McDonald's China made an apology through its official micro blog only about one hour after China Central Television (CCTV), China's largest national TV network, exposed illegal operations in one of its Beijing branches on Thursday night, China News Service reported Friday.

"We will launch an immediate and serious investigation into this case, which is rare and alone, and take actions to show our regret to the customers," said McDonald's China, "after this event, we will deepen our management to ensure business codes are in place and provide safe and healthy food for the customers."

In a Thursday report, a McDonald's restaurant in Beijing was accused of selling chicken wings 90 minutes after they were cooked. The company sets a 30-minute limit for selling these.

Its cyber apology has attracted more than 3,000 comments and has been reposted nearly 10,000 times. Many netizens focused on the way McDonald's handled the crisis.

"Micro blog is indeed the prime choice for a quick response to a crisis. It's good to make a candid apology in short order, but it's too early to claim it as an individual event," a netizen said.

But more netizens felt angry at this accident, saying the crisis tactics could not cover up the inherent lack of self-discipline from McDonald's.

A Carrefour store in Zhengzhou was also named in the report, which said that expiration dates of some chickens were changed, and regular chickens were sold as more expensive free-range kinds instead.

The US media revealed in 2010 that the chicken sold in McDonald's contained harmful chemicals including mud rubber and oil-like substances. McDonald's China has also been involved in a series of scandals regarding its food safety in recent years.

With additional reporting by AsiaOne.