FASTFOOD giant Yum Inc said today that its global sales remained almost unchanged in the first quarter.
This was despite sales in China plummeting, after Yum was at the center of chicken quality concerns at the end of last year.
Yum operates or licenses brands that include KFC and Pizza Hut.
Store sales in China dropped 20 percent from a year ago to US$1.15 billion, the company said in a statement.
This came after the government stepped up investigations into poultry product safety violations among Yum chicken suppliers.
However, global sales edged up 1 percent to US$2.54 billion.
"As anticipated, intense media attention surrounding poultry supply in China significantly impacted KFC sales and profit," David Novak, chairman and CEO of Yum, said in the statement.
The outbreak of bird-flu in China early this month has also hit KFC sales.
But Novak said the impact of avian flu was relatively short-lived.
China was Yum's biggest single market, contributing 45.4 percent of its sales in the three months ended March 23.
Worldwide profit fell 27 percent to US$337 million.
The company is carrying out an aggressive quality assurance marketing campaign and will stick to its plan of adding at least 700 new stores in China, Yum said.