KFC's US potato flour stays out of China
Kentucky Fried Chicken because it failed to meet Chinese quality
standards.
According to Tricon, the restaurants chains group that owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, China has turned back shipments American potato flour supplied to Kentucky Fried Chicken because it failed to meet Chinese quality standards. Tony Chen, spokesperson for Tricon told Reuters that the Chinese State Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine labelled up to 40 tons of the US potato flour imported between February and May as "unqualified" and returned. All the imports were from Basic American Food, located in Idaho, which supplies KFC with mashed potato powder worldwide, he said. The potato flour was found to contain levels of a bleaching powder higher than China allows in food, state media said. But Chen said the problem arose because China was using its stringent standard for starches to inspect the mashed potato powder. "It is different governments adopting different standards and unless the Chinese government changes its regulations there is no way we could import them for China," said Chen. "We have to find another supplier. We are aggressively pursuing another supplier in China and globally," he said.
