Reports of scandalous activity in several parts of Asia among some of the world’s most famous restaurant chains have made various international headlines. Common restaurants including but not limited to McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, and Papa John’s have been “accused of selling expired beef and chicken” through their supplier Husi Food Co. in Shanghai, China. The shocking news is that this controversial incident was originally discovered when video evidence of “workers handling food with their bare hands” scattered across the internet. They were spotted to have been picking up meat that has touched the floor and placing them back to their respective machines in order to continue the processing procedure. To make matters even worse, it has been witnessed that workers have been repeatedly repackaging their meat and altering the expiration date tags.

My personal insight leads me to believe that this unethical activity allows the common day-to-day consumers to be hesitant to purchase their meals from these restaurants. I assume it is no surprise that the amount of customers eating at these locations has decreased drastically and has left a permanent strain on the companies. After all, we know that news travels rapidly in modern day society.

R. Edward Freeman stresses that a company’s success depends on the “value for customers, suppliers, [and] employees.” With another disastrous occurrence that may potentially severely affect the health and well-being of individuals in society, I suggest that food corporations, especially those who represent a strong brand name must be more meticulous when deciding who their suppliers are and who they are aligning their brand with.

I conclude that the most frightening point is that often times, buyers are completely oblivious as to what they are consuming.

Isn’t that sketchy?

Works cited:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/29/world/asia/explainer-china-meat-scandal/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/china-tainted-meat-scandal-widens-to-burger-king-starbucks-1.2714333

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/china-meat-scandal-spreads-starbucks-burger-king-n162286