‘Uproar’ over wet wipes in KFC halal food branch

The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Daily Star, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, ITV News, and local papers Leicester Mercury and South Wales Evening Post all report that a KFC halal only branch refused to provide wet wipes to a customer because it was against ‘halal’ policy.

Graham Noakes, who visited a KFC branch in Leicester, was refused a wet wipe with the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Leicester Mercury claiming that staff reportedly told him the branch did not stock the wipes because “they are soaked in alcohol, which is banned in Islam.”

Noakes said “They told me it might offend other customers. I explained that it wouldn’t affect me. In fact – I told them I like alcohol, so it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

“When they wouldn’t give me one, I was disgusted. I will never be going to KFC again.”

A KFC spokesman said the branch removed its wet wipes because it was uncertain on company policy. The spokesman further confirmed that it had been running a halal-only trial since 2010 in areas where there has been customer demand.

KFC issued a statement in response to the incident stating: “Our alcohol based hand wipes are approved for use in all our restaurants, including those who are part of the halal trial. There was a misunderstanding at the store in question, but the wipes are now being used again. We’re sorry for the customer’s experience.”

Suleman Nagdi, of the Leicester-based Federation of Muslim Organisations, said “Sometimes the intention is sincere but they do need to understand the repercussions of this upon the community.

“We have all the bigots coming out and saying ‘there you go again, the Muslims are demanding something’ when it is not the case that we are demanding anything.

“It is ridiculous to suggest that this is some kind of demand from the Muslim community.”

Nagdi added “KFC have made a commercial decision to do this, and now the Muslim community will face backlash.”