A 29-year-old mother and her seven-year-old son were disgusted to find that one of their pieces of KFC chicken was not chicken at all, but a blue paper towel that has been breaded and fried. The purchase was made at a KFC branch in Killingsworth, England. The boy made the discovery when he bit into a piece of what he thought was chicken. The boy, Oliver Hallam, realized that what was in his mouth was not chicken, and spit it out. As the breading fell away, the blue cleaning wipe was revealed. Oliver showed the revolting discovery to his mother, Krystal Henderson, who then alerted the company.
Reaction to the Incident
Henderson was appalled that she and her son were the victims of such a grievous error. “If it was bad chicken they might have just had a bad batch or something,” she said. “But the blue roll could have been used for anything – it could have bleach or disinfectant on it … Had someone wiped their hands on it, had it been used to wipe the floor?”
The company sent an apology letter to Henderson and her son, saying that the paper towel had most likely fallen into the breading lug and inadvertently went into the deep fryer with the chicken. KFC refunded Henderson’s money, offered the family a free meal, and said that they are retraining staff to ensure that similar hygiene failures do not occur in the future.