Starbucks has issued an apology after selling expired food at stores in China and will carry out inspections at 5,400 outlets

Starbucks has come under fire after a state-backed newspaper claimed that two of the coffee chain’s stores sold expired food.

The global coffee brewer issued an apology on Monday, and confirmed that it will now carry out inspections at over 5,000 stores across China – with additional staff training also to be provided to up-skill employees.

The Beijing News newspaper, in what it described as an undercover investigation, said the incidents occurred at two stores in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi.

The incident became a trending topic on China’s Weibo social media application in the aftermaths of the report being published.

Starbucks initially said it had shut the two stores and was carrying out an investigation.

Later on Monday it said it had found that the two stores had indeed committed violations and that the company had not sufficiently paid attention to food safety standards.

“We sincerely apologize to all of Starbucks’ customers,” it said in a statement on its official Weibo account.

The Wuxi’s Market Supervision Administration also said in a statement late on Monday that after conducting investigations on the two stores involved in the incident, it also carried out checks on all 82 Starbucks stories in the city, finding 15 issues in total, including employees not wearing work caps and disinfections records not being complete.

Chinese consumers and media have become more aggressive about protecting customer rights and monitoring the behaviour of big brands, especially those that are based overseas.