McDonald’s China clarifi es food safety in wake of ice cream video

McDonald’s China has clarifi ed its food safety policies following the posting online of controversial photos of an ice cream machine.

“As notified by McDonald’s US, the component showed in online images is used for holding the lubricant that might drop during the operation of the ice cream machine. The component e from the milk,” is totally separate china said in a statement posted on its Sina Weibo account on Thursday.

Further, it said, “the headquarters of McDonald’s China spot- checked some outlets on Wednesday night and found that the indicators of ice cream machines in these stores were in line with McDonald’s standards.”

The comment came after reports and photos of a moldy ice cream machine at an outlet of McDonald’s Corp in the US went viral on the Internet on Tuesday.

The unappetizing images were fi rst posted on Twitter in mid- July by a man named Nick who formerly worked for McDonald’s in Louisiana.

The company released a statement late on Wednesday, reassuring customers about the safety and cleanliness of its ice cream machines and other food production tools.

“In China, ice cream machines at McDonald’s outlets are automatically heated and disinfected every day at a set time to ensure food safety,” the company said.

As of press time, the photos were still pinned on top of Nick’s tweets.

The controversial images attracted widespread media attention including the Huffi ngton Post, Buzzfeed News and the UK- based Daily Mail and Mirror.

The US- listed company’s stock price stood at $ 156.51 per share at the closing on Wednesday, down 1.61 percent from the opening.