Yum Brands Faces Double Food-Safety Whammy In China

Yum Brands reported operating profit at its China operations feel 41 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2013, which contributed to an 8 percent drop in earnings per share. Publicized reports about food safety problems at the end of 2012 focusing on excessive use of antibiotics by the company's suppliers in China caused most of the revenue decline. Although shares of the company stock rose 7 percent after the public had forgotten much of the scandal, an outbreak of avian flu in China's Yangtze River Delta region poses another serious problem for the fast-food giant.