A pedestrian passes a Pizza Hut restaurant in Beijing"s Fengtai district on Wednesday. The outlet was closed for investigation after food safety issues were exposed in media reports. (YI HAIFEI/CHINA NEWS SERVICE)
Two Pizza Hut restaurants in Beijing are being inspected for suspected food safety issues, the market regulation authority said on Wednesday.
The stores, in the capital"s Haidian and Fengtai districts, are accused of serving expired food, tampering with expiry date labels and repeatedly using old oil to fry food, according to an investigative report from Beijing News.
The operation of the stores has been suspended for investigation, Pizza Hut China said on social media platform Sina Weibo on Wednesday.
Officers from the market regulation bureau in Fengtai carried out on-site inspection on Wednesday, examining the expiry dates of raw and semi-cooked materials, storage and operating practices.
It found a bag of bread that expired on Tuesday in the kitchen. Other food safety issues were also found such as a dirty cleaning and disinfection room with unwashed dishes, and the storing of personal clothes in the food storage room.
The bureau also arranged a third-party test company to collect samples of some raw food materials, such as oil, chicken wings and sausages. The test results have not yet been released.
The bureau filed a case accordingly and shut down the store.
It is not the first time the store has received a penalty for food safety.
According to Tianyancha, a corporate information provider, the restaurant was fined 50,000 yuan ($7,400) for using expired food materials and ingredients in March.
The market regulation bureau in Haidian district also carried out an inspection of a store in the district, checking its operating practices and time log of cold-chain food entering and leaving the storage room, and also entrusted a third party to test the raw materials.
The bureau filed a case for further investigation.
Pizza Hut has more than 2,600 restaurants on the Chinese mainland. All Pizza Hut restaurants on the mainland are operated by Yum China, which operates 12,000 restaurants in China, including KFC and Taco Bell.
