Colonel's secret ingredient for KFC grilled chicken? Beef
Filed under: Food, Consumer Complaints
El Pollo Loco, the California-based restaurant chain, seems to take delight in pulling Colonel Sander's leg, and now it has called out KFC (or is it KGC? Grilled chicken complicates everything) over its use of beef products in the making of its new grilled chicken.
According to the Los Angeles Times, El Pollo Loco discovered that the new KFC grilled chicken is made with beef powder and rendered beef fat.
A spokesperson for KFC saw no problem with this, telling the paper, "Small amounts of beef flavors are commonly used in seasonings." The spokesperson said that the seasoning used on the new chicken product contains only 0.2% beef powder.
I checked out menus for McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell and Arby's. None of them list beef products in their chicken.
For the record, KFC Grilled Chicken is made of chicken, salt, sodium phosphate, MSG, maltodextrin, bleached wheat flower, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, spices, palm oil, natural flavor (?), garlic powder, Soy sauce, chicken fat, chicken broth, autolyzed yeast, beef powder, rendered beef fat, extractives of tumeric, dehydrated carrot, onion powder, calcium silicate, silicon dioxide. Just like Mom used to make, right?
Kudos to KFC for posting its ingredients, however. El Pollo Loco doesn't. So what does it have to hide?
KFC's mixture of meats presents a problem for me. I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm an aesthetic omnivore. I prefer to eat ugly animals whenever possible; chickens, pigs, crab or halibut. I try to avoid cute meat, such as beef (is there anything lovelier than the eyes of a Jersey cow?), lamb and rabbit.
Of course, many people choose to not eat beef for ethical or religious reasons, and for them, this is no laughing matter. The KFC spokesperson's assertion that beef powder is widely used strikes me as reasonable, and leaves me wondering how much I've eaten in my life. Or perhaps I don't want to know.
Thanks to The Consumerist
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 12)
6-17-2009 @ 8:16PM
darrell said...
I WILL NEVER TRY IT!!!!! KFC HAS THE GREASIEST CHICKEN OF ANY OR ALL CHICKEN JOINTS.
I LIVE IN OCALA, FLORIDA AND OUR KFC'S ARE THE NASTIEST FAST FOODS EVER!!
THEIR CHICKEN LITERALLY DRIPS WITH GREASE, HOW AWFUL. AND BESIDES YOU NEVER TASTE THE 11 HERBS AND SPICES ANY MORE. YOU COULD ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO BUT NOW NOW. YOU ARE LUCKY TO TASTE THE PEPPER IN IT.
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6-19-2009 @ 6:20AM
Diana said...
You are so right about the flavor of kfc now and twenty to thirty years ago. Its not even close to the same. You can't taste the herbs and spices anymore. And I thought I was the only one who noticed this.
6-18-2009 @ 11:53AM
sam said...
the grilled chicken is not greasy, in fact it's rather dry, better re-write those grease phrases lol!
6-18-2009 @ 1:38PM
Sissie said...
come to Sarasota to eat! I like the one on Clark road the best!
6-18-2009 @ 2:06PM
gwobama said...
KFC has some of the worst chicken I have ever tasted. Also, it is way overpriced. Colonal Sanders is probably turning over in his grave. When it first came out, it was good chicken. Now it is either too greasy or too dry. It is terrible. They need to bring back the real original reciepe
6-17-2009 @ 8:16PM
Jim said...
There is really only one thing to remember here. That KGC sucks! I tried it. That thing that they called grilled chicken was dry and flavorless. I will ALWAYS go to El Pollo Loco when I want REAL grilled chicken!
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6-17-2009 @ 9:38PM
Master Shake said...
I have a better idea: learn to cook. Do you think all of these artificial flavors and preservatives going into your system every time you eat fast food is healthy for you? Especially when you live in a country where medical costs are THE highest in the entire world.
6-18-2009 @ 2:16PM
noToMSG said...
I will not eat KFC's chicken because they put MSG it in!! And why do they put wheat in their grilled chicken?? Many people are gluten intolerant and cannot eat wheat, so they eat grilled foods to avoid the breading/wheat. They would not suspect that grilled chicken has wheat in it. KFC should be sued.
6-23-2009 @ 9:35PM
Travis said...
Being a manager with EPL I might have somewhat of a biased opinion, except I know that KFC's grilled chicken is not technically grilled. Its baked on a type of griddle (like George Foreman) how do they think they can get away with selling something so mis-leading. Come on people, get the real deal and go eat at EPL. Thats "FLAME GRILLED" chicken. Not to mention we have better coleslaw and mashed potatoes.
6-17-2009 @ 8:22PM
Audrey said...
My husband and I eat approx, 40 hot wings a week plus other things to go with it. We have loved KFC for years. But when the grilled came out about a month or two ago I bought a bucket and I thought "Holly ____ what is this? It was the most horrible stuff ever. I figured it might turn me against chicken forever but in a few days I had to have my wings. When I see an ad, I can taste that awfull stuff. KFC stick to your fried chicken. That is what the f stands for so let others do the grilling.
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6-18-2009 @ 2:14PM
me said...
I have to agree. I love their fried. But when they were offering the free piece of grilled, I tried it. It was the driest, most tasteless chicken I had ever eaten. They need to stick with what they do best.
6-17-2009 @ 8:22PM
flashygrrl21 said...
Ugh, I can't eat KFC anyways, it has always irritated my stomach. Funny, Lee's doesn't. But this is less disturbing than when I realized that my veggie hubby was using this steak seasoning powder on his food and you can probably guess what was in there. A small amount of beef fat. I threw it away and told him not to ask why :)
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6-17-2009 @ 8:24PM
Bitchin said...
mmmmmm sounds healthy !
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6-17-2009 @ 8:24PM
digger said...
So F%$#@ing WHAT!!! If some of these people seen how food was processed they would never eat again anyway. Get over it!!! If you have some religious dietary restriction you strictly adhere to.....grow your own food and let the rest of us eat our geneticly enhanced, chemicaly treated and flavored food in peace.
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6-17-2009 @ 9:34PM
Patrice said...
RIGHT ON
6-18-2009 @ 11:24AM
bumble said...
Exactly!!!!
6-18-2009 @ 11:52AM
tinefilm said...
ok, but don't come crying to us with your high blood pressure and heath issues from eating over processed crappy food. The public has a right to know and then make their own good or bad choices from there.
6-17-2009 @ 8:26PM
Scott said...
MSG and MORE MSG: autolyzed yeast...boycott them for just using MSG. You can't legally use MSG in baby food...so why in bigger kids and adults?????
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6-18-2009 @ 1:47AM
KFCLover said...
In your comment you say that MSG cannot be used in baby food. Neither can honey. Oddly enough the stuff that can kill an infant/baby can be eaten by children and adults with no side effect. Yes MSG is not the best thing to ingest.
I will admit that I have never had the KGC yet but when making chicken at home I use all sorts of seasonings. Beef has a stronge flavor and is used to flavor other foods.
6-18-2009 @ 5:20PM
Janzy said...
No MSG in baby food? Amazing! Yet there's MSG in vaccines. Guess it's alright to shoot babies up with MSG though.