What kid doesn’t love McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets? The white meat chunks are tasty and perfect for little mouths and hands. And while most parents are aware that McNuggets aren’t perfectly healthy, they probably don’t know exactly what goes into making them.
CNN has revealed that the fast-food chain makes this popular menu item with the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based product. Mcnuggets also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, “an anti-foaming agent” also used in Silly Putty.
Across the Atlantic in Britain, McNuggets don’t contain these chemicals and they’re less fattening. CNN reports:
McDonald’s says the differences are based on the local tastes: In the United States, McNuggets are coated and then cooked, in the United Kingdom, they are cooked and then coated. As a result, the British McNuggets absorb less oil and have less fat.
Dimethylpolysiloxane is used as a matter of safety to keep the oil from foaming, [Lisa McComb, who handles global media relations for McDonald’s,] says. The chemical is a form of silicone also used in cosmetics and Silly Putty. A review of animal studies by The World Health Organization found no adverse health effects associated with dimethylpolysiloxane.
TBHQ is a preservative for vegetable oils and animal fats, limited to .02 percent of the oil in the nugget. One gram (one-thirtieth of an ounce) can cause “nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse,” according to “A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives.”
Yum! So when your parents tell you to stop playing with your food….just show them this.
Kids are getting so fat they may as well bounce too.
Our family hasn’t eaten at McDonald’s (and other grease pits) for over 12 years. Even our kids hate the smell and even the thought of it now.
But I was always told “what you don’t know can’t hurt you”. Why oh why did I read that f’n article?
#4. Typical dumbed down moron.
DMS is also used in anti-gas drops for babies.
Guess that didn’t sound as threatening.
As for antioxidant TBHQ, one would have to ingest 2500 boxes (360lbs) of McNuggets at a sitting to get the one gram of TBHQ which could make you nauseous.
I would propose that eating the 360 pounds of nuggets would kill you first.
Trash “science” in the name of anti-capitalism.
Yeah, a gram is a megadose, if a dose is a microgram. Missing info is what a dose is. Besides, I’m not sure a chemical with those effects is a good idea at any dose.
@#5: First calculate than speak. See #6 for proportions and learn some math before calling people “dumbed down”.
#7 Article provided clear numbers, read comment #6 to see how tiny the dose is.
As for: “Besides, I’m not sure a chemical with those effects is a good idea at any dose.”… I guess you have had willingly something you knew contained Nutmeg.
Nutmeg’s flavour and fragrance come from oil of myristica, containing myristicin, a poisonous narcotic. Myristicin can cause hallucinations, vomiting, epileptic symptoms and large dosages can cause death.
Potentially lethal dosage of nutmeg? – 7.5g … Yet it is not used in “hell fast food kitchens” but in your mom and grandmom kitchens as many other scary poisons.
This article is yet another attempt to attack people who are not eating, thinking, doing,… as the Groupthink PC elite does and instill fear in them. Yet people still fall for it, despite such Groupthink disasters as Nacism, Communism, assorted cults,…
Which part of a chicken is the “nugget”? Just asking.
Sargasso,
“Nuggets” have a high utilization of chicken skin, necks and other less than wonderful leftovers.
Think SPAM, except much much much much worse.
Yeah, and they used to think radiation in water was good for you as well. I’d just be safe and keep the man-made chemical additives to a minimum.
#10 asked: “Which part of a chicken is the “nugget”? Just asking.”
Actually, these come from the rooster. 🙂
Sounds kinda weak.
Skeptic,
Without antioxidants, polyunsaturated oil goes rancid (oxidizes) and oxidized oil is one of the worst things one can consume if you don’t want to die from cardiovascular disease.
And you ask why we use such delicate polyunsaturated oils instead of more stable saturated oils?
That’s right, public health paranoia.
Yet, societies which consume saturated oils such as palm, have far less heart disease than those who consume unsaturated oils… go figure.
Shhhhhh. CNN are you listening? I have a scoop for you. Oxygen is toxic. No, really. There’s medical research and stuff you can look up. Yet, the government allows nature to make almost 21% of the air we breathe consist of this toxic chemical. Can’t we get the EPA to regulate this dangerous substance?
Gram, micro-gram, fraction of a gram….who gives a crap, why is there ANY amount of chemicals in the food we eat?!?
From the article – McNuggets also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, “an anti-foaming agent.”
The last thing you want is foamy kids.
So…
If I want a Sweet almond flavor, they will add arsenic??
#8. Double dumbed down moron.
#12 I believe you’re thinking of “Oyster McNuggets” Bon appetit!
The other thing about McNuggets in the UK is that they are made from 100% chicken breast and no other source of chicken ‘meat’, i.e. no neck, skin, testicles (I know, it was a joke!) or anything else less welcome.
I wonder how much of this clean up was due to consumer demand or the court case that showed McDonald in a VERY poor light. The documentary is called McLibel. Check it out….
#16
So it can be made on an assembly line for as cheap as possible.
ECA,
I believe you are confusing poisons.
Cyanide compounds, like prussic acid, are almond scented, arsenic is just nasty metallic, but does lighten your complexion.
A cheap product flavorist would probably add benzaldehyde to get an almond flavor.
Chicken Nuggets:
60% Corn products and byproducts, in 13 different forms.
8 petroleum derivatives.
What little chicken there is is held together with phosphate salts.
700 mg of salt in 6 pieces.
If the majority of the contents isn’t chicken in the first place, isn’t it deceptive advertising to make people think it is chicken?
How anyone can defend McNuggets as ‘food’ knowing the truth is really hard to understand.
Do you REALLY want a scare..
READ the cereal boxes..
For something that is SUPPOSED to be wheat/rice/sugar there are a BUNCH of chemicals in there..
and you are paying $4 for LESS THEN 1lb..
You might as well go out and get Trail mix, for CHEAPER.
#16 I have bad news. I know you failed science but I will explain. You are made of chemicals. Every thing you eat is made of chemicals. Without chemicals you can’t exist.
It is a fact trace chemicals which are bad for your health or even fatal in large amounts are present in all foods. Some them are even required for good health and if you don’t get enough you get sick or even die but in large amounts they are not good for you at all. They can even kill you.
If you didn’t know this all I can say is get over it.
#27. While true…it’s an idiotic way to explain why putting these chemicals in food is justifiable. You know what the poster meant…stop being an asshole.
Or maybe you are stupid?
#16 “why is there ANY amount of chemicals in the food we eat?”
And some restaurants boil our food in a chemical called dihydrogen monoxide. The horror. I even heard that farmers even put the chemical dihydrogen monoxide on organic food. Read more about the terrible uses this chemical is put to: http://www.netreach.net/~rjones/no_dhmo.html
However, chemicals are all around us. I can’t think of one food that has no chemicals in it. Even salt has the chemical sodium chloride in it. Everything is made of chemicals. You either illustrate ignorance of science, or you just are being intellectually dishonest.
Oops. I didn’t see that #27 already set #16 straight on chemicals in our food.
Ben, and the RESt of you..
CORPS want money.
they will cut any corner they can.
IF we can MAKE a product that lasts 1 year on the shelf, we DONT need to worry about it spoiling in 1 week/2weeks/1 month…WE dont have to supply FRESH.
REAL beer has a 1/2 life of about 4-6 weeks, but with preservatives they can make it 6 months AHEAD.
WOW, the can make more money selling peanut oil, then the peanut butter. so they SWAP out the oil.
Buy a COW for $1-1.80 per pound and chop it up and charge you $2-36 per pound..
WE eat more chemicals NOW then 10-20-30 years ago. but the corps dont think that way.
For all the SUGAR in Cereal, you would pay LESS for straight sugar per pound.
Have fun and look up the OILS used to fry foods in. WHY use an ALTERNATIVE oil, BECAUSE ITS CHEAPER. WHO remembers when FRENCH FRIES were crisp/cooked..They were MOSTLY cooked in lard.
It is very cheap in Mc-donalds that is the only reason why people buy chemicals from them…It is bad for health if they are sticking for long years..I too a rare eater there..