Chicken 'Nuggets' May Not Contain Any Chicken

[Guest guest]

Most terms can mean different things to different people. Chicken meat conjures

up visions of breasts and drumsticks to most people, but I almost guarantee that

is not even close to what it means to these chicken food refiners. To them it

would equate to what you would probably throw away when you get ready to cook

the chicken.

 

The same with many things in our food supply. The beef in beef hot dogs or the

cheap beef hamburger conjures up a vision of red meat like a steak, roast or a

chop. But to meat processors it is also what runs out of the remains of a

carcass after all of the salable meat is cut off, including the lips, udders,

etc. and they put what is left of the carcass in a press and smash the bones,

gristle, blood, etc. flat and the stuff that runs out is then called

" mechanically seperated " . I think that it would be more correctly labeled as

" the stuff that runs out when they smash the carcass flat by a big machine " That

is then added to the hot dog or hamberger makeup.

 

have a nice breakfast,

 

Frank

 

 

" 121 " <121

Sun, 18 Apr 2004 20:53:53 -0700

Chicken 'Nuggets' May Not Contain Any Chicken

 

http://www.rense.com/general51/contain.htm

 

Chicken 'Nuggets' May

Not Contain Any Chicken

By Kirsty Needham

Sydney Morning Herald

4-15-4

 

 

Warm, bite-sized and sort-of white, they are the favoured fast food of millions

of children who believe they are eating chicken.

 

Twenty-five years after the first boneless, reconstituted chunk was sold to

McDonald's by a supplier, the chicken nugget leads sales of " value-added "

poultry products.

 

It is a " McFrankenstein creation " , according to the New York judge who, in a

court case involving McDonald's last year, identified a long list of nugget

ingredients, including " anti-foaming agent " .

 

A large Australian chicken processor describes a nugget as a mouthful of batter,

water, soybean (sometimes passing as chicken), skin, fat and - entirely

dependent on how much you've paid - chicken meat particles.

 

In 2002, the Australian Consumers Association tested 14 popular nugget brands.

The study found chicken filling often made up less than half of each nugget. Fat

per average serve was as high as 31 grams. And none contained real chicken

chunks, but " manufactured " or " formed " chicken.

 

The consumer group wants tougher labelling. " The labels won't say if 57 per cent

chicken is a nice piece of chicken breast or skin and off-cuts, " says its food

policy officer, Clare Hughes.

 

Philip Tana, manager of operations and part-owner of Red Rooster, does not like

the term " manufactured " chicken. " We prefer 'further-processed' chicken. The

chicken is still grown and they then harvest the meat. "

 

Red Rooster nuggets are 56 per cent " formed " chicken, but Mr Tana says the

ingredients are " not different to what any housewife or chef would use.

 

" If we took them off the menu there would be an outcry. "

 

Perth-based Canon Foods processes 80 million nuggets each year. Chief executive

Richard Pace says

 

chicken is ground to five-millimetre particles, then skin and soybean added with

water to make an emulsion.

 

Canon's nuggets vary depending on the client, with the more expensive one

containing white meat. An average nugget contains one-third batter, up to 10 per

cent water, and skin.

 

" Depending on the price, water can be a replacement for chicken to make the

nugget cheaper, " Mr Pace says. Soybean is also often used as a chicken

substitute, but not by Canon, he says.

 

Steggles recently changed its nugget recipe to lower the fat and salt level and

whiten the meat.

 

McDonald's Australia would not comment on whether the recipe used here was the

same as that in the US, described by the New York judge as having " twice the fat

of a hamburger " .

 

A spokeswoman said local nuggets were " 65 per cent chicken " .

 

First published March 23, 2004

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/22/1079939581660.html

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Thank you for that lovely description, Frank!

 

I just showed what you said about " mechanically separated " to my

wife. She seriously wrinkled up her face and said, " Ugh---I always

wondered what that meant! "

 

I stopped eating at " fast food " restaurants decades ago simply

because I deeply mistrusted the idea of eating food that has been

mass-produced from farm to plate.

 

Even such a seemingly harmless product as a baked potato, when eaten

at a fast food outlet can be harmful because of the way the potatoes

are grown and processed.

 

As far as I am concerned, fast food chains would, if they could, just

run " drive-throughs " at which motorists simply threw their money into

a bucket and then drove away. But they know they have to give people

SOMETHING for their money. Still, they keep trying to make it less

and less, don't they?

 

I worked with a fellow in New York City years ago who was vegan, and

who referred to " Burger King " as " Burger Thing. " Perfect, eh?

 

Our medical and mental hospitals are full to brimming. McDonald's and

other fast-food chains are thriving. Is there perhaps a connection

there? Naah! Couldn't be! All those millions of people who ate all

those " billions and billions of burgers served " couldn't have been

wrong!

 

Best wishes,

 

Elliot