McDonald’s Corporation (MCD): Now It’s A Chicken Nuggets Problem In Japan

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has another problem in Japan. According to Yvonne Man in a Bloomberg First Up report, the fast food giant will temporarily stop selling chicken nuggets in the Asian country pending an investigation.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) will be investigating its Thai suppliers because a vinyl-like material was found in a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget in Japan reports say.

This news comes after the company just got through a fries shortage in the country in which they stopped selling medium and large portions of the menu item. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) had to resort to extra shipments of potatoes by sea and air to alleviate the shortage.

According to Man, the chicken nugget sold at a Japanese McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) store has been sent to a company lab to be examined. She noted that this is the second supplier scandal the company has been involved in in 2014.

McDonald’s Corporation (MCD): Now It’s A Chicken Nuggets Problem In Japan

Early last year, a supplier in China for McDonalds and rival Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) was the subject of an investigative report of a Chinese journalist. In the journalist’s report which included hidden camera footage, it was revealed that some supplies which were past due date were just re-labeled so as to appear they have not expired.

Because McDonald’s stopped getting supplies from the company linked to the investigation, it suffered a shortage of meat in the region. The problem adds to other issues hounding the company including whether its menu has become too large for its own good.

Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management owned about 7.25 million McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) shares by the end of the third quarter of 2014. Valued then at about $687.62 million, the stake made up 3.75% of Southeastern’s whole portfolio. The stake in the fast food behemoth was added to the portfolio during the third quarter.