KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds franchises in China have gone meatless after Chinese authorities closed a major suppliers, Shanghai, Hawsi Food Co of OSI Group LLC, when a Shanghai TV station reported that the company used expired meat.

The company has been a meat provider for China McDonalds for more than two decades, and Yum, which oversees KFC and Pizza Hut operations, for six years. In 2012, Yum lost its contract after several reports show that its franchises sold chicken with high levels of antibiotics.

A reporter went undercover in the OSI factory for two months and found that workers used expired chicken breasts and skin in chicken nuggets and did not report the practice to McDonalds inspectors for fear of losing its contract with the company. Another pile of meat sold to the fast food restaurants had been expired more than a year, according to the report.

The report added another chapter to issues of food safety in China. Problems from bird flu risks to chemical contamination have tainted the country's reputation for food safety.