When A Shiju, a resident of Palode and his family came to the KFC outlet he was in for a ‘wiggly’ shocker.
“We had ordered fried chicken. As my wife opened the cover to give chicken piece to our 18-month-old baby, we were shocked to see worms creeping inside. When we examined the chicken closely, we found more worms,” he told DC.
When Shiju told KFC staff about worms, the latter immediately promised to give fresh chicken. “I rejected the offer and told them that I will complain to food safety officials. The staff requested us not to complain. But I called up the officials on toll free number. In the meanwhile, two staff members tried to snatch our plate but I resisted the attempt,” Shiju said.
The staff behaved rudely when Shiju refused to budge. They threatened to throw his family out. But, by the time, other customers intervened and prevented them from tampering with the samples, he said.
D. Sivakumar, designated officer of food safety, who led a team to the outlet, said, “Initially one of our officers went there and found the complaint was genuine. Later I led a team and examined the food which was served. We spotted worms.''
The food safety officials collected samples of food products including raw chicken which were packed in April. “They are allowed to keep the raw chicken for longer periods provided it is refrigerated in proper temperature.
They can keep such products in freezer for nine months if the temperature is maintained at 18 degree Celsius,” he said.
He said the raw chicken came to the outlet from Chennai. Subsequently, KFC outlets in Kochi and Koz-hikode were also inspected.
Officials ordered the closure of the outlet till further orders and collected samples of food for laboratory examination.
KFC spokesperson said, “There has been an inspection conducted by the local authorities at our restaurant in Trivandrum.
We are providing full cooperation to the authorities. We are committed to serving the highest quality products to all our customers across all our restaurants.”
Following the incident, the food safety officials inspected KFC outlets in Kochi, Kozhikode and Trivandrum.
Penalties for Offence According to the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006:
The government of India passed the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, to consolidate the laws relating to food and to establish the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to ensure quality of food and deal with matters relating to it.
Guidelines Acccording to the Act:
1) Any person, who whether by himself or by any other person on his behalf, manufactures for sale or stores or sells or distributes or imports any article of food for human consumption which is sub-standard, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs.5 lakh.
2) Any person whether by himself or by any other person on his behalf manufactures for sale or stores or sells or distributes or imports any article of food for human consumption containing extraneous matter, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs.1 lakh.
3) If a food business operator or importer without reasonable ground, fails to comply with the requirements of this Act (Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006) or the rules or regulations or orders as directed by the Food Safety Officer, he shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs.2 lakh.
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