Shutterstock/Ken Wolter
- A Chick-fil-A employee has used a TikTok video to accuse the chain of wasting food daily.
- A worker is shown to be tossing what appears to be a full tray of chicken nuggets into the trash.
- The chain told Insider that food which falls outside a certain hold time is no longer safe to serve.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A Chick-fil-A employee has posted a video on TikTok purporting to show the amount of chicken nuggets that are thrown out by the fast-food chain daily.
In the footage, the worker can be seen by what appears to be another employee tossing away a full tray of chicken nuggets into the trash. The caption of the now-viral video read: "What they do every night with the chicken nuggets at Chick-fil-A."
The video, which only lasted a few seconds, has since amassed more than 7.4 million views, per Newsweek.
The outlet reported that a user commented: "The amount of food we throw away and the amount of starving people there are just doesn't sit right with me."
One person who said they formerly worked at Chick-fil-A wrote that the chain's workers were not allowed to take home uneaten food, or they would be penalized. "I used to work at [Chick-fil-A] and we would get written up if we took food home and didn't throw it out. They were stingy [as f***] which is why I quit," they alleged, according to Newsweek.
A spokesperson for Chick-fil-A told Insider in response to the video: "We aren't able to determine which Chick-fil-A restaurant this occurred at but can provide some clarity to what may have occurred. Chick-fil-A restaurants have high food safety and quality standards, so when food falls outside a certain hold time we're no longer able to safely serve it in our restaurants."
According to Chick-fil-A's website, the chain has a food donation program called Chick-fil-A Shared Table, which launched in 2012. The program is intended to fight hunger in local communities "by donating surplus food to local soup kitchens, shelters and nonprofits to feed those in need."
It is unclear, however, if the Chick-fil-A location filmed in the video was part of the program.