Vegan left 'feeling sick' after biting into 'chicken burger' at Aylesbury retail park KFC

Samantha Hinson, along with her husband Stuart say they were over the moon when KFC announced a brand new Vegan Burger 100% free of meat or animal products last week, so they went to the Aylesbury Shopping Park branch of KFC to try it out on Sunday.

Stuart, who is a life long meat eater said : “I’ve been trying to cut down a bit on my meat consumption, because meat intensive farming has such a negative impact on our environment.

“So we saw the new KFC ‘zero chicken’ burger and were thrilled to give it ago.”

Stuart bought the chicken burger and went outside to Samantha who was waiting and offered her a bite.

He said Samantha instantly remarked, that tastes exactly like chicken!

Stuart was suspicious when he tried it, although thought it might have been pulled jack-fruit which has a very realistic resemblance to meat.

He said: “I was surprised initially by how realistic it tasted, but on reflection I was almost certain it was actual chicken.

“I took it straight back to the man who had given me the box, and confirmed that was infact, chicken.”

Stuart says Samantha was left completely shaken up by the incident.

Samantha is on the autistic spectrum and has been a vegan for years because of her respect for animals. Stuart says Samantha couldn’t believe it, and has been left devastated by the incident.

He said: “This makes me question the processes of production at KFC. Are the vegan and vegetarian boxes being mixed up during production?

“In which case, is it a truly vegan burger?

“Are they being cooked on the same grill?

“I asked the manager at the store on Aylesbury’s business park who apologised and promptly gave us a vegan replacement, but to be honest they were quite blase about the whole affair.

“It was dissapointing as Samantha is passionate about her ethical beliefs, and this has really shaken her.”

Samantha said she was left feeling sick after the incident.

In a recent landmark ruling, a tribunal court ruled that ‘ethical veganism’ is now a ‘philosophical belief and protected under the law’.

This decision was reached at a tribunal in Norwich, after a man claimed he was fired because of his vegan beliefs.

Jordi Casamitjana was sacked by the League Against Cruel Sports after raising concerns that its pension fund was being invested into companies involved in animal testing.

He claims he was unfairly disciplined for making this disclosure and that the decision to dismiss him was because of his philosophical belief in ethical veganism.

The ruling means that ethical vegans are entitled to protection from discrimination.

A KFC spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry that Samantha and Stuart were given the wrong order, that’s not on.

We offered a full refund straight away and a replacement Vegan Burger, but we realise it’s super important we don’t slip up with this.

We have strict processes in place which include the use of separate coloured tongs and storage units to make sure our vegan burgers are served properly – so we’ve followed up with the team and will do everything we can to prevent this happening again.”