A chicken sandwich ordered by a Dearborn Muslim couple from a KFC in Lincoln Park on July 1 included bacon after they asked employees to have it excluded from their sandwiches.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — The Dearborn Muslim couple Askar Abubaker and Hasinah Saeed have filed a lawsuit against Kentucky Fried Chicken after bacon was found in their sandwich on July 1.
Attorney Majed Moughni filed the lawsuit on Aug. 22 in Wayne County Circuit Court where the couple claim bacon was on their chicken sandwich after asking an employee for no bacon.
According to the lawsuit, the couple entered the KFC store at 1217 Dix Hwy in Lincoln Park. Abubaker asked and was told by an employee the chicken sandwich contained Swiss cheese and bacon.
Abubaker said he then ordered two chicken sandwiches, asking for Swiss cheese and no bacon.
As both Abubaker and Saeed ate their sandwhices they found bacon inside. They approached the employee asking “What is this? Why did you guys put this in my food?”
The employee responded that it was bacon, apologized and offered to make the couple two new sandwiches.
Both Abubaker and Saeed allege the employees were staring at them and smiling during the exchange.
In Islam, it is forbidden to eat pork. According to the lawsuit, Abubaker and Saeed are seeking monetary damages due to emotional and physical distress from eating the bacon.
KFC issued a statement through a spokesman to the Detroit Free Press regarding the lawsuit:
“At KFC we respect the religious beliefs of our guests of all faiths. We believe this lawsuit was filed as a result of a miscommunication between the guest and our team member. We cannot comment further on pending litigation against one of our franchisees.”
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)