MANGALURU: Minister for health and family welfare UT Khader said the department will issue a notice to multi-national food joint KFC after reports of worms being found in a burger ordered by a customer at their outlet in City Centre Mall on Monday. Interacting with reporters here on Wednesday, Khader said it is the duty of the MNC food outlet to ensure quality of the food items they serve and for the price they charge. “We cannot tolerate such lapses by anyone, including a MNC,” he said.

The reported incident on Monday saw Prashant and his fiancé Deekshitha go to KFC outlet. Deekshitha order of KFC’s Zinger burger had two worms in it. To her horror, she discovered it almost after eating half the burger. When Prashant complained to KFC outlet manager, the manager dissuaded him filing a complaint. Even queries from Deekshitha to KFC staff about the worms did not elicit proper replies, he said, adding they tried their best to evade her queries.

The staff even was not too keen on us taking pictures of these ‘unwanted guests’ in our burger, Prashanth said. The KFC outlet manager told a news portal that the worms could have come in the vegetables sourced by them. Spokesperson for KFC said, “As a responsible brand, KFC is committed to following best international standards and serving highest quality products to all our customers across all our restaurants. We have regular checks and effective systems in place,” he said.

Noting that the aim is to make sure that KFC restaurants operate as per highest standards, KFC spokesperson said, “The incident was brought to our notice and as a brand committed to customer service we engaged with the customer and invited him to KFC for a kitchen tour (on Tuesday). After seeing our quality systems and processes, he was convinced about our international standards and has agreed to stay a loyal customer of KFC.”

On the issue of Khader’s statement of the department intending to issuing a notice to KFC on this issue, the spokesperson said, “We have no information on any notification from the concerned authorities. We will however extend our complete cooperation in this matter,” he added.