Kenya grows more than 60 different varieties of potatoes, with farmers currently struggling with a glut. Photo: Adobe Stock
KFC says maggots-in-chicken claim just does not fly
The fast food chain has ‘roasted’ a claim by an unhappy customer who said he found maggots in a piece of chicken he bought from one of their Durban franchises.
Kenya grows more than 60 different varieties of potatoes, with farmers currently struggling with a glut. Photo: Adobe Stock
A video posted by a KFC customer, Tremaine Naidoo, which shows maggots crawling in a piece of chicken he had apparently bought from the popular fast-food chain has prompted KFC Africa to respond.
In reaction to the video that went viral on social media, KFC Africa said it was not possible for maggots to survive in chicken prepared at its stores as the meat was cooked at high temperatures and then stored in warm cabinets at a temperature above 60°C.
KFC on the defence
According to Times LIVE, KFC had unsuccessfully attempted to reach out to Naidoo, who had purchased the chicken at Phoenix Plaza in Durban.
“At KFC, food safety is of the utmost importance to us and our strict global processes and policies include specific cooking times and temperatures to ensure that our products pose no health risk whatsoever to our customers. The chicken served to KFC customers is locally sourced from reputable South African suppliers and is delivered three times a week in temperature-maintained trucks.
“The chicken is also quality- and safety-checked 34 times from the farm to the restaurant before it is served, to ensure that our customers are served freshly prepared chicken at all times,” read a statement issued by the company.
Twitter users ‘grill’ man’s claims
Twitter users have weighed in on the video, with many questioning the validity of Naidoo’s claims.
Not first time KFC makes headlines
Concerned customers have also been invited to a kitchen tour where they can see for themselves how their food is prepared and under what conditions it is cooked and stored.
This isn’t the first time KFC has made headlines for their chicken. In 2015, a Braamfontein franchise store was shut down after a video was leaked of workers using hosepipes to wash chicken outside on the floor.
KFC Africa managing director Doug Smart said the chicken was not meant for customers to consume and would be discarded as part of the restaurant’s hygiene standards.
“I’m extremely relieved to find out that what we are seeing in those pictures is discarded chicken, never intended to be sold to customers. We are so serious about our quality standard, that we take the chicken out at early stage that don’t meet our kind of product guideline,” he said.
In another separate incident, investigations were conducted when employees of the Umhlanga franchise were caught sharpening knives outside on the pavement. Smart was once again under pressure to apply damage control and stated that he was aware of the incident and would look into it.
