McDonald's: Price changes had no dye link By Wu Chong, Zheng Caixiong (China Daily) Updated: 2005-02-28 07:58
McDonald's China denied its latest price adjustments on Wednesday are related
to Sudan I, the carcinogenic food dye found in some of McDonald's products in
the United Kingdom earlier this month.
The famous fast food brand reduced prices for several products sold on the
Chinese mainland including its chicken fillet burger and cheese quarterpounder
by an average 24 per cent beginning February 23. That was two days after the UK
food quality control watchdog recalled some of McDonald's products.
In the meantime, some of the gargantuan fast food provider's product prices
have actually increased a tad.
It was on the same day when McDonald's China adopted new prices that the
nation's General Administration of Quality Supervi-sion, Inspection and
Quarantine division, launched a nationwide campaign to inspect suspicious foods
that may contain Sudan I. It said it would ban items that include the dye.
"The decision to adjust some prices was made after a painstaking market
survey and aims to better cater to our customers," said Chen Yun, manager of the
McDonald's Chang'an outlet in Beijing.
Of the four sauces used by McDonald's which were reported in the UK to
possibly contain Sudan I, mustard is the only also sold on the Chinese mainland,
said the company.
Responding to some reports that McDonald's outlets in Guangdong have ceased
selling the firm's mustard, an executive from Guangdong Sanyuan McDonald's Co
Ltd yesterday said the report is false.
All the mustard in Guangdong's McDonald outlets was produced on the Chinese
mainland and contains no carcinogenic dye, said the executive who declined to be
named. None of the sauces and other products that are being sold in Guangdong's
McDonald's outlets are imported from the United Kingdom and European Union where
the dye has been found.
He believed the dye will do little to harm the business of the McDonald's
outlets in the province that borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative
regions.
