Could the rumor be true?
Somewhere deep in the darkest shadows at KFC’s test labs, a mad poultry scientist has developed a Superchicken — a genetically crafted bird with eight legs and six (count ‘em) wings — enough by itself, perhaps, for a Family Feast, with maybe a Colonel’s Dinner thrown in.
You’re out of your mind, there’s just no way, says KFC’s parent company, Yum Brands.
In China, though, the rumor won’t die.
So now, according to Yahoo News, citing news agency Reuters, Yum is suing Yingchenanzhi Success and Culture Communication, Shanxi Weilukuang Technology Co., and Taiyuan Zero Point Technology, three companies that it says have been the main spreaders of the mutant chicken rumors. Media accounts have not ventured as to why they would do such a thing.
While many here in the United States will laugh off the tale, Yum is taking the stories seriously in China where KFC is the biggest seller of fast food chicken. And, who knows, maybe some folks there don’t like the idea of their drumsticks and hot wings coming from a comic book creature or low budget horror picture.
KFC may have some cause for concern too, as the rumor seems to be spreading. The chain says it has found more than 4,000 online messages containing libelous claims, including pictures, which have been viewed more than 100,000 times.
The company is seeking the equivalent of $242,000 from each defendant as well as an apology.
The Shanghai Xuhui District People's Court has accepted the case, according to the Associated Press.
KFC is fighting back away from the courts, too.
Reuters reports that, in a statement on its China website, KFC says, “The rumors about KFC using chickens with six wings and eight legs have been around a long time.” It pokes fun at those people who might think it be possible to create such a super weird bird, adding that if the company could pull it off, “it could be in the running for a Nobel Prize.”
Chicken rumors aren’t new, of course.
KFC has for some time had to rebut the yarn that the federal government ordered it to switch its name from Kentucky Fried Chicken because it had stopped serving “real chickens” in favor of test-tube-generated birds.
That's a "ridiculous urban legend," a KFC spokesman told Business Insider via email. "KFC uses top quality poultry from trusted companies like Tyson and Pilgrim's Pride—the same brands customers know from their local supermarkets."
Still, there are those who say that the chickens we see and eat today, in stores and in restaurants, are not quite so natural as they once were.
“Modern factory-farmed chickens look very little like their wild chicken ancestors,” according to the ASPCA, which says that thanks to selective breeding, drugs, excessive feeding and not enough exercise, factory-farmed meat chickens grow unnaturally quickly and disproportionately.
No word yet on any rumors of the big burger chains developing Supercattle.
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