China suspends KFC's meat supplier
Recent food scares have led to fluctuating sales for KFC in China
Chinese branches of fast food chains, including McDonald's and KFC, have stopped using meat from a supplier in Shanghai following allegations it sold them out of date meat.
According to Xinhua, the state-owned news agency, authorities in Shanghai have ordered the suspension of operations at Shanghai Husi Food Co.
Reports by local media said that Husi had re-processed expired meat products.
McDonald's and KFC said they had stopped using meat from Husi.
In a statement posted on its website, translated from Mandarin, the Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration said it had "decided to investigate claims of the alleged use of expired raw food material production and the processing of it in food".
Shanghai Husi is the Chinese unit of US-based food supplier OSI Group.
According to OSI's website, the company's unit in China "started to provide high-quality products to McDonald's China" in 1992.
The unit began supplying Yum China in 2008. Yum China manages the KFC and Pizza Hut chains and its sales have been hit by recent health scares.
Yum's sales dipped after a report in 2012 said two of its suppliers were providing chickens with excessive levels of antibiotics.
Just as the firm was recovering from those allegations, fears of an outbreak of bird flu in the country dented its sales.
Practices 'unacceptable'
Benjamin Cavender from consultancy China Market Research Group, based in Shanghai said: "Yum has just started rebuilding credibility and had some decent sales which just came out for the second quarter.
"I think this is really going to set them back."
According to figures from research firm Euromonitor, McDonald's and Yum are the two leading fast food chains in China, based on sales.
Speaking to Reuters a spokesperson for McDonald's in China said: "If proven, the practices outlined in the reports are completely unacceptable to McDonald's anywhere in the world"

Ukraine rebels hand over black boxes
Rebel: "It is peaceful people who are dying"
Rebels in eastern Ukraine have handed over two flight-data recorders from the downed MH17 plane to Malaysian experts.
A senior rebel leader signed them over to the Malaysian officials at a meeting in the city of Donetsk.
The handover came hours after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to demand immediate international access to the crash site.
The Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crashed last Thursday, killing all 298 people on board.
Western nations say there is growing evidence that flight MH17 was hit by a Russian-supplied missile fired by rebels.
'In good condition'
Experts say the "black boxes" will reveal the exact time of the incident and the altitude and exact position of the aircraft.
They should also contain the cockpit voice recorder, which it is hoped will provide clues as to what the cause of the crash was.
The head of the Malaysian delegation told reporters that the recorders were "in good condition".
A freight train carrying the remains of 282 passengers is expected to arrive in Donetsk on Tuesday
A newly released satellite image shows the crash site in the middle of Grabove in eastern Ukraine
Earlier, the pro-Russian rebels allowed a freight train carrying the bodies of 282 passengers to be moved from a town near the crash site to Donetsk.
The Malaysian experts and a Dutch delegation will travel with the train to the city of Kharkiv on Tuesday.
Meanwhile a UN resolution, proposed by Australia, was passed calling for a "full, thorough and independent international investigation" into the downing of the plane over Grabove on 17 July.
It also demanded that those responsible "be held to account and that all states co-operate fully with efforts to establish accountability".
There has been international outcry over the way rebels have handled the situation, leaving passengers' remains exposed to summer heat and allowing untrained volunteers to comb through the area.
All 15 council members, including Russia, voted in favour.
Sanctions threat
On Monday, three Dutch experts became the first international investigators to examine the bodies of the victims. They said the storage of the bodies had been "of good quality".
The train's departure came after tough negotiations between the international community and the separatists, who had been accused of limiting access to the crash site.
Fighting is continuing in eastern Ukraine, with heavy clashes reported near Donetsk on Monday
US President Barack Obama called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the rebels from hampering the investigation at the crash site.
"What exactly are they trying to hide?" Mr Obama said on Monday.
He also warned Mr Putin that he could face additional economic costs if he fails to take steps to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said there was strong evidence that pro-Russian separatists shot down the plane with an anti-aircraft system known as Buk.
Russia on Monday again denied allegations that it had supplied such missiles or "any other weapons" to the rebels.
The defence ministry said a Ukrainian military plane had flown within firing range of the airliner just before it came down, but Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has rejected the claim.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine erupted in April and is believed to have claimed more than 1,000 lives.
Battles continued on Monday, with heavy clashes around the main rebel-held city of Donetsk.
At least three civilians were reported killed, and one multi-storey building was seen on fire.

David Haines: Hostage's family appeal for IS contact
6 hours ago
The family of a British man being held hostage by Islamic State (IS) militants have appealed to his captors to make contact with them.
A statement from the family of David Haines said the militants, who have beheaded two US journalists, had not replied to previous messages.
Mr Haines, 44, from Perth, was kidnapped last year while helping to deliver humanitarian aid in Syria.
IS has threatened to kill him in response to US air strikes in Iraq.
The family statement, which was released by the UK Foreign Office and addressed the militants directly, said: "We are the family of David Haines.
"We have sent messages to you to which we have not received a reply. We are asking those holding David to make contact with us."
Online video
The militant group, which has seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and declared a new caliphate - or Islamic state - has killed two US hostages in recent weeks, posting video ev

Thirty countries have pledged to help Iraq fight Islamic State (IS) militants "by all means necessary".
A joint statement by foreign ministers taking part in a major conference in Paris talks said support would include "appropriate military assistance".
The talks had been called to agree a strategy to combat the group, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The conference followed a whirlwind tour of the Middle East by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Mr Kerry, who attended the summit, has been drumming up support for a plan of action unveiled by President Barack Obama last week.
The murder of British aid worker David Haines by IS militants, shown in a video released by the group on Saturday, has added momentum to the plans, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris.
Opening the summit, French President Francois Hollande said the threat posed by IS militants needed a global response.
The CIA estimates that Islamic State - formerly known as ISIS - has between 20,000 and 31,

31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
'Bigger threat'
Iraqi President Fuad Masum, who co-hosted the conference with Mr Hollande, said the international community must pursue the jihadists "quickly".
"If this intervention and support to Iraq is late, that means that Islamic State could occupy more territory and the threat it poses will be even bigger," he said.
Media caption
Iraqi FM Ibrahim Al-Jaafari: "Whole international community will stand united"
The summit closed a few hours later with a joint statement saying the participants were "committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight... by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance".
Earlier, France said it had begun surveillance flights over Iraq. Britain revealed in August that its aircraft had been gathering intelligence over Iraq.
Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes on IS fighters in Iraq, US officials say

Japan to restart whaling programme
Japan maintains that its whaling programme is for research purposes
The Japanese government has vowed to restart its controversial whaling programme in the Antarctic next year.
The move comes despite the International Whaling Commission's vote on Thursday that the programme is illegal because it is not for research purposes and should stop.
Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the IWC's decision was "regrettable".
Japan maintains its annual hunt is solely for research.
But the meat from the slaughtered whales is sold commercially in Japan.
Participants at the IWC's meeting in Slovenia passed the non-binding resolution with a 35-20 majority.
It was adopted from an International Court of Justice ruling earlier this year stating that Japan's hunt did not meet the requirements to be "scientific".
The Legalities of Whaling
Objection: A country formally objects to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: Norway
Scientific: A nation issues unilateral "scientific permits"; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan
Indigenous (aka Aboriginal subsistence): IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat
That forced Japan to call off its 2014-2015 hunt in the Southern Ocean. It still carried out its smaller hunt in the Northern Pacific.
Mr Suga said Japan would work on meeting the strict conditions under which scientific whaling is allowed.
"We are now carrying out preparations for a new plan for scientific whaling to resume in the 2015/2016 year, a plan that takes the International Court ruling into account," he said.
"Our actions are based on international law, scientific fact and the international whaling treaty."
Japan started its whaling programme in 1987, a year after an international moratorium was enacted.
The ICJ says Japan has caught some 3,600 minke whales since its current programme began in 2005.
It has faced global outrage, including from the US and Australia, with critics saying the programme is a front for commercial whaling.

the holiday, but the public do not expect to see any violence or trouble on Wednesday.
It is a completely different atmosphere to that of Sunday, when police fired tear gas and pepper spray at the crowds, she adds.
Early on Wednesday, Mr Leung attended a ceremony in Hong Kong marking China's 65th National Day, which celebrates the founding of communist China in 1949
Media caption
Energy levels are pretty flat after a long night of peaceful protests, says the BBC's Babita Sharma
The flag-raising ceremony went ahead peacefully, as student protesters looked on from behind police barricades, with some calling on him to step down. The authorities have cancelled a fireworks display that was due to take place later in the day, however.
Addressing officials, Mr Leung said that while people had different ideas about what constituted a "desirable reform package", it was better to have the right to vote than not.
"We hope that all sectors of the community will work with the government in a peace

lawful, rational and pragmatic manner to... make a big step forward in our constitutional development," he said.
Beijing ruled last month that it would allow Hong Kong people to elect their next leader in 2017. But the choice of candidates will be restricted to those approved by a pro-Beijing committee - meaning the Chinese government can effectively screen candidates.
A rumbling protest campaign ballooned into mass street demonstrations at the weekend.
Police responded initially with tear gas and pepper spray, but riot police later withdrew and since early on Monday the situation has remained calm.
At least three key parts of the city are being blockaded by protesters, including the central business district.
Crowds swelled again on Tuesday night and the demonstrators - who include student groups, supporters of the Occupy Central movement and others angered by the police response - say they are confident of greater numbers on Wednesday.
"I think there will be a massive turnout, over

over 100,000 people tonight and leading into National Day," Occupy Central activist Ed Chin told AFP news agency.
"We are not afraid of riot police.... We will not leave until Leung Chun-ying resigns,'' student leader Lester Shum told the crowd.ns,'' student leader Lester Shum told the crowd.