OSI overhauls China operations after meat scandal

CHICAGO - OSI Group announced Monday a number of sweeping changes to the organizational and management structure of its China operations after being hit with a meat scandal.

Husi faced unethical practice claims in 2013

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In a statement posted on OSI website, OSI Group President and Chief Operating Officer David McDonald said OSI's China operations will become a part of OSI International, directly embedded into corporate organization. The new organization will be called OSI International China.

Leadership of OSI International China has been reassigned and the changes became effective Monday.

Besides management structural changes, OSI Group will immediately cease the operations of its Chinese subsidiary Shanghai Husi plant for internal and external investigations and extend OSI's internal reviews.

OSI will also assign a vigilant rotation of global experts to continuously survey these operations and implement exhaustive audit steps, including constant visual surveillance and extensive employee interviews.

"OSI is taking what happened at Shanghai Husi seriously and considers the actions of those involved completely unacceptable," McDonald said. "We understand that we still have a lot of work to do to reclaim the respect and trust of our customers, the government and consumers."

Shanghai-based Dragon TV aired a news program earlier this month claiming that Shanghai Husi had supplied products tainted with reprocessed expired meat to a string of fast food chains and restaurants across China.

McDonald said OSI's internal investigation is still ongoing. To date, OSI's investigations have found issues that are absolutely inconsistent with its internal requirements.