Fast-food giant KFC has appealed against the $8 million damages payout awarded to a young girl who was left severely brain damaged from salmonella poisoning after eating a KFC chicken twister.

The company is also trying to force Monika Samaan and her family to pay its legal costs from her 2009 court hearing, which are likely to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Monika Samaan ... her family has been awarded $8 million. Credit:NBN News

Monika, then seven and now 14, became seriously ill after eating the chicken wrap at the Villawood KFC in 2005, suffering brain damage that has left her confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak.

KFC denied it was responsible, challenging the family's claim during a four-week trial.