Photos of mouldy ice cream at McDonald's US outlet go viral

Viral photos and news reports in the US allegedly showing a mouldy ice cream machine at a US outlet of McDonald's Corp have led to swift action from the company in China.

The firm's China unit posted a statement late yesterday on its Chinese microblog reassuring customers about the safety and cleanliness of its ice cream machines and other food-making tools, responding to online reports and pictures.

The statement, which also appeared at the top of the burger chain's China website, underlined the sensitivity to potential food safety concerns in China, among the important markets for McDonald's and rival Yum China Holdings.

"We're paying attention to the information being reposted today online about US ice cream machines," McDonald's China said in the statement, adding investigations in the case were on in the US.

"In China, ice cream machines used at McDonald's restaurants are automatically disinfected every day at a set time to ensure food safety."

No statement of the kind was posted on McDonald's US website yesterday.

McDonald's and Yum Brands Inc, the global owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, had figured in food safety issues earlier.

Such news can spread rapidly online in China and have a major impact on sales.

The employee, Nick, who chose to withhold his last name in an interview with BuzzFeed, said he took the photos at the McDonald's in La Place, Louisiana, where he had been working for five months.

He told BuzzFeed that he snapped the photos two weeks ago, and had considered whether to post them. Finally he decided to post the images to his personal Twitter account as ''the working conditions were ridiculous - everyone was inappropriate and nothing was clean.''

He continued by saying, "I shared it because I wanted to let people know what they're consuming, and how disgusting the conditions are.''