KFC HAS EDGED out rival McDonalds to become the world’s favourite fast food chain, according to an international survey.

The fried-chicken giant ranked six places above its Big Mac-selling nemesis in a food preference poll carried out for Oxfam in 17 countries. Pasta was named the world’s number one food, with ‘meat’ in second place and rice in third.

The survey shows that the influence of Western diets is spreading across the world. Either pasta or pizza was a top three favourite in more than half of the countries surveyed, including Guatemala and Brazil – where lasagne topped the poll. However, individual fast food brands were way down the list, with KFC only ranking 107th and McDonalds at 113th.

Every country’s top three foods were savoury except for Australia, where chocolate was number one.

Irish people were not surveyed in the poll, which was carried out in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, the UK and the USA. The study was part of Oxfam’s Grow campaign, which aims to encourage people to share food better across the world.

Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken said: “Food is one of life’s greatest pleasures and one of our most basic human rights. It’s important we all get involved in the debate about how to change the way we grow and share food so everyone has enough to eat today and tomorrow.”

KFC has more than 15,000 restaurants worldwide -  including 3,200 in China where it also sells a special ‘Taste of Ireland’ fried chicken option. However, that figure is dwarfed by McDonalds, whose meals are sold at more than 32,000 outlets around the globe.

Slideshow: Some of the world’s favourite foods