A KFC customer in South Auckland claims to have found fly eggs in his chicken, but the company is saying that they could have only got there after it left the store.
Tom Masterton shared images of his meal to social media, showing what appear to be fly eggs with a dead fly lying next to the chicken. He said that he purchased the meal from KFC in Papakura on Sunday morning.
“Basically I ate three out of five pieces then on the fourth piece I saw the eggs,” he said. “They seemed to be under the coating.”
Masterton contacted KFC to complain but the company never got back to him, so he posted his account to social media. It was there that others started doubting his account, considering the eggs were laid on the bone.
“The eggs are laid on the bone,” observed one commenter. “Unless this is a hulk fly and torn through the chicken to get to the bone … this whole thing happening at KFC is highly unlikely.”
“How do flies lay eggs in chicken that's been deep fried?” another asked.
A spokesperson from KFC denied that the store was to blame.
“Our strict food safety procedures in-store mean any contamination like this can only occur after the product leaves the store, particularly if it is left sitting un-refrigerated where flies and other contaminants can access it,” said Geraldine Oldham, general manager of marketing for Restaurant Brands. “We note in the customer's own image, there is a dead fly next to the chicken, which suggests it was left open to contamination once the customer left the store. The eggs are present within the cavity of the chicken and not on the surface of the skin, which again suggests it had been eaten and then been left uncovered. We are concerned that a lack of food safety knowledge can lead to customers making false claims about KFC's food safety on social media, or putting themselves at risk by not correctly storing or covering food that they don't eat immediately.”
