KFC fined Rs 12,000 for serving non-vegetarian burgers to vegetarian customer

Chandigarh – The consumer Court in the city imposed a fine of Rs 12,000 on the KFC food company. KFC served a non-vegetarian burger to a vegetarian customer leading to the customer’s complaint. The incident took place in the year 2023 at a KFC store located in Sector 35, Chandigarh.

KFC fined Rs 12,000 for serving chicken burger to a vegetarian customer.

Such establishments should not be let off with just a fine; they should also face imprisonment. pic.twitter.com/chff8lzY3T

— Sanatan Prabhat (@SanatanPrabhat) August 12, 2024

1. The complainant Anirudh Gupta said, “Me and my wife are regular customers of KFC. My wife is a vegetarian. On 3^rdMay 2023, I ordered and paid for ‘Chicken Bucket’, a non- vegetarian item for myself and ‘Classic Veg Crisper’, a vegetarian item for my, on KFC’s online app. When my wife took the first bite of the burger delivered to us, she felt something odd. She immediately made a video call to me and showed the burger. I was surprised to see that the burger contained chicken. My wife, being a pure vegetarian, started vomiting. I complained to the KFC store that my wife was mentally upset and under a lot of stress due to the negligence of the manager.

2. On Gupta’s complaint, the manager said that the complaint had been made with a malicious and ulterior motive to extort money from KFC on false and frivolous grounds and to disrepute the company. The complainant concealed the fact that the delivery was accepted after verification. The packaging had a green symbol for vegetarian food and a red for non-vegetarian food.

3. After perusing the demand receipts, the consumer Court said that KFC had served non- vegetarian crisper burgers filled with chicken instead of the ‘Veg Crisper Burger’ mentioned in the receipts, which was evident from the photographs of the burgers taken by the complainant. The lack of service and carelessness of the manager was visible. The manager had completely failed to rebut the evidence given by the complainant. One thing was clear that, while serving the complainant, KFC manager was negligent and wrongly served non- vegetarian food to the complainant’s wife, who is a pure vegetarian. Because of this, her feelings were hurt and she faced mental anguish and stress. It was ordered to pay Rs 7,000 to the complainant as compensation for the mental anguish and torture and Rs 5,000 towards the litigation expenses.

Editorial Perspective

Such culprits should not only be fined and released but they should be sentenced to imprisonment.