Fast food chain supplier stands trial over meat scandal

SHANGHAI - Ten defendants representing the Shanghai and Hebei branches of Husi Food Co., a former supplier to McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut, stood trial on charges of producing and selling shoddy products, a court in Shanghai said Wednesday after a two-day hearing.

On Sept. 30, the ten people as well as the two companies, were prosecuted in Shanghai's Jiading District.

The food scandal was first exposed after a local TV station reported in July of 2014 that Shanghai Husi had supplied products tainted with reprocessed, expired meat to a string of fast food chains and restaurants across China.

Six senior executives were arrested after the company was investigated, and the group has stopped all operations at Shanghai Husi.

Husi is a subsidiary of the U.S.-based global food processor OSI Group, which claimed in July the company had lost nearly 6 billion yuan (about 970 million U.S. dollars) following the scandal.