VANCOUVER - Health-conscious Canadians will have to wait a while before finding out whether KFC grilled chicken will be available in this country.
"This isn't part of our plans for 2008 yet, but we're always re-evaluating the menu offerings that we offer our customers,'' according to a statement Monday from KFC Canada.
Grilled chicken could potentially be added at some point in the future, the company indicated.
Canadians who travel south of the border might see the new product -- called Kentucky Grilled Chicken -- in some U.S. locations in the coming weeks.
Louisville-based KFC, a subsidiary of Yum Brands Inc., hopes grilled chicken will lure back consumers who dropped fried chicken from their diets, or cut back on indulging.
The grilled product, served on the bone, is being tested in six cities -- Indianapolis, Colorado Springs, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Fla., and Austin, Texas. A national rollout is planned early next year.
KFC executives insist the chain is not backing away from its most famous product. New fried chicken items are planned this summer.
Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocate for nutrition and health, said the grilled chicken easily beats KFC Original Recipe fried chicken in calories, fat and sodium.
But she warned a grilled chicken breast contains 600 milligrams of sodium, slightly more than a third of what someone 50 years or older should consume daily. By contrast, an Original Recipe fried chicken breast has 1,020 milligrams.
