CCTV: Burger King restaurants used expired ingredients

Ti Gong

Ti Gong

Ti Gong

Burger King was exposed of fabricating expiry dates of ingredients during China Central Television's annual “3.15” quality investigation program which is broadcast every March 15 — World Consumer Rights Day and was delayed by the coronavirus outbreak this year.

At an outlet of Burger King at the Rainbow shopping mall of Honggutan District in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province, workers were found stuffing one piece of tomato when making a beef hamburger instead of two according to the standard of the fast food chain, and used two pieces of cheese instead of three when making a triple cheeseburger, CCTV reported.

"Our boss is stingy," a worker said in the report.

In addition to short weight, the outlet's food preservation had serious problems, CCTV said.

To ensure food temperature and safety, cooked foods ready for use were placed inside storage cupboards at the restaurant. Twinkling red light signified that the foods had already expired, CCTV reported.

"The foods should be dropped (when the red light is twinkling)," a worker said in the program.

However, the worker pressed the red light to green when chicken nuggets were inside the cupboards, and when the red light flickered again after half an hour, he pressed it again to green to make the foods "fresh", the program exposed.

The chicken nuggets were then sold to consumers as "fresh" ones, the program showed.

"I don't drop them, but press lights to make them seem fresh," the worker claimed in the program.

The "trick" is played every day at the restaurant, CCTV exposed.

The bread used by the outlet was supplied from outside and their packages showed that the bread should be thawed under normal temperature and be consumed within 48 hours.

However, workers of the restaurant were shown replacing original tags displaying the thawing time and time that the bread should be disposed with new ones on 70 breads, extending their expiry date by one day.

The manager of the restaurant ordered employees to change the date as shown in the program.

"Sometimes, we made wrong prediction on the sales and the breads were not sold out, thus we extend their expiry dates," the manager admitted in the program.

The fabrication of expiry dates even happened in summer as exposed by the program.

"In summer, oxidation led to mould, causing diarrhea," the manager said in the program.

The fabrication also happened at the Wangfujing Mall of Burger King in Nanchang, and expired chicken steak also had date changed there, CCTV exposed.

Workers at the Tongluowan mall outlet of Burger King had been used to the fabrication to extend expiry date by one day on bread, according to the program.

Some comments on Nanchang's food delivery platforms revealed that the food ingredients of Burger King were not fresh, and a few suffered diarrhea as a result, CCTV exposed in the program. 

Shanghai's market watchdog, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation, said investigation has been launched into restaurants of Burger King China across the city on Thursday night.

Officials in Putuo District said they inspected seven outlets of the fast food chain in the district following the exposure with the tags of food and procurement and sales record particularly targeted.

No irregularity was found so far. 

The administration said it would host a meeting with Burger King China registered in Xuhui District over the incident on Friday. 

Burger King China said its outlets exposed in China Central Television's annual “3.15” quality investigation program had been suspended operation and investigated in a statement released following the program.

In the program, three restaurants of Burger King in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province,  were exposed of fabricating expiry dates of ingredients.

They are of the same franchisee and their acts were against the principle of Burger King, the statement says.

Burger King China apologized in the statement, and said it would cooperate with authorities over investigation.