Fast food chains are quickly dropping down my chart of where-to-eat. Seeing it in a movie was one thing, seeing it proven in a court case is another!
Below is a case brought against KFC in NSW, Australia recently, as featured by Sydney Morning Herald.
KFC twister salmonella poisoned girl, court told
Bellinda Kontominas
August 3, 2009
A girl who suffered brain damage from salmonella poisoning, allegedly after eating a chicken twister at KFC, was the victim of "disturbing" and "unsettling" practices at the fast-food giant, a court has heard.
Monika Samaan, 11, was seven years old when she developed salmonella encephalopathy and salmonella septicaemia brain damage.
Her family claims the condition was a result of her eating the meal at Villawood KFC on October 24, 2005.
She is now confined to a wheelchair and her family is suing KFC for damages.
Barrister for the Samaan family, Anthony Bartley, SC, told the NSW Supreme Court today that Monika's injuries were caused by salmonella from KFC, an allegation strongly refuted by the company.
"Your honour will hear that, if the store was particularly busy, then if chicken dropped on the floor near the burger station it would on some occasions simply be put back into the burger station from where it had fallen," Mr Bartley said.
"The evidence, your honour, comes from employees of KFC at the relevant time both in the shop at Villawood and other stores."
Mr Bartley said other members of the family had become ill after eating KFC that day and, in the same month of the alleged incident, another 10 people who ate at Villawood KFC reported having food poisoning.
"There is no doubt in this case that what poisoned Monika and left her in the physical condition that she now is [in] is salmonella," Mr Bartley said.
"And there is little or no doubt that chicken was reported by all scientists, at the time of these unhappy events occurring, as being the source of that salmonella," he said.
The court heard that, in the months before the alleged incident, the KFC store in Villawood had rated poorly in internal audits on food preparation and handling.
"It makes you wonder how often you would have to score badly before someone would decide you couldn't operate. If it keeps failing on those potential areas you'd wonder why nothing was done about it," Mr Bartley told the court.
Since the incident, the Villawood store had become a franchise, but was still required to adhere to KFC standards.
As recently as last week, an internal audit had discovered cross-contamination of foods was present in the store, which had scored an overall performance mark of 41 per cent, the barrister said
The hearing, before Justice Stephen Rothman, continues.
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