Fast food franchise, KFC, has appealed the $8 million damages payment awarded to Monika Samaan and her family. The young girl was left severely brain damaged after suffering salmonella poisoning from a KFC menu item in 2005.

Samaan ordered a chicken twister from a KFC outlet in Villawood when she was seven years old but now, as a 14 year old, is unable to speak and in a wheelchair.

Earlier this year, the court found in favour of the family and ordered the chicken franchise to pay $8 million in compensation, despite KFC denying responsibility for Samaan’s condition.

According to SMH, lawyers for KFC have formally lodged appeal submissions, with the company also pushing to have the family cover its legal costs, dating back to the 2009 hearing which exposed a series of poor hygiene practices at the Villawood outlet.

In a statement released to the media, KFC said, “We feel deeply for Monika Samaan and her family but we continue to believe our food is perfectly safe and that the evidence in this case showed the incident was unrelated to our products – that’s why we made the difficult decision to appeal Justice Rothman’s decision.

“In more than 50 years of operations in Australia, KFC has earned a reputation for serving freshly prepared food following the highest food safety standards and has had no other case like this.”