Editing KFC (section)

===The 11 herbs and spices===
{{Main|KFC Original Recipe}}
[[File:KFC - Pressure-fried Chicken - Howrah 2014-03-23 9718.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Original Recipe chicken sold in the iconic bucket]]
Sanders' Original Recipe of "11 herbs and spices" is one of the best known [[trade secret]]s in the catering industry.<ref name="Chartrand">{{cite news|last=Chartrand|first=Sandra|title=Patents; Many companies will forgo patents in an effort to safeguard their trade secrets|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/business/patents-many-companies-will-forgo-patents-effort-safeguard-their-trade-secrets.html?n=Top%2fNews%2fTechnology%2fColumns%2fPatents|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 5, 2001|access-date=September 27, 2013|archive-date=September 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929091111/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/business/patents-many-companies-will-forgo-patents-effort-safeguard-their-trade-secrets.html?n=Top%2fNews%2fTechnology%2fColumns%2fPatents|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Hovey | first=C. | title=The Patent Process: A Guide to Intellectual Property for the Information Age | publisher=Wiley | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-471-44217-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aulUAAAAMAAJ | access-date=November 7, 2017 | page=243}}</ref> The recipe is not patented, because patent law requires public disclosure of an invention and provides protection only for a strictly limited term, whereas trade secrets can remain the intellectual property of their holders in perpetuity.<ref>{{cite news|title=It pays to understand law on trade secrets|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2001/02/26/editorial2.html?page=all|access-date=February 22, 2013|newspaper=[[Louisville Business First|Business First]]|date=February 26, 2001|archive-date=October 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001203813/http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2001/02/26/editorial2.html?page=all|url-status=live}}</ref>

A copy of the recipe, signed by Sanders, is held inside a safe inside a vault in KFC's Louisville headquarters, along with 11 vials containing the herbs and spices.<ref name="Brady, Diane-2012" /><ref>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press |title=Colonel's Secret Recipe Gets Bodyguards |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2008/09/09/colonels-secret-recipe-gets-bodyguards.html |access-date=January 31, 2013 |newspaper=[[CNBC]] |date=September 9, 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923032226/https://www.cnbc.com/id/26618866/Colonel039s_Secret_Recipe_Gets_Bodyguards |archive-date=September 23, 2013 }}</ref> To maintain the secrecy of the recipe, half of it is produced by Griffith Laboratories before it is given to [[McCormick & Company|McCormick]], who add the second half.<ref name=crossan>{{cite news|last=Crossan|first=Rob|title=The A to Z of fried chicken|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=April 26, 2012}}</ref>

In 1999, a couple who bought the house formerly occupied by Colonel Sanders found scribbled notes purported to be the secret recipe. Initially, KFC wanted to file a lawsuit against the couple to stop an auction of the notes but, by early 2001, it dropped the lawsuit, claiming the scribbled notes are "nowhere close" to the original recipe.<ref>{{cite news|author=Sabra Chartrand|title=Patents; Many companies will forgo patents in an effort to safeguard their trade secrets.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/business/patents-many-companies-will-forgo-patents-effort-safeguard-their-trade-secrets.html|access-date=March 12, 2016|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 5, 2001|archive-date=March 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312001143/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/business/patents-many-companies-will-forgo-patents-effort-safeguard-their-trade-secrets.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Joe Ledington of Kentucky, a nephew by marriage of Colonel Sanders, claimed to have found a copy of the original KFC fried chicken recipe on a handwritten piece of paper in an envelope in a scrapbook. In August 2016, ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' staffers conducted a cooking test of this recipe and claimed after a few attempts that, with the addition of the [[MSG]] flavor-enhancer [[Ac'cent]], they produced fried chicken which tasted "indistinguishable" from the chicken they purchased at KFC.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dodrill|first1=Tara|title=KFC Secret Recipe Found? Colonel Sanders' Nephew Shares 11 Herbs And Spices Found In Family Scrapbook|url=http://www.inquisitr.com/3436361/kfc-secret-recipe-found-colonel-sanders-nephew-shares-11-herbs-and-spices-found-in-family-scrapbook|date=August 20, 2016|work=[[Inquisitr]]|access-date=August 21, 2016|archive-date=August 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822063251/http://www.inquisitr.com/3436361/kfc-secret-recipe-found-colonel-sanders-nephew-shares-11-herbs-and-spices-found-in-family-scrapbook/|url-status=live}}</ref>
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