Beijing (AFP)
American fast food giant Burger King has offered its "sincere apologies" to China after a public television report pinning two restaurants in the country for using outdated ingredients.
In a popular program broadcast by CCTV on Thursday, an employee of a Burger King in Nanchang (center) is seen replacing the labels on packages of expired bread.
In another restaurant in the city, an employee falsifies the expiration date of the chicken.
Burger King said it "took the incident seriously" and closed the restaurants for inspection, in a statement released Thursday.
"Our mistake betrayed consumer confidence in Burger King and we sincerely apologize," added the fast food brand.
The subject aroused many reactions on Chinese social media on Friday, in a country regularly hit by food scandals.
"I am really disappointed. I will never eat at the Burger King again," wrote a user on the Weibo platform.
These restaurants "should be closed for good," railed another.
Burger King, which has more than a thousand restaurants in China, employs some 25,000 people in the country.
In 2014, the Chinese authorities had closed a factory suspected of having sold expired meat to large catering companies including McDonald's, KFC or Pizza Hut (Yum group).
China is regularly confronted with food scandals, ranging from recycled cooking oils to eggs tinged with harmful dyes. The melamine-contaminated milk scandal killed six children in 2008.
© 2020 AFP