequently touching the red line of food safety. Every "overturn" is a heavy hammer for the brand, which is not only smashed by the golden signboard that has been in business for many years, but also by the trust of consumers.