Food company Yum Inc's fiscal first quarter profit fell 27 percent to US$337 million after its China sales were hit by quality concerns over chickens since the end of last year.

Same-store sales in China dropped 20 percent from a year ago to US$1.15 billion, after the government stepped up investigation into poultry product safety violations among its chicken suppliers, the company, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, said in a statement yesterday.

"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.

Yum's operating profit in China dived 40 percent to US$154 million.

China, however, remains Yum's biggest single market, contributing 45 percent of its sales in the three months ended March 23. But the outbreak of the bird flu since early April caused Yum to predict another 30-percent annual drop in KFC's sales this month in China.

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