Did You Know What Chicken Nuggets Are Made Of?
Surely you know the nuggets of chicken, a product widely consumed in fast food chains and can also be purchased in the frozen food section for frying at home.
This golden and crunchy product, with an idyllic image, makes more than one mouth water. In addition, many tend to think that it is a healthy product, especially for children, if the doctor has recommended us not to consume red meat due to cholesterol problems.
However, we must stop and think for a moment before adding nuggets to our menu or that of the children. Did you know what chicken nuggets are made of? Find out and in the following article and, once done, you can decide whether to continue eating them or not.
How are chicken nuggets made?
If you thought that the filling of chicken nuggets was made only of meat from this animal, you were wrong. This one looks more like a kind of frozen strawberry yogurt or a giant chewing gum.
In reality, it is a pink paste, a consequence of grinding the whole chickens mechanically separated. This is what the American Michael Kindt reveals in his blog Early Onset of Night.
But the matter does not end there, as the resulting mass is full of bacteria. To get rid of them, they wash it with ammonia!
The question that may arise now is the following: how do we not notice, then, the taste of ammonia? The answer is simple: through the use of artificial flavorings and colors. These manage to “cover” the smell and taste of ammonia. If we think about it, there are also a large amount of these additives that we usually consume daily in other foods
Despite everything, chicken nuggets are still being consumed …
The renowned chef James Olivier was in charge of publicizing the process of making the so famous chicken n uggets on his television show called Food Revolution, broadcast on the ABC network. Despite having as a goal that parents did not give this meal to their children, it did not obtain the expected success.
Subsequently, the Nat Geo channel broadcast in a program how food is processed under the technique of “mechanical separation”. This one explained a little more the beginnings of chicken nuggets .
The Huffington Post Research on “Fake Food”
On the other hand, The Huffington Post, also investigated about the so-called “fake food”.
Under the title, “Fake food, is that what you call chicken?” It was announced that nuggets not only have poultry meat (which is the only thing it should contain), but also organ meats, crushed bones, fats, veins, nerves, cartilage and about 30 additives, that is, less than 50% of its composition is chicken. The rest are all mixtures.
Among the large amounts of ingredients added to nuggets is the dangerous aluminum sulfate, for example.
Likewise, this study found in a piece of fried chicken an antifoam called dimethylpolysiloxane , present in antifreeze for cars. These additives have not yet been declared harmful, but neither are they claimed to be beneficial.
Another maker of this fast food dish added monosodium glutamate, linked to headaches and excessive sweating.
In the same way, a good amount of dextrose, an added sugar, was found, and it was found that ten units of nuggets contain 900 milligrams of sodium before frying, well above the recommended daily dose.
Research from The American Journal of Medicine
For its part, The American Journal of Medicine compared the nuggets offered in two fast food chains. Although it was not stated what they were, we can obviously deduce them.
These nuggets were only 50% chicken meat and the rest was a mix of gristle, nerves, crushed bones, veins, and fat.
It is not chicken, but a chicken-based product
According to Dr. Richard D. deShazo of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, “companies have chosen to use an artificial mix that combines parts of the chicken rather than the low-fat meat.”
To this he adds that this mixture is spread “with butter, they fry it and they continue to say that it is chicken. It is a chicken-based product, but it also has a lot of calories, salt, sugar and fat. Therefore, it is not healthy at all ”.
Additives, a major problem
For his part, Dr. David Katz, from Yale University, affirms that this mixture can be very harmful, although there are not yet many results of studies carried out.
However, it has been confirmed that knowing that blood vessels, crushed bones and nerves are processed alone cannot make people stop consuming them, but it is also necessary to know what additives are used to give it the consistency and flavor of the chicken.
Therefore, the main problem with chicken nuggets is not the parts of the animal, but the preservatives and chemical additives that are added to them.
You have already seen how the well-known chicken nuggets are prepared. Now it is your decision to consume them or not. We are sure that you can replace them with other products with a similar taste but much healthier.
