China’s latest food safety scare is spreading fast, beyond just McDonald’s and KFC. Sareena Dayaram reports from Shanghai.

The food scandal has now expanded to global chain Starbucks, Burger King and Papa John’s over claims that a food supplier used expired meat.
To complicate matters for McDonald’s, the company says some of the chicken nuggets it sourced from the supplier in China ended up in McDonald’s Japan stores. The firm behind the country’s latest food scare is called Shanghai Husi Food Corporation. The parent company of Husi is U.S.-based OSI Group.

China’s food regulator said it ordered regional offices to undertake spot checks on all firms that have used Shanghai Husi’s products. Burger King said it would remove the supplier’s products from outlets, while Pizza chain Papa Johns announced on its Weibo account that it had already done so and cut ties with Shanghai Husi.

Food safety is a major issue in Asia’s top consumer market especially after tainted dairy products led to the deaths of six infants in 2008. Other food scandals in the dairy and meat industries have hit China in recent years, and many consumers turn to foreign brands to provide higher safety standards.

For more on this food scare and what it means for companies and consumers Matt Turlip, Senior Analyst at financial data firm PrivCo, shares his insight.