OAK BROOK, Ill. — Food-quality scares are hurting McDonald’s in China and Japan, where weakness contributed to a key global sales figure falling 1.8 percent.
The world’s largest hamburger chain said sales dropped 12.6 percent in January at locations open at least 13 months in the division that includes the Asia region. That overshadowed a 0.4 percent rise at U.S. locations and a comparable 0.5 percent increase in Europe.
McDonald’s Corp. said its performance in Asia was hurt by customer perception issues in Japan, where a human tooth, plastic pieces and other objects have been found in its food. In China, McDonald’s is trying to recover from the ongoing fallout from another food-safety scandal.
