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KFC Chicken Wings in China, Complete with Deep-Fried Feathers

Posted: 12/16/2014 3:46 pm

kfc chicken feathersA KFC diner in Shaanxi was surprised to bite down and discover her fried chicken wing still had feathers attached to it.

READ: Guangzhou Woman Finds Live Worms in Her KFC

Miss Gao was eating at the popular fast-food chain with her friends on December 10 when she came across a strange-looking chicken wing. She said it was larger than average and had deep-fried tendrils coming out of it. She then notified staff, and the media.

A KFC company representative confirmed that the wing still had feathers, but blamed the company’s suppliers for the mistake.

kfc chicken feathersNow the local Qindu District food and drug inspection agency is investigating, and will look at the operation of the restaurant, cold storage, and how raw ingredients are prepared.

READ: More trouble for KFC: Foshan man drinks beetle found in his milk tea

It hasn’t been a good year for western fast food outlets in China, and KFC in particular. Earlier this year, KFC, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut were hit by a food safety scandal when their supplier, Husi Foods, was discovered using expired meat products.

kfc chicken feathersKFC hasn’t fully recovered since the scandal. The fast-food chain suffered a 15 percent drop in sales in November. As a result of the sales slump, KFC said it will push ahead with plans to revamp the menu and prices.

READ: Amid Sales Decline, KFC Transforms Menu for Chinese Tastes

kfc chicken feathers

Related:

Photos: CCTV, China Commerce Network

Haohao

Amid Sales Decline, KFC Transforms Menu for Chinese Tastes

Posted: 10/16/2014 6:39 pm

kfc new menu chinaKFC restaurants in China are looking to turn their fortunes around after a crippling food scandal broke out earlier this year. Sales are down 14 percent since food supplier Husi Foods made headlines for supplying expired meat to western fast food restaurants, namely McDonald’s.

KFC plans to win customers back by unveiling a new menu, one that will look a lot more comfortable to Chinese customers.

This isn’t the first time that KFC has taken a more Chinese approach to its menu. When people visit from western countries, they might be shocked to find congee, fried dough sticks, and soy milk alongside that ubiquitous Big Crunch Combo.

All three new menu items feature chicken meat that have all been seasoned with rice wine, and are served with corn and pea niblets with mushrooms. Here they are:

New Orleans BBQ Chicken Leg Rice (left) and Spicy Chicken Rice

kfc new menu chinaTeriyaki Chicken Chop Rice

kfc new menu china

KFC has had a lot of success in China because it has adapted well to the local market. It has taken the exact opposite approach of Subway, which made no changes at all and is still struggling in the country.

[h/t Rocket News

Photos: kfc china

Haohao

Guangzhou Woman Finds Live Worms in Her KFC

Posted: 09/30/2014 3:07 pm

kfc chicken live worms guangzhouA Guangzhou woman was shocked to find her KFC lunch was crawling with tiny, white, wriggling worms, reports Caijing.

The woman, named Liu, found the worms a few hours after she had purchased the chicken and immediately contacted the media. When reporters arrived they used a fruit knife to cut open the chicken, and found more worms crawling around inside the food.

kfc chicken live worms guangzhou

KFC compensated Liu for her email and offered her a replacement at no charge, but Liu couldn’t stomach taking another bite. She said the restaurant couldn’t guarantee the food was safe, and didn’t want to share it with her son.

KFC told the reporter that it is taking the matter seriously. The American fried chicken-maker previously had problems with Husi Foods of Shanghai, which supplied expired meat to a number of fast food outlets including McDonald’s and Pizza Hut.

Here’s a video that shows the food infested with worms:

Related:

Photos: China News

Haohao

Shenzhen Pizza Huts Had Expired Meat, Guangzhou Spared UPDATED

Posted: 07/22/2014 12:31 pm

Husi confession food safety scandal pizza hut mcdonalds kfc

Two days after a massive food scandal involving foreign fast food restaurants in China was made public, more details continue to surface.

Food supplier Husi Food failed an unannounced government inspection on Sunday evening when it was revealed it has been supplying McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants with expired meat up to a year old.

Zhang Hui, a quality control manager of Husi Foods, stated in a recorded interview that using expired meat was a company policy developed by upper management that was in place for several years. Zhang said the policy was known by company personnel “at the level of the factory director and up”.

Fifty-two Pizza Hut restaurants in Shenzhen were supplied with ingredients from Shanghai Husi Food Co, reports the Shenzhen Evening Report. The Shenzhen-based Pizza Hut restaurants got seasoned steak, ground beef pizza toppings, Italian-style ground pork, and ground pork pizza toppings.

pizza hut

At present, Pizza Hut says its Shenzhen restaurants have stopped using the ingredients. “Charcoal-grilled Texas-style Beef” is no longer for sale on the Pizza Hut menu, and the other pizza toppings are now sourced from other food suppliers.

While Shenzhen residents may have eaten expired meat, the news is better in Guangzhou. Representatives for McDonald’s and KFC said their Guangzhou and Foshan-based restaurants did not get any supplies from Husi Food, and are not affected by the scandal.

Meanwhile, the list of foreign restaurant chains that are trying to distance themselves from Husi Food continues to grow: Domino’s, DICOS, Wallace, IKEA, and Subway are among those who have made public statements asserting that they have no relationship with Husi Foods.

Furthermore, even though this food scandal may have hurt consumer confidence, it doesn’t seem to have affected business at McDonald’s. iFeng is reporting that Beijing-based locations of McDonald’s restaurants are doing great business to the point that no seats are available.

When asked to explain why they are eating at McDonald’s despite the food safety scandal, diners say food safety is an issue for all restaurants everywhere, and that diners can still feel safer at McDonald’s than in smaller places.

Mr Lei, a recent diner at McDonald’s, told a reporter:

Right now, McDonald’s is at the heart of the storm, so that’s why the quality of the food is guaranteed.

UPDATE 3:07pm July 25: Allegations have surfaced that three Foshan Pizza Hut restaurants have been supplied with expired meat products.

Photo: Shenzhen Announcements

Haohao

If You Dine At KFC or Pizza Hut, You Might Eat Expired Meat

Posted: 07/21/2014 6:40 pm

mcdonalds kfc food processing food scandalA food supplier for China-based franchises of McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and KFC have been criticized for using meat that has been expired for up to a year, reports Southcn.

Shanghai Husi Food Co. was targeted in a inspection last night at 9 o’clock by the Shanghai Food and Drug Bureau and the Public Security Bureau, which were followed by members of the press including CCTV. The inspection was stalled by security guards for half an hour before the officials and media were able to get inside.

The inspectors found the food supplier provided chicken and beef products to McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC that were expired for as long as a year after their due dates. The products were reprocessed and repackaged to be used again.

The ground was described as “filthy” and was covered in dirty water. Dragon Television had earlier showed Husi Food workers “picking up food from the floor and throwing it into processing machines.”

Xinhua reported that local officials have suspended the operations of Husi Foods.

McDonald’s and Yum, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, have apologized to Chinese consumers and have renounced their relationship with Husi Food.

Yoshinoya, Ikea, Fridays, and Subway are among the foreign restaurants operating in China that have tried to distance themselves from this food scandal by asserting they have no connection to Husi Food.

mcdonalds kfc food processing food scandalmcdonalds kfc food processing food scandal

Photos: CCTV, People’s Daily Online

Haohao

More trouble for KFC: Foshan man drinks beetle found in his milk tea

Posted: 08/15/2013 12:00 pm

A KFC customer in Foshan’s Nanhai District was taken to hospital and given a free meal on August 11 after he had to spit out a beetle that was in his milk tea, Yangcheng Evening News reports.

At around 8 p.m. Mr. Guo took his family to the KFC in Xintiandi Plaza to get something to drink that would cool them down. They each ordered milk tea with chocolate “beads.” According to eyewitnesses, Guo drank very quickly. When he finished he started chewing one of the beads before he started retching and spat out the beetle that had already been disfigured, which suggests it had been chewed for at least a few seconds.

Picture snapped by Mrs. Yang, via Yangcheng Evening News

Guo’s wife, Mrs. Yang, gave the restaurant a piece of her mind.

“It’s such a huge brand, how can we trust them again? We often spend money here, how could this happen?”

After repentant staff gave them a free meal and took Guo to hospital, the family finally went home at 12:30 am.

The KFC confirmed the incident with the newspaper. Staff explained that there are many trees in the vicinity and the weather has been hot recently. Insects probably come in when customers open the door, a worker explained.

The restaurant also compensated the family 300 yuan, even though they never asked. The doctor’s check-up confirmed that Guo was fine.

Yum Brands could do without PR problems in China right now. The Financial Times reported yesterday that the brand’s businesses in China had fared worse than anticipated, feeding concern that the company was struggling in one of its key markets.

The company has fought to repair its reputation in China since allegations in late 2012 that it violated food safety regulations by injecting poultry with antiviral drugs and growth hormones.

Haohao

From the annals of GZ airport security quirkiness: the turtle hamburger

Posted: 08/1/2013 7:00 am

Renowned China-watcher and keen aviator James Fallows has argued that China’s airport security is at a sensible level compared to the overzealous security in the United States.

This has given rise to some passengers in China trying their luck with some truly bizarre objects, and most of these incidents seem to happen at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport. The latest of these is a live turtle being smuggled inside a KFC hamburger by a Beijing man at the airport.

UPI has the story:

The man, whose last name is Li, was on his way to board a China Southern Airlines flight to Beijing when he was stopped during the x-ray screening at the airport over an “odd protrusion” that was sticking out of a KFC burger inside his bag.

Airport security soon determined the bump looked an awful lot like a turtle and decided to inspect Li’s bag.

“There’s no turtle in there, just a hamburger,” the man allegedly told authorities. “There’s nothing special to see inside.”

Once airport officials found the turtle and confronted Li, he explained that he just wanted to travel with his “beloved” turtle.

After airport authorities told the man he was not allowed to smuggle animals into planes he reportedly decided to leave his turtle with a friend while he traveled.

And this is probably not the most bizarre.

In March, a foreign woman was told she could not carry a bottle of liquid on board, so she swigged it but did not swallow. When asked to spit the liquid out, it emerged that she had been trying to smuggle tadpoles on board.

In February, a disabled man was prevented from carrying his severed leg in his luggage, and last December a woman was forbidden from wearing “anti-pervert” spiky shoes onboard.

 

Haohao

Oops! Western porn showcased on large LED screen in a public square in Zhongshan

Posted: 02/18/2013 2:46 pm

Those who were at Zhongshan’s Fuye Square got a nasty surprise Saturday afternoon when, for at least 20 minutes, a giant LED screen above the KFC in the square played footage from a Western pornographic film, Phoenix News reports.

Located in the west of the city, Fuye is one of the city’s busiest squares and is close to both a kindergarten and a primary school. Several passers by told Sohu News of their shock and disgust at seeing the footage shown so publicly in broad daylight.

Several pedestrians called the police. The following morning, the local public security bureau explained on its microblog that the unfortunate incident was caused by a worker’s computer error at the place where the screen is controlled.

One netizen said this was caused by Zhongshan’s dark history coming back to haunt it (Zhongshan is the hometown of former head of state Sun Yat Sen). Another said this was a great day in history. Another fancies that he’s seen this film before.

Haohao
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