Poll: "Ingredients in a Chicken McNugget" or "You Want me to Eat What Now?"

[Treblaine]

If my life were to be divided up into story arcs with themes, one of the two themes of this part of my life would be "what do I need to do to be healthy." While researching the answer to that question I came upon this, a list of the ingredients in a Chicken McNugget. I would like to share with you now an excerpt from the notes I took from Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Of the 32 ingredients in a Chicken McNugget, thirteen can be derived from Corn: The corn fed chicken; corn starch; modified cornstarch; mono-, tri-, and diglycerides; dextrose; lecithin; chicken broth; yellow cornflower; vegetable shortening; partially hydrogenated corn oil; and citric acid. A few other plants are used as ingredients, wheat in the batter, and sometimes hydrogenated oil from soybeans, canola, or cotton is used in place of that from corn. McNuggets also contain several completely synthetic ingredients: sodium aluminum phosphate; mono-calcium phosphate; sodium acid pyrophosphate; calcium lactate; dimethylopolysiloxene (which, according to the Handbook of Food Additives, is a suspected carcinogen, as well as a confirmed mutagen, tomorigen, and reproductive effector, it is also flammable); and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) [which, according to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, is a form of butane (lighter fluid) that the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in food: it may comprise no more than 0.02% of the oil in a nugget. Ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, and a sense of "suffocation and collapse." Five grams of TBHQ can kill.] The nugget is responsible for chicken having passed beef as the most consumed meat in America.

... So now, if I may, let me pose a question. What the hell is wrong with us? Why would anyone eat this? Why would anyone think that it qualifies, even remotely, as food? Considering that statistics say that one in three American children eat fast food every day, shouldn't we be asking ourselves some serious questions like "why is it even legal to serve that to people, nonetheless to children, and on a regular basis?"

EDIT: Well, it looks like it timed out and cut my poll, sorry folks, no poll today.

I lol when people who have zero knowledge on science bash on McDonalds.

How about you get clue that just because chemicals are present doesn't mean it's going to kill you or even harm you. Most of them are there to protect you.

Take for example Potasium Nitrate, added to almost ALL meats. This may startle you if your were utterly ignorant of food science but potassium nitrate is the only safe preservative that prevents the spread of botulism in cut and frozen meat. Botulism causes paralysis of the body and death, its purified toxin is on of the most deadly neurological-agents available to the chemical weapons arsenals...

... and it's 100% natural bacteria and toxin. And if we didn't add this chemical, every piece of meat no matter how well cooked or stored has the risk of killing you.

"Suspected carcinogen" do you even know what you are talking about? That is meaningless, not to mention even CHARCOAL is considered a "suspected carcinogen" yes, ANY food that is fried, grilled, baked, toasted or cooked in any other way than boiling could give you cancer.

So if you are REALLY worried you should live on boiled vegetables for the rest of your life!

Or maybe you will hypocritically skip that one.

"Why would anyone think that it qualifies, even remotely, as food?"

Oh my god, are you serious!?!? IT IS CHICKEN! Flesh from a chicken is cooked, that's food.

"shouldn't we be asking ourselves some serious questions like 'why is it even legal to serve that to people' "

Because it is not dangerous. The FDA has approved it as safe. THAT is why it is legal.

If you are a scientist qualified in this area and have found and proven that any of the chemicals present in Nuggets are dangerous IN THE QUANTITY THAT THEY ARE PRESENT (that's the important part) then show that to the FDA. And if you have a good case then they may consider changing the rules on what is permissible.

DO NOT start an anti-intellectual smear campaign banking on paranoia over "chemical names" to bash a restaurant.

But I'd question your spurious claim of the contents. You CLAIM these chemicals are present though a google search for dimethylopolysiloxENE leads right back to this article:

http://www.google.com/search?q=dimethylopolysiloxene&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&client=firefox-a

The word doesn't seem to even exist.

Here is what McDonalds claims is in a Chicken McNugget:

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/ingredientslist.pdf

However DimethylpolysiloxANE does exist and you know what is actually is? Harmless Silly Putty.

Yeah, that stuff kids have been playing with FOR DECADES, huge giant chunks of the stuff. And here it is only in trace amounts. The stuff is harmless.

Fuck. Sake.

People these days. Did you deliberately miss-spell Dimethylpolysiloxane just so it was harder for people to check up on your bullshit or are you just so scientifically illiterate you mix up your Alkenes and your Alkanes.

You are NOT QUALIFIED to criticise McDonalds for the contents of their food. Get an education on chemistry first. Yeah, freedom of speech you can say what you like, but your words carry n weight.

 

[lacktheknack]

0.02% of the small amount of oil in one mcnugget? So i have to eat 5000 mcnuggets to have a chance at dying?

CURSES, FOILED AGAIN.

No, you only need 250. Feel better?

EDIT: Wait, let check the numbers again...

 

[ActivatorX]

Considering the other crap we do (and intake) to our bodies, i doubt mcnuggets are as harmful as, say, breathing is nowadays. With all the pollution, second hand smoke, diseases, and crap in general that's floating around in the air, there's worse we can do than eat a thing of mcnuggets.

Like smoke, I do that quite frequently. So i'll enjoy the rare mcnugget i eat knowing i put more poison in my body via inhaling what lets me keep a steady job

~edit~ btw, it's an odd day. post 69 about clevage, post 70 about food. i'mma go nap now

There is NO real evidence that secondhand smoke kills. None. All of EPA's and other agencies' documents were rigged.

How many diseases can you actually catch through airborne inhalation?

As for McD's, everybody knows that it's crap. I stopped eating there probably many, many years ago.

EDIT: I stopped eating at McD's because the food there always caused stomach pains and digestion problems. I don't really believe scaremongering surveys and experiments.

 

[Ham_authority95]

I believe alcohol is also flammable and we drink that like water sometimes.

I get your point though, and that's why I stick with the American classic of burgers when I go there.

You realize that there's shit dumped in the meat (literally) whenever the skinners at the meatpacking plant make a mistake, right? That Borax is sometimes used to hide the spoiled smell, and several incredibly damaging chemicals are used to extend the meat's longevity?

Seriously, don't look up the ingredients of a fast-food burger if you want to sleep at night.

I actually have looked up the ingredients of fast food burgers and I slept better because I was no longer ignorant.

"Uninformed". And you've already stated that you hate McDonalds' fast food, so of course YOU will sleep just fine. The guy I was quoting, however...

I don't eat fast food much. It's faster, cheaper, and healthier to make my own food.

Yeah...while most other kids at my school go to fast food places, I usually get a bagel or a hoogie from the Cantine. Costs less than 3 bucks.

Fast food fucks with my emotions anyway, so I only eat it as rarely as possible.

 

[spartan773]

Ugh. I'd have been perfectly happy not knowing all that. Now that I do, I can't eat another McNugget.

So do me a favor and DON'T list all the ingredients of other food I used to like!

i used to eat at McDonalds... until i found out Burger King and Carl's Jr. have better quality food.

This, although I'll have to substitute Carl's Jr. with Super Macs as we don't have it in Ireland.

well... anywhere where they at least grill the meat, instead of putting it on a flat grill. too much grease and it doesn't really get that charred flavor that a char-broiling grill gives.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

The most fast-food my husband and I eat is, In-and-Out, here in So.Cali, and that's just every two weeks or so depending on days-off and vacations and what not.

In-and-Out also doesn't make us feel like crap after eating it, the ingredients are simple and they taste fresh, and the place has never made me sick. My stomach can't handle a majority of fast-food places and their grease, so I just steer clear. I've never been a fan of McDonalds, ever. They've always made me sick and their food is cheap garbage.

If I want something that's deemed 'junk' (pizza, fried chicken, cheeseburgers, american style Chinese food)- I usually just buy fresh ingredients at the grocery store and make my own cleaned-up version at home.

Better, in my opinion.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I am now very tempted to order an 8-piece McNugget...and set it on fire.

 

[tahrey]

Just snipping a lot of this...

What do you need to do to be healthy? For a start, just not eating fast food on anything that would constitute a regular basis is a good idea. I'm not sure how anyone thinks it could possibly be good for you. It's guilty pleasure comfort food, indeed... oh, and it's expensive. At least where I live...

It's fatty, high in salt and sugar, and doesn't leave you that full for all that long because it's got a lot of air but much fibre. This alone should be enough to say "alright ... move along ... nothing new to see here".

I do occasionally eat mucky D's, but as a friend of mine so eloquently puts it, it is the "food of last resort". Usually in my case, something I can grab from a drive thru that - at least from the road - doesn't look to have a long queue, when I'm dashing to make time on a trip whose start got delayed, but I'm also starving (the sensible money really would be on getting a pastie from a the petrol station, but sometimes you want something warm - NB it is never "hot"). Or on even less frequent occasion (maybe once every couple of years?) when as a household we're too tired and lazy, possibly having just got back from trip(s) again, to do anything as civilised as open the fridge or wash up plates, and fish 'n' chips/chinese/indian/pizza/etc isn't flicking our switches. That's it.

Besides, locally, we now have a slightly smaller time but much more enjoyable rival chain which I'd prefer to go to, as it serves proper chips, a greater range of "mains" to go with them, curry sauce, and it all actually tastes of something and doesn't have the texture of limp sponge... yet with a drive thru, or at least parking right outside the door and a chipshop/diner style full-length bar service, and very late opening - 24 hours in some cases, which has been most welcome on a couple of occasions (oh, and they don't seem to be continually, desperately pinning their hopes on a series of totally disappointing "specials", cf: "The M" and all that crap). If they spread nationwide, I may never go to McD's again. It's just as salty, and the meat's almost certainly halal, but unlikely to have all the chemical additives or be "mechanically recovered".
(this rival btw is none of: Burger King, KFC, Wendys/Wimpys, GBK or any other widespread/multinational you could name. It's strictly a UK midlands affair as far as I've seen)

I can't, and never have been able to understand those who eat takeaways, particularly grease-trap burger bar fast food, on a regular basis (more than once a week particularly). It's not good for you, it's bankrupting, and ruinous to health. Even chinese/indian isn't so good, unless you have e.g. tandoor fish with plain brown rice and some simple chutney or yoghurt to go with... but it is at least *better*.

But as for that ingredients list ... meh. I thought pretty much every foodstuff in the USA was made of corn or soya now? The things that are listed as being trace amounts because that's what's thought to be safe, well ... that's what's thought to be safe. If they were putting unsafe amounts in (and remember these are calculated on the assumption that you're eating the exact same thing for every. single. meal.), it'd be worth worrying about. And they probably serve a useful purpose. Some of the stuff like phosphates and all that may be superficially "artificial", but they're also fairly traditional preservative and flavour-enhancing compounds, and you'd have trouble putting much distance between them and sodium chloride (ie sea salt) on a chemical or physiological basis (and remember that the much-aligned MSG is actually a natural compound, particularly found in oriental seaweed, but other sources too).

You need a little of these things, or at least the elements in them, to be healthy anyway. Nutrition is a balance, often you may need a little of something to get by, and it's only when you start piling it on that you have problems. Salt, fat, sugar, and cholesterol are good examples of this... if you cut them out completely, you would die, but heaping your plate with them will do similar. Water, even. Too much water kills you, and I don't mean by drowning.

I could have laughed when reading the bit about "and it's flammable". Wowzers. You don't even want to know what kind of fire risk the vegetable oil it's cooked in poses, then. Or the sheer amount of energy released as heat should a stack of natural sugar be set alight. Like a trace of it in a nugget will make it, or you set on fire spontaneously.

I'd recommend torrenting "E Numbers: An Edible Adventure" if you can get hold of it, to find out the (bbc-filtered..) truth on what is or isn't bad in these cases. It may not apply so directly in the states, but the compounds are generally the same, just the focus is on those which have EU code numbers. And take a chill pill. A slightly messed-around box of nuggets isn't going to cause you any harm unless you're troughing them continuously, like in Supersize Me. Something that causes you sickness if you ingest a gramme of it, death if you ingest five? Bit like caffiene then, though at a relatively lower level of both action and presence. It makes up 0.02% by law of the oil in a nugget. That's two ten-thousandths. So to get ill, if they're within the guidelines, you'd have to consume 5 kg of nugget oil to feel the effects. That's more than a gallon's worth, about the same volume as the blood in your body (and the fatal dose would fill a small bathtub). Just by drinking a tenth as much oil as that, you'd feel ill, regardless of other ingredients. How much oil do you think you ingest even with the largest, greasiest box of nuggets? I'd be surprised if it's more than 25 grammes, or a couple of large spoonfuls - a little goes a long way.

In any case, go find a greengrocer and a decent butcher, or at least a WalMart, and buy a cookery book to make use of the cornucopia of deliciousness within (i'm not even halfway into exploring the stuff on offer, as I'm living at home and have to bear others' conservative tastes in mind - I'm going to go wild once I move out). Free yourself.

Hmm... I edited this as it looked like it was still the final comment. Kind of didn't notice it was merely bottom of page 2 out of 4. Oh well.

 

[luckycharms8282]

Thats gross...does this apply to other types of chicken nuggets or just MCeedees

 

[Kpt._Rob]

If my life were to be divided up into story arcs with themes, one of the two themes of this part of my life would be "what do I need to do to be healthy." While researching the answer to that question I came upon this, a list of the ingredients in a Chicken McNugget. I would like to share with you now an excerpt from the notes I took from Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Of the 32 ingredients in a Chicken McNugget, thirteen can be derived from Corn: The corn fed chicken; corn starch; modified cornstarch; mono-, tri-, and diglycerides; dextrose; lecithin; chicken broth; yellow cornflower; vegetable shortening; partially hydrogenated corn oil; and citric acid. A few other plants are used as ingredients, wheat in the batter, and sometimes hydrogenated oil from soybeans, canola, or cotton is used in place of that from corn. McNuggets also contain several completely synthetic ingredients: sodium aluminum phosphate; mono-calcium phosphate; sodium acid pyrophosphate; calcium lactate; dimethylopolysiloxene (which, according to the Handbook of Food Additives, is a suspected carcinogen, as well as a confirmed mutagen, tomorigen, and reproductive effector, it is also flammable); and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) [which, according to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, is a form of butane (lighter fluid) that the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in food: it may comprise no more than 0.02% of the oil in a nugget. Ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, and a sense of "suffocation and collapse." Five grams of TBHQ can kill.] The nugget is responsible for chicken having passed beef as the most consumed meat in America.

... So now, if I may, let me pose a question. What the hell is wrong with us? Why would anyone eat this? Why would anyone think that it qualifies, even remotely, as food? Considering that statistics say that one in three American children eat fast food every day, shouldn't we be asking ourselves some serious questions like "why is it even legal to serve that to people, nonetheless to children, and on a regular basis?"

EDIT: Well, it looks like it timed out and cut my poll, sorry folks, no poll today.

A little knowledge is perhaps as harmful as none, if you don't realize the significance of what you do and do not know. If you're going to pass along things as true, make sure they are such, and not propaganda and fearmongering.

A cursory search for tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) reveals a rebuttal to the statements attributed to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives that makes that work of questionable worth as a source.

EPA report indicates at 1000mg/kg dosage (that's 1 gram of substance per kilogram of ingestee's body weight) there was inconclusive evidence of potential increase in islet cell (pancreas) tumors.

Doing a little bit more research, as of April 1, 2010, dimethylpolisiloxane is limited to 10 parts per million by the FDA, which is approximately 1.5mg/kg (see first link). This is 1/667th the 'inconclusive' level, so even if each McNugget contained the 1.5mg FDA limit, you'd have to consume 667 of them (in less than 3 days) to reach that point if you weighed 100kg (220 lbs). This is approximately 10.5kg (23lbs) of McNuggets, and half that for someone 110 lbs, of course. So you just need to eat a tenth your weight in McNuggets in 3 days.

 

[Treblaine]

That's why I said 'lowest tier' .

I love it when stuck of rich guys waltz over to take a shit where I eat.

Yeah, your type, love to bash McDonalds, probably because you're well off enough to eat at some swanky restaurant most days. Well the NHS doesn't pay very well.

A meal costs £5.40 in Burger King and I have to pay for BBQ sauce. Same size meal costs £3.79 in MD and I get WiFi and BBQ sauce for free. That's 45% more at BK, for what?

I know this is just my personal experience but I went into burger king once and a rat, A FUCKING RAT ran past me and out the door. I know that's an isolated incident but seriously, what the fuck?!?! How did it get there, why was the staff so surprised when told them I saw a rat? Had they not even seen it?

Also. Egg McMuffin. Seriously. How the fuck is that "lowest tier" and they're open at 6am. Good pancakes too. You know a restaurant on the highstreet that does better than that!?!?

They're coffee is bitter crap but otherwise they are God Tier.

I know what it is. Nah, I've figured it out. It's the price, so cheap certain types get suspicious when you're not spending more than £6 for a meal. Well that's "sound" logic expense = quality[/sarc]. (Console games cost about 35-50% more than PC games)

 

[PhiMed]

"the fact that these costs are not made clear at the time of purchase seems like fraud to me".

Okay. I've figured you out. You are not a health advocate. You are an anti-corporatist and a drama queen. That's fine, but the fact that you didn't properly identify yourself seems like fraud to me.

The assertion that every possible repurcussion of a purchase must be disclosed at time of sale is unfeesible at best, and absolutely impossible at worst. It's a consumer's responsibility to make their own dietary decisions. People know Chicken McNuggets are bad for you, I assure you. That's been in the news and media enough for even the thickest of thickies to understand. The fact is that THEY DON'T CARE, and IT'S NOT YOUR JOB TO SAVE THEM.

Also, if "these toxins accumulate in fat cells", why didn't you cite which ones specifically? Certainly it would be easier to identify which of these toxins accumulate in adipose tissue postmortem than it would be to biopsy through clinical trial, would it not? Oh, that's right. Most of them DON'T actually accumulate. That's just the argument every chicken little uses whenever someone points out that the LD50 of the substance they're wringing their hands over is several orders of magnitude higher than the amount present in whatever they're raging against. I seem to remember this exact argument being brought up with regards to aspartame, but aspartame lasts less than a few hours once ingested.

 

[Danzaivar]

I dream of the day when people can read something which says "In large enough quantities, this can kill you!" and not freak out that it's in a common food.

Everything's poisonous!

 

[hobo_welf]

Holy shit! A form of butane?! That must be why they're so delicious! Seriously I had some yesterday and I'm probably gonna get some now... Freakin delicious.

 

[dex-dex]

yeah there is a reason why i don;t eat at mcdonalds if i don't have to.

also the only things i like are big macs and fillet-o-fishes and i only eat them when i am with my dad going to the cottage which is a the minimum once every two months.

where the goodness is at Harvey's awwwwww soooo good. also there veggie burgers are fucking awesome!

 

[Treblaine]

A little knowledge is perhaps as harmful as none, if you don't realize the significance of what you do and do not know. If you're going to pass along things as true, make sure they are such, and not propaganda and fearmongering.

A cursory search for tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) reveals a rebuttal to the statements attributed to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives that makes that work of questionable worth as a source.

EPA report indicates at 1000mg/kg dosage (that's 1 gram of substance per kilogram of ingestee's body weight) there was inconclusive evidence of potential increase in islet cell (pancreas) tumors.

Doing a little bit more research, as of April 1, 2010, dimethylpolisiloxane is limited to 10 parts per million by the FDA, which is approximately 1.5mg/kg (see first link). This is 1/667th the 'inconclusive' level, so even if each McNugget contained the 1.5mg FDA limit, you'd have to consume 667 of them (in less than 3 days) to reach that point if you weighed 100kg (220 lbs). This is approximately 10.5kg (23lbs) of McNuggets, and half that for someone 110 lbs, of course. So you just need to eat a tenth your weight in McNuggets in 3 days.

You said it way better than me.

I made the mistake of initially assuming he was being even slightly reasonable in what he was saying.

No, this is blatant trolling. He's not trying to be informative or discuss this reasonably, he himself is scaremongering, exploiting ignorance and paranoia of "chemicals".

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

... So now, if I may, let me pose a question. What the hell is wrong with us?

Dude, watch some sausages being made. Especially Tesco Value Sausages.

Chicken Nuggets are minced remnants of what they have left with chicken flavour in. Most of us knew that when we picked them up.

 

[siddif]

This wont stop me from eating them, heck working in McDs never stopped me eating the food. For what you get some of the food can be pretty good relatively (as in hamburger vs hamburger) (well in the UK at least) As for using known carcinogens - Oxygen is the biggest one so were all pretty screwed in that respect but other than that the list is longer than things that don't cause cancer an most are only possible connections.

You could live your life trying to be as healthy as possible and get hit by a bus the next day, enjoy yourself instead of scrutinising every action you take. Enjoy fast food in moderation, exercise and look after yourself and you should be fine but dont panic over the small things and the possibles.