Stinky chicken, moldy meat and manipulated expiration dates: scandal at KFC restaurants in Europe

Stinky chicken served to customers, manipulated expiration dates, dirty refrigerators and moldy meat. We're not talking about a street stall in some forgotten corner of the world, but KFC restaurants in Europe.

A double scandal hits the world's most famous fast food chain for fried chicken, first in Denmark, then in the Czech Republic. So the Italian GreenMe is worried: what is happening in the 150 KFC restaurants in Italy?

But first, let's see exactly what happened in Denmark and the Czech Republic

The first reveal was in June 2025, when the Danish TV program Kontant aired an investigative report that made everyone who had ever been to KFC shudder. According to testimonies gathered, employees served thawed chicken that was already past its expiration date, but before doing so, they printed new labels to 'update' the expiration dates and thus erase all traces. And this was a systematic practice, not an isolated incident.

The authorities then decided to thoroughly investigate what was going on. The Danish Veterinary and Food Authority conducted inspections at all 11 KFC restaurants in the country, and the outcome was downright shocking: not one branch, but zero out of 11, achieved an acceptable hygiene score. Inspectors found meat kept in hot, dirty refrigerators, products without proper labeling and, in some cases, even mold. KFC had to permanently close all Danish outlets pending a new franchisee. A complete disaster.

Three months later, in September 2025, the second scandal erupted, this time in the Czech Republic. An independent journalist recorded exactly the same practices: spoiled meat, falsified expiration dates, chicken served to customers even though it was clearly 'smelly'. Former employees described in detail how expired meat was relabeled, washed and even resold after months of storage.

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspectorate conducted more than 140 inspections at KFC restaurants during 2025 and found violations at about one in three establishments. KFC denied everything, as might be expected. But the matter surrounding the alleged manipulation of best-before dates took on a political dimension when a Czech MEP submitted a written question to the European Commission, demanding clarification on what concrete measures are being taken to ensure that KFC restaurants everywhere in the EU comply with food safety standards.

And in Italy? Essere Animali wants answers

Against this background, Essere Animali decided to step up the pressure and ask KFC Italy what every consumer should demand: proof. Written proof that in the 150 restaurants in Italy, the same practices that were uncovered in Denmark and the Czech Republic are not taking place. The organization has already written to the company demanding maximum transparency.

This demand is neither a whim nor a form of scaremongering. It's the logical response to a scandal that has affected two European countries identically, as if it were a shared practice and not accidental incidents. In Italy, 70% of KFC customers eat on the spot in the restaurant, an exceptionally high percentage compared to the Anglo-Saxon average of 15-20%, and the main target group is young people between 16 and 38, with a new focus on families. In short: a wide and diverse audience that has every right to know what is on its plate.

The falsified data scandal fits into an already very worrying picture regarding quality and animal welfare. A few weeks ago, the new report The Pecking Order was released, which annually assesses the largest fast food chains on the standards they impose in their own supply chains. For KFC Italy, the verdict is again 'poor', with no improvement over 2024.

But it gets even worse: between 2022 and 2023, KFC Italy reduced the use of more robust chicken breeds even further, from 7.21% to 0.9%. A choice that led to higher mortality in the houses and greater use of antibiotics. Not exactly the course you expect from a company with a turnover of 179 million euros and an ambition to cross the 200-site mark by 2027.

Essere Animali's undercover investigations in the barns of a KFC supplier in the province of Verona back in March 2024 showed images you won't soon forget: thousands of chickens crammed together in overcrowded barns, animals with breasts and legs burned from constant contact with litter infused with ammonia, animals that have grown so fast - genetically selected to do so - that they can barely stand on their feet. Chickens that, we should not forget, eventually end up on the plates in Italian restaurants.

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of this whole story is KFC Italy's attitude toward requests to engage in conversation. Essere Animali explains that for nearly three years it has been trying to sit down with the company to get it to sign the European Chicken Commitment , a set of minimum animal welfare standards that has already been endorsed by more than 300 European companies and that KFC itself already applies in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Italy, however, it comes up against a rock-hard wall.

(©Essere Animali via GreenMe.it 2026 / Managing Editor: Julie Morgan - The Press Junction / Picture: ©Zyoung Hsiung via Unsplash)