Police in China detained five employees of Husi Food Co. on Wednesday after an official said the firm organized an illegal activity involving the sale of expired meat to McDonald's, KFC, and other food chains.

China's food safety agency announced the illegal activity via its website but it did give additional details. Gu Zhenghua, the agency's deputy director in Shanghai, said the activity was "organized" by Husi, according to a Xinhua News report cited by the Associated Press.

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The five detainees include the quality manager of Husi, based on a microblog post by the Shanghai police department. The short statement did not reveal the identities of the employees or the charges filed against them.

The expired meat scandal alarmed Chinese restaurant customers and affected the operations of restaurant chains. The news broke out on Sunday when Chinese broadcaster Dragon TV gave a report about Husi repackaging old chicken and beef, putting new expiration dates on the packages, and selling them to McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut outlets.

Zhang Hui, Husi's quality department manager, told investigators that the meat production was approved by the firm's senior managers. The illegal activity went on for several years, Xinhua said.

Since the food scandal erupted, McDonald's Corp., Papa John's International Inc., Burger King Corp, Taiwanese-owned sandwich chain Dicos, Starbucks Corp., KFC owner Yum Brands Inc., and other restaurant operators removed Husi meat products from their stocks. The food scare also reached Japan where Husi supplied 20 percent of McDonald's chicken nugget meat.

Product safety is a sensitive issue in China especially after babies, hospital patients, and other consumers died or got sick from drinking contaminated milk powder and other products in the past decade. In a statement issued earlier this week, Husi said this was an "isolated event" and vowed to cooperate with the on-going investigation.

On Wednesday, the State Food and Drug Administration released a statement saying investigators confiscated from Husi 160 tons of raw ingredients and 1,100 tons of finished products. It added that it would also investigate Husi's factories in Shanghai and five other locations.

Tagschina food scandal, China expired meat, Husi Food Co, Mcdonalds, KFC