Latest food scare: Shandong KFC supplier found 'using toxic chicken feed'

20 Dec 2012

Shanghai's municipal food safety administration said Wednesday it is testing samples of raw chicken from a KFC supplier over public concerns about excessive amounts of antibiotics. The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration (Shanghai FDA) said the test results will be released Thursday at the earliest. China Central Television reported earlier this week that some poultry farmers in east China's Shandong Province have given their chickens excessive amounts of antibiotics, including amantadine and ribavirin, to help them survive in overcrowded chicken houses.

KFC on Tuesday said it stopped buying raw chicken from Shandong Liuhe Group in August. The company said it uses its own criteria to test raw chicken supplies for drug residue and it checks its suppliers' feed and drug records annually. 

China's regulations on raising poultry state that chickens may not be given drugs within one week of being slaughtered.  However, poultry farmers in Shandong told reporters that without antibiotics, their chickens could die within two days in overcrowded chicken houses. 

Late on Wednesday, the animal husbandry and veterinary bureau of Shandong Province issued the findings of four investigation teams dispatched by the bureau to the cities of Qingdao, Weifang, Linyi and Zaozhuang on Tuesday. Several chicken farms, including a farm belonging to Yingtai Co., had been under investigation, according to the bureau.  Relevant people responsible for these farms have been detained by police or are under further investigation, it said. Two slaughterhouses of Shandong Liuhe Group and Yingtai Co. have been ordered to halt production, and all the raw chicken products in the slaughterhouses have been sealed until samples can be tested, according to the bureau.  The bureau also said Wednesday that it will launch supervision over the usage of veterinary medicine across the province.

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