A major chicken supplier in Central China has been suspected of selling sick birds to popular food chains including KFC, in the latest crisis to hit the country’s poultry industry. Food authorities in China’s Henan Province recently ordered an investigation into a poultry company that reportedly bought sick and dead chicken from farms, then resold the sick ones to fast food restaurants such as KFC and McDonald’s.  Chinese state TV reports that chickens served at KFC and McDonald’s restaurants in China have been fed illegal, toxic drugs and kept under constant lights to make them grow faster, and thereby provide more profits for their unscrupulous producers. These chickens have a high death rate because of the side-effect of the medicine.

Chinese law requires that chickens that die in the feeding process should be burned and buried on location and must not be transported to other farms or factories. Sick chickens that cannot be cured as regulated should be killed and disposed of the same way. However, many chicken farms don’t have facilities for non-hazardous treatment.

When I saw this news, I was really surprised and shocked. While the company is using dead chicken to make the chicken burgers and chicken wings maybe in an attempt to lower their cost, they ignored the severe consequences  of unhealthy chicken, which may cause several disease. A business owner should viewing customers with a lifetime value perspective, rather than on a transaction-by-transaction basis. While lying to the consumers might be able to bring greater profits at first, once the consumers find out the truth, the business will lose these loyal customers and lose the good will in the market. Being ethical when market or sell the products is essential for businesses not only because it protects the consumers, but also because it allows the business itself to build a trusting and  long term relationship with its target consumers.