Carrefour, McDonalds apologize after CCTV attack

Carrefour (CA.Euronext) and McDonald’s (MCD.NYSE) have issued apologies in China following allegations in a CCTV broadcast that the two had misled consumers, The Wall Street Journal reported. State-run CCTV reported late Thursday that a Beijing branch of McDonald’s sold chicken wings more than an hour after cooking, far past the store’s 30-minute limit, and alleged that the branch cooked beef that had fallen on the floor. The broadcaster also accused a Zhengzhou branch of Carrefour of selling expired chicken and mislabeling regular chicken as the more expensive free-range kind. McDonald’s issued a statement that the shortcomings were isolated incidents “not consistent with McDonald’s high standard for food quality,” while Carrefour apologized on Sina Weibo, pledging to “safeguard the interests of consumers.” CCTV broadcasts an annual expose on March 15 for World Consumer Rights Day that analysts say disproportionately targets foreign firms.