A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl is at risk of starving to death if her parents can’t get hold of KFC popcorn chicken.

Akira Gujadhur suffers from a rare eating disorder meaning the fast food is her main source of nutrition.

But the lockdown has seen the closure of all the company’s outlets and now her parents are appealing for help.

Raj and Hem Gujadhur from Poole have a letter from Akira’s consultant at St Thomas’ Hospital in London backing their appeal to KFC for assistance.

It says: “Akira has diagnoses of autism, learning difficulties and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder(ARFID). ARFID is a specific sensory and anxiety-based feeding disorder.

“She has a narrow repertoire of foods that she is able to eat, and extremely high levels of anxiety about new and unfamiliar foods.

“One of the main sources of nutrition for Akira is KFC popcorn chicken. She will not accept similar sorts of chicken sold in supermarkets.”

The letter asks KFC if it can sell frozen popcorn chicken to the family “to ensure her nutritional status remains adequate.”

Akira developed the condition after suffering a severe throat infection when she was eight-months-old. She stopped eating and, even when fully recovered, still refused to eat anything.

Her parents were encouraged to offer her a wide variety of food until she selected something she liked. At nine-months-old she chose a piece of popcorn chicken and has refused to eat anything else since.

The family buys two portions a day from their local KFC in Ashley Road, Parkstone and has so far spent £16,000 on popcorn chicken.

When the lockdown was announced the family, who live at Hermitage Road, bought 10 packets of popcorn chicken from the company but now they are running out and inly ave enough to last until Friday.

Her dad, Raj, said: “We invested in the same kitchen equipment that is used by KFC and cooked the KFC frozen popcorn chicken at the recommended temperature and cooking time. We were able to replicate the popcorn chicken and our daughter has been eating as normal.

“We thought the lockdown was only going to be three weeks but it sounds like it’s going to be a lot longer now. She could starve to death.”

Akira is a former pupil of Courthill School but is currently waiting for a place in a special school and has been out of class since July last year.

Raj, a senior actuarial analyst at Capita, added: “Due to her conditions, we are not able to explain to her about coronavirus or that KFC is closed.”

A KFC spokesperson said: “Since Akira and her family got in touch we’ve been working behind the scenes to try and help out as best we can.

“We totally understand what a challenging situation it is, so we’re speaking to our suppliers to try and get some popcorn chicken over to Akira, which should hopefully help until we’re back open again.”