That's not our maggot-infested chicken, says KFC

KFC has rejected a claim by a Durban man that he had bought maggot-infested chicken from one of its outlets in Durban.

KFC Africa told TimesLIVE on Thursday afternoon that a claim made in a video that showed maggots crawling out of a drumstick allegedly bought at the KFC at Phoenix Plaza was not possible.

“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.

“In addition to this, our chicken is cooked at high temperatures of 170°C and held in warming cabinets above 60 degrees, 22 degrees above the minimum standard temperature. Under these conditions, the presence of maggots in our chicken when purchased is not possible,” KFC said.

The fried chicken franchise said when it was notified of the video, which was making the rounds on social media, it took immediate steps to investigate further.

“Please note that we reached out to the customer earlier, and have not heard back from him as yet.”

The man had also not gone to the outlet to complain or call the customer care line, KFC Africa said. 

The man who made the post, Tramaine Naidoo, did not respond to a query from TimesLIVE.

KFC Africa invited customers to contact it to ask for a kitchen tour, “to see for themselves the stringent quality and hygiene standards that are followed at each of our restaurants”.