KFC fined £22k for undercooked chicken

- Published: 25 September, 2008

KFC has been fined a total of almost £22,000 after under-cooked chicken was served to a customer at an outlet in the Midlands.

KFC has been fined a total of almost £22,000 after undercooked chicken was served to a customer at an outlet in the Midlands.

The company pleaded guilty before Wolverhampton magistrates to breaches of health regulations.

The court heard that a mother had complained to environmental health officers after her two-year-old son had spat out the under-cooked Popcorn Chicken, bought at the Bentley Bridge drive-through restaurant.

In mitigation for the company, it was said that it had been human error on behalf of an employee at the outlet, who had not cooked the chicken sufficiently.

A spokesperson for KFC said: "We have strict measures in place to ensure that all our products are properly cooked. On this occasion, however, human error led to undercooked chicken being served. This was an isolated incident and we have since retrained our staff on our cooking procedures."

KFC was fined £15,000 with £6,800 costs.

In a similar case, the company was fined £7,000 in 2006, before magistrates in Dudley, also for selling under-cooked popcorn chicken.