A KFC restaurant in Rhuddlan hit the headlines across the world after a customer thought they found ‘chicken brain’ in their meal.

Last week the Journal reported that a chef from Rhyl had made the unwanted discovery after ordering from the popular fast-food drive-thru restaurant at Castle View Retail Park.

“It was pretty disgusting,” said the 31-year-old, who asked not to be named. “You hear about things like this but you don’t really expect to see it. It is just not acceptable.

Denbighshire Free Press: An article about the Rhuddlan incident published on Japanese outlet Trill.An article about the Rhuddlan incident published on Japanese outlet Trill.

“I’ve been a chef for seven years and as soon as I saw it my first thought was that it was brain.”

The fast-food chain had apologised to the customer and, when approached by the Journal, a KFC spokesperson said: “Hands up! We know this doesn’t look great but rest assured it’s not a chicken brain.

“This sometimes happens when dealing with fresh, natural produce.”

The story was met with shock and horror by readers across the area, and soon it had travelled nearly 6,000 miles to the screens of masses of online readers in Japan, where national lifestyle magazines Trill and Front Row described the substance as “parts of horror”

KFC is extremely popular in the East Asian nation, where millions of people have Kentucky fried chicken for Christmas dinner – a unique cultural phenomenon that causes demand for KFC to increase by 10 times in December.

Elsewhere in Japanese culture, legend has it that a curse was placed on the Hanshin Tigers baseball team by KFC founder Colonel Sanders after his statue was thrown into a river by fans celebrating their side’s championship win in 1985. The club was not able win the trophy for another 18 years.

It is unlikely that KFC’s popularity in Japan will be affected by the recent coverage - some Journal readers met the story with anger, while others said the finding would not discourage them from ordering chicken wings any time soon.