????過(guò)去五周，在華經(jīng)營(yíng)的美國(guó)快餐企業(yè)如坐針氈。

????上周五，丑聞風(fēng)波掀起了一個(gè)新高潮：上海檢察機(jī)關(guān)批捕麥當(dāng)勞（McDonalds’）最大的肉類(lèi)食品供應(yīng)商福喜集團(tuán)（OSI Group）中國(guó)子公司的6位雇員，罪由是他們向麥當(dāng)勞、肯德基（KFC）和其他在華連鎖快餐企業(yè)銷(xiāo)售過(guò)期肉。

????7月底，上海一家電視臺(tái)曝光上海福喜食品有限公司（Shanghai Husi Food）給過(guò)期肉篡改包裝生產(chǎn)日期，并使用過(guò)期牛肉生產(chǎn)肉餅。之后麥當(dāng)勞在華餐廳連續(xù)3周面臨牛肉和雞肉產(chǎn)品短缺的窘境，中國(guó)所在地區(qū)的銷(xiāo)售額在7月份下跌7%。一時(shí)之間，人們?cè)诒本┒假I(mǎi)不到巨無(wú)霸了。

????8月初，也就是過(guò)期肉事件曝光兩周半后，我碰巧遇到了兩位來(lái)北京出差的福喜集團(tuán)員工，他們正在對(duì)集團(tuán)旗下中國(guó)各地工廠展開(kāi)緊急檢查工作。其中一位員工來(lái)自福喜芝加哥地區(qū)總部；另一位曾在華中的一家工廠工作過(guò)。

????這里面有一位是我大學(xué)時(shí)期的同窗好友，我不會(huì)在此透露他們的姓名。但我們?cè)敿?xì)地探討了此次危機(jī)。對(duì)于為什么會(huì)出此紕漏，他們的解釋是，作為一家美國(guó)公司，福喜集團(tuán)不知道中國(guó)本地經(jīng)理人在做些什么，有時(shí)候也沒(méi)法搞清楚。中國(guó)本地工廠的文件和條例不會(huì)從中文翻譯成英文，即便翻譯了，福喜的美國(guó)經(jīng)理人也不會(huì)經(jīng)常瀏覽。

????這家公司正在努力解決這些問(wèn)題，但最近它的中國(guó)業(yè)務(wù)陷入停滯，每天虧損達(dá)數(shù)百萬(wàn)美元。

????在這起最新的中國(guó)食品安全丑聞中，媒體報(bào)道分為兩派。一派認(rèn)為，從福喜獲得原料供應(yīng)的麥當(dāng)勞、肯德基、星巴克（Starbucks）和其他美國(guó)餐飲公司是中國(guó)掀起打擊外資公司風(fēng)潮下的犧牲品，而此類(lèi)行動(dòng)從1年半前中國(guó)媒體批評(píng)星巴克咖啡定價(jià)就開(kāi)始了。這是為美國(guó)品牌辯護(hù)的西方人喜歡的論調(diào)。

????另一派以中國(guó)媒體為主，它們認(rèn)為，洋快餐在中國(guó)大失水準(zhǔn)，福喜存在與眾多中國(guó)本土食品公司一樣的食品質(zhì)量和安全問(wèn)題。

????與福喜的兩位高管談了一晚之后，有一點(diǎn)很清楚了——中國(guó)媒體是對(duì)的。福喜有時(shí)對(duì)于其在中國(guó)的經(jīng)營(yíng)狀況確實(shí)一無(wú)所知，可能確實(shí)存在被指控的問(wèn)題，但他們對(duì)需要做出的改變持開(kāi)放態(tài)度。

????It’s been a wretched five weeks forAmerican fast food in China.

????The humiliation reached a new pitch Friday when prosecutors in Shanghai arrested six employees of the Chinese subsidiary of McDonalds’s largest meat supplier, OSI Group, for selling expired meat to McDonald’s, KFC, and other chains in the country.

????The OSI subsidiary, Shanghai Husi Food, was caught by a Shanghai TV channel in late July re-labelling expired meat packages and using expired beef to make patties. McDonald’s was short on beef and chicken for three weeks in China following the ordeal. Sales in the region that includes China plummeted 7% in July. For a while, you couldn’t order a Big Mac in Beijing.

????Two and a half weeks after the news broke, in early August, I happened to meet employees from OSI who were in Beijing for emergency visits to the company’s plants around the country. One had come from the Chicago-area headquarters; the other worked at a plant in central China.

????I met one as a friend from college, so I won’t use their names. But we talked at length about the crises. Their explanation of what went wrong is the story of a U.S. company that didn’t know what local Chinese managers were doing—and in some cases, couldn’t figure out. Local plant documents and rules weren’t translated from Chinese into English, and even if they had been, OSI’s American managers didn’t often visit.

????OSI is working to fix the problems, but most recently its China business was at a standstill, losing millions of dollars a day in revenue.

????Media reports followed two narratives in the latest China food safety scandal. The first was that McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, and the rest of the U.S. restaurants getting supplies from OSI were victims of China’s crackdown on foreign companies—a trend over the past year and a half starting when Starbucks was criticized by Chinese media for the price of its coffee. This was the argument favored by Westerners defending American brands.

????The second, offered mostly by Chinese media, argued that foreign fast food had gotten sloppy in China, and that OSI was guilty of the same food quality and food safety issues plaguing China’s domestic food companies.

????After a night with the two OSI executives, it was clear the Chinese media were right—OSI was sometimes clueless about its operations in China, probably guilty as charged, and pretty open about needing to change.