(Yicai Global) July 20 -- Authorities in Beijing have started an investigation into a Pizza Hut restaurant in the city after a local newspaper found it used out-of-date ingredients.

A Pizza Hut in the city’s Fengtai district tampered with expiration dates on packages of frozen ingredients, including pasta, steaks, and sausages, which it served to customers, The Beijing News reported today. One in Haidian district did similar things, it added.

Following the report, Fengtai district market regulators carried out an on-site inspection at the eatery and found a bag of toast bread with a shelf life until July 19 stored in the kitchen’s refrigerator, according to Beijing Daily. A third-party company is checking other ingredients.

Local regulators fined the Fengtai restaurant CNY50,000 (USD7,410) in March for using expired ingredients, The Beijing News added, noting that the outlet failed to effectively rectify the issue.

Pizza Hut, which is owned by Chinese restaurant giant Yum China Holdings, attaches great importance to the matter and immediately closed the eateries in question after the problems were brought to light, it said on Weibo today.

Pizza Hut opened its first store in Beijing in 1990 and had more than 2,600 restaurants in over 600 cities in the Chinese mainland at the end of this March, according to Yum China’s own figures. Yum China also operates other fast-food brands in China, including KFC and Taco Bell.

Editor: Futura Costaglione