Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC, owned by Yum! Brands, has been feeding people across the world for years with its special fried chicken that has a hard golden brown crust on the outside and soft juicy chicken inside. Owing to its taste and customer service, KFC has become the second largest restaurant chain in the world (by sales) after McDonald’s.
KFC claims, chicken served at KFC outlets is sourced and cooked following stringent food safety norms, but recently some KFC outlets have found themselves entangled in controversies for serving worms, rats and even their service staff has been in question for throwing women out for breastfeeding or for not looking pleasant. Let’s take a look at five recent controversies that have eclipsed KFC’s glory.
Fried rats for chicken
This news broke out on social media, when KFC’s customer, Devorise Dixon posted pictures on his Facebook page of differently shaped fried chicken he was served at a KFC outlet in Campton, California. Dixon maintains that he was served a fried rat with a pointed face and a long tail. Along with pictures, Dixon also shared video of the rat-like chicken, to prove that the serving wasn’t tampered with.
KFC on the other hand has insisted that what was served to Dixon was same type of domesticated fowl that is generally served by KFC. KFC also released a statement on social media claiming that Dixon was not co-operating with them in the investigation.
Paying compensation for poisoning girl
Monika Samaan is an Australian girl who was allegedly left brain damaged after being poisoned by a chicken meal she had had at a KFC restaurant near Sydney in 2005. According to her family lawyer, Monika was in a state of coma for six months after consuming a Twister warp with her parents and brother who also fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea. Monika is now wheelchair-bound and she cannot speak.
KFC was ordered to pay Monika a sum of $8.3m by the Supreme Court of the state of New South Wales. KFC, however, claimed that evidence did not prove that KFC meal caused Monika disability, and that it would appeal against the judgment.
Expelling for breastfeeding in KFC outlet
We’ll require some witty people to judge this one. U.S. has a bill passed that ensures punishment for people found guilty of discrimination against women breastfeeding in public. But how would you react if a 76-year-old mother would begin breastfeeding a 42-year-old son in front of you?
Some people at the KFC restaurant in Mississippi got literally disturbed when Linda Berrety (76) began breastfeeding her son Michael (42). The scene became grim and KFC management had to ask Linda and Micheal to leave the restaurant. The expulsion episode sparked intense reactions on social media. The discussions provoked a lot of questions on limits of breastfeeding in public.
Offering live worms in chicken bucket
Yasser Arafat was a satisfied KFC customer until one day when he ordered a bucket of chicken and found a worm wriggling in one of the pieces. Yasser had picked up the bucket from a KFC outlet on DB Road in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. The controversial KFC worm chicken gained popularity after Yasser posted pictures of wormy chicken on social media.
KFC in India previously came under the scanner for a similar case in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerela. A customer here had complained that he was served live worms in a chicken meal. When the Food Safety Authority conducted an inspection of the outlet, they seized chicken as old as five months from the KFC store following which the Authorities shut down the restaurant for good.
Throwing a precious face out of the premises for looking unpleasant
This is something KFC shouldn’t be forgiven for! In strangest of acts, a KFC restaurant employee in Jackson Mississippi allegedly asked a 3-year-old child to leave the premises because her facial injuries and scars were disturbing to other customers. Shame! 3-year-old Victoria Wilcher was injured from a pit bull attack and had bruises and scars on her face and eye. Post the incident “Victoria’s Victories,” a Facebook page dedicated to the child, went viral and KFC was compelled to post an apology, requesting details.
KFC made up for the infamous episode by donating $30,000 to assist Victoria with her medical bills.
Controversies cannot be avoided when you are dealing with people from all parts of the world, surely. But what type of controversy happen, is something that can be controlled. In most cases above, we expected KFC authorities to have reacted with responsibility at the outlet level. Since they failed to show maturity, these incidents actually became public.