New scandal for McDonald's
McDonald's in Japan could be hit by a scandal involving one of its meat suppliers, Starzen, food industry analysts have warned.
Starzen has admitted that it deliberately mislabelled 4.5 tonnes of beef and 18.6 tonnes of pork between April 2000 and January this year.
It passed off its products as high quality "prime" meat when in fact its deliveries contained meat that cost as little as one-third the price.
It is another blow for the fast-food chain, which late last year saw its sales plummet in the wake of a "mad cow" disease scare concerning domestically produced beef.