Yum Brands Inc, owner of the fast-food chain KFC, publicly apologized on Jan 10 for what it called its inappropriate response to the Chinese government's investigation into one of Yum's former chicken suppliers, chinanews.com reported.

Su Jingshi, Yum's China chairman and CEO, said in a statement that the company is aware that food safety is the top priority of restaurant groups, and it will learn from the incident.

The company said in a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that its China sales are expected to fall 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 year-on-year, more than the previous estimate of 4 percent.

Yum will release its fourth-quarter financial report on Feb 4.