Yum! Brands Inc., owner of the Pizza Hut and KFC chains, has set up a food safety laboratory in Shanghai to cope with a series of food safety problems in China.

The laboratory, aimed at strengthening inspection over the products and materials and control over the management of suppliers and supplying chain, was the first established by Yum! Brands Inc. in a local market around the world, said Su Jingshi, president of the China branch of Yum! Brands Inc.

The laboratory was jointly launched by Yum! Brands Inc. and the Shanghai Medicine Inspection Institute.

Yum! will entrust the cooperator with the task of testing harmful substances existing in the food. Once the materials and products fail to meet the criteria set up by the lab, suppliers will face strict punishment, Su said.

The case of "Sudan I", revealing the defects of the suppliers, made it imperative to take effective measures to settle the food safety problem, he added.