Chicken nuggets are made with white meat from the breast or pectoral muscles of poultry, with other parts of the chicken mixed in. Tendons, bones, nervous and connective tissues, and fat can be shredded before being shaped into bite-sized pieces. The typical chicken nugget is made from white chicken meat that is supposed to come from the pectoral muscles or the chicken breast. However, other parts of the chicken are usually mixed in as well.
Nerve tissue, connective tissue, bones, tendons, and fat are generally shredded together and then given the common shape of bite-sized oval meals. Many studies tend to find nuggets that contain more fat than meat, along with some nerves, bones and connective tissue. The number one ingredient in McDonald's chicken nuggets is 100 percent white boneless chicken breast meat. But is it really that bad? As I sat and pondered this same question while inhaling the scent of their French fries, I decided to delve into researching a dish on the menu.
It is the one that has been the subject of the most scrutiny and controversy in recent years, and about which McDonald's marketing has made big statements. So let's explore what's actually in McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. While some of the ingredients seem like pretty reasonable additions to chicken McNuggets, it's hard to tell with others. What are these things? TBHQ, also known as tertiary butylhydroquinone.
The author Michael Pollan caused a sensation when he erroneously referred to this preservative as derived from a liquid for lighters in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, but it's still something unpleasant. TBHQ is an artificial antioxidant that is used to preserve foods that contain fats, but it is also used in cosmetics, paints and varnishes. In very large doses, it can cause nausea, collapse, and even death, but you'll probably need to eat 11 pounds of chicken McNuggets (made with the recipe above) to reach that level. However, take a look at the safety data sheet for the materials used by factories that handle this material and ask yourself if you want to swallow even the smallest dose.
TBHQ is also being studied to determine its possible relationship with the increase in food allergies. You've probably seen the videos and photographs that went viral a few years ago, such as the one above, that illustrate the pink slime that was said to be used in hamburgers and chicken McNuggets at McDonald's. The official news from McDonald's is that the photos and videos that circulated did not come from a facility that manufactured McDonald's food. So what were those things? And while we're at it, why can't we eat spicy chicken sandwiches from Indonesia and spinach and cheese nuggets from Italy?.
Myths have circulated in the past that meat is full of by-products, but their current recipe uses only 100 percent chicken breast. The first executive chef of McDonald's, René Arend, originally from Luxembourg, created the recipe for chicken McNuggets in 1979. A four- or six-piece meal of chicken nuggets contains some sodium, but when you consider the other foods you eat in a day, they can be included in a low-sodium diet. While chicken nuggets are fast food and not something anyone should eat every day, they're not the worst thing you can eat either, he says. Chicken McNuggets are a type of chicken nuggets sold by the international chain of fast food restaurants McDonald's.
So, she writes, “we thought it might be important to know a little more about the content of the contemporary chicken nugget. There is no need to reveal the source of the flavors, so it is unknown where the natural flavors of McDonald's chicken nuggets come from. But it's no secret what a chicken nugget contains: most quick-service restaurants have nutritional information published in the store or on their website, the statement adds, noting that the nuggets sold in grocery stores also include a complete nutritional profile. To help chicken nuggets swell during the heating process, McDonald's adds a mixture of several different leavening agents to the dough, such as baking soda, aluminum and sodium phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, calcium lactate and monocalcium phosphate.
The vegetable oil in chicken nuggets is a mix of canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and hydrogenated soybean oil. Some combinations and recipes for chicken nuggets are worse for you and your health than others, but even premium chicken nuggets distributors aren't considered healthy foods. It was discovered that one of the major restaurant chains that serves a pack of 6 chicken nuggets contained a quarter of the recommended daily dietary intake. If the pepita were the true and expected chicken nugget suggested by name, it would contain dietary amounts of iron, zinc, calcium, copper, niacin, vitamin B6 and B12.
