The latest Chinese food scare is sweeping up global chains Starbucks, Burger King and others as well as some outlets of McDonalds in Japan after Starbucks admitted on Tuesday that it previously distributed and sold some products from a controversial Chinese supplier.

Starbucks admitted it distributed and sold products supplied by Shanghai Husi Food Corp., a meat-processing company that was suspended by food authorities after a TV Program on Sunday broadcasted workers practicing poor food-processing quality and using expired meat.

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Starbucks further explained on a Chinese blog site that it was not directly connected to Husi Food Corp.

It said it was only involved because their "Chicken Apple Sauce Panini" products used meat contents from another supplier that had originally sourced meat from Husi.

McDonald's Corp and Yum Brands, the owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, faced the controversies earlier on Sunday.

However, they assured their customers that products from the Husi were already separated from their current supplies.

After McDonald's apology to its customers on Monday, the company had also confessed that meat from Husi Food Corp. was distributed to its outlets in Japan.

The meat was used in their McNuggets products.

Fast-food chain Burger King Worldwide Inc. stressed in a blog post on Weibo that it had taken out from its circulation all products supplied by the meat-processing firm.

Dicos, which ranks third on China's fast-food industry, said that all its ham products from Husi Food Corp. will be taken off the shelves.

The company will also launch its separate investigation to understand if the incident violated national regulations.

Ikea posted a statement on Weibo confirming Husi Food Corp as a former supplier until last September.

Domino's Pizza Inc and Doctor's Associate Inc claimed their branches in China did not source meat products from the supplier after online reports had claimed otherwise.

Meanwhile, Hop Hing Group Holdings Ltd., Family Mart Co Ltd., and Wallace told their customers not to worry because they did not use meat products from the supplier.

Tagschina food scandal, Mcdonalds, KFC, Starbucks, burger king