Two Pizza Hut restaurants in capital investigated for food scandal

Two branches of the wellknown chain brand Pizza Hut in Beijing were placed under investigation for a food scandal that involved poor sanitation on Wednesday, after an undercover media investigation reported that the stores sold expired food and reused cooking oil.

This is not the first time that Pizza Hut has been caught in food scandal. In March of this year, one of its outlets in Beijing was punished by the local market supervision bureau after some ingredients it used were found to exceed their shelf lives, which further sparked public outrage over the big brand’s food safety problem.

Officers from the market supervision bureaus of Fengtai and Haidian districts in Beijing visited the two shops on Wednesday, after an investigation report from The Beijing News made a splash on Chinese social media. The two branches have been shut for rectification.

The Beijing News said its reporters received multiple tipoffs from Pizza Hut employees over its food safety problems since last year.

The Beijing News reporters then applied for jobs at the two shops to conduct an undercover investigation from late June to early July.

According to the investigation, two Pizza Hut restaurants in Beijing – Hexie Square in Fengtai and Weigongcun in Haidian – had various food safety problems.

While working, the reporters found that tampering with labels on food expiration dates was something that happened daily. As the “secret work” was carried out by the management staff of the restaurant, it was difficult for ordinary employees to intervene in any way.

In addition, despite the fact that Pizza Hut employees in Beijing’s restaurants use a simple oil gauge to check the quality of cooking oil and they are required to check the cooking oil every day and replace it if there is any abnormality, the undercover investigation found the oil was used for cooking in the kitchen for nearly a week, until the originally clear oil turned an almost ink- like color.

Even when the detected value of the oil was found to be above the limit, the restaurant manager ignored it and asked the staff members to simply filter the oil and use it again. It wasn’t until the oil had been used for a full 10 days that the restaurant management would give the order to replace the oil.