"Chicken" nuggets

Friday, 03 February 2012 16:47

Opinion

By Larrissa Le Vasser

Have you ever wondered what you're eating when you take a bite of your favorite fast food? Maybe you should start.

According to an article I read at docakilah.wordpress.com, most fast food places use mechanically separated chicken to make their meals; emphasis being put on McDonald’s.

Basically, the process of mechanically separating chicken to be sold in food places goes as follows:

The makers take parts of the chicken and they put it through a machine that is supposed to separate the chicken from the bone, but that does not really happen. You would think only the meat ends up at the end of the process, but what really happens is that the bone, the meat, and even parts of the eyes and guts get smashed together and grinded, until it looks like strawberry ice-cream. Lost your appetite yet?

What happens next is that they soak the “meat” in ammonia to get rid of all the bacteria covering it. But what that also does is give the “meat” an ammonia taste, so they fill it with artificial flavoring to make it taste more like actual chicken. Then to get rid of the pinkish color, they dye it to make it look like actual chicken too. Now how does your stomach feel?

It turns out; McDonald’s chicken nuggets are only about fifty percent actual chicken. You may be wondering, well then what is the other fifty percent? According to a "Yahoo!" article written by Lisa Collier Cool, "...the remainder is a mixture of corn-derived ingredients, sugars and synthetic substances." One of those synthetic substances being a form of silicone, which most of you may know is used in cosmetics.

“It grosses me out,” said sophomore Victoria Moreno. “Ever since I found out about what is really in them, I can’t go near McDonalds.”

I don’t blame her. Every time I even pass a McDonald’s, it has my stomach doing flips. All you have to do is mention the name, and I start to smell the old, stomach-turning grease, as if I had an order of fries right in front of me. For some people, though, the news does not really bother them.

“I don’t really care, I’m still going to eat them,” said Taylor Merritt, another sophomore here at Granite Hills. “They taste so good!”

That is exactly what the makers of those chicken nuggets want. They use tons of additives in their food to make it taste good, and to make them more filling. All it is, is an illusion. If you ever read the whole list of ingredients that are mashed into those nuggets, and the other meals for that matter, maybe you would think twice about putting it in your body.

Recently, McDonald’s has stated that they are going to stop using the “pink slime” in their meals. McDonald's senior director of quality systems, Todd Bacon, had made a statement on its website saying, “At the beginning of 2011, we made a decision to discontinue the use of ammonia-treated beef in our hamburgers. This product has been out of our supply chain since August of last year. This decision was a result of our efforts to align our global standards for how we source beef around the world.”

It may be a little too late for that, though. Even if they do change what they use for their food, I cannot say that it would make a big difference to me. Either way, McDonald's food is still some of the nastiest food I have seen, and tasted. I find it quite upsetting how most children (including myself) have been raised on this food. I know it may be the cheapest meal for your family, and in my case the closest food source, but there are so many better alternatives for a cheap meal.

I always think about how I feel after I have eaten at McDonald's, and after reading about what their food is actually made of, I finally understand why I always feel sick afterwards, because my body is screaming at me. It is asking me why in the world I even stepped foot in a place like that. I know a lot of you reading this are probably going to end up getting McDonald's for dinner tonight anyway, but hopefully this has really opened your eyes to what you may be putting your body through.

To learn more, visit:

McDonalds Nutrition Information.

Guide to eating healthy fast food.

Opinion: Is McDonald's Food Healthy

(Image by Sheng Lor)

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Comments

123

0 #26 Angel 2012-02-24 01:54

EW.! I've really never "eaten" at McDonalds and reading this article has made me feel as though i have made the right choice! :lol: However, even though their "food" sounds unedable i still don't mind stopping there for a soft drink or a slushie.

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0 #25 Sandra Tapia 2012-02-10 18:16

Even though the whole process of the chicken nuggets is disgusting, I still going to eat there because it is a quick way to stop your hunger and get something to eat. They are not very healthy but they are very delicious, maybe if you don't eat them so often it won't sicken you as much.

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0 #24 jereniss alcantar 2012-02-09 22:52

You can never be sure about any kind of meat you buy, but after reading this I know for sure I won’t be going back to McDonalds for a long time.

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0 #23 Yesenia Vega 2012-02-08 20:41

I have always hated McDonals and i find this very disgusting.

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+1 #22 Gabriella 2012-02-08 20:35

This was a gross article :-x

That is the last time i go eat there. Its all about Tacobell.

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+1 #21 Tate Calderon 2012-02-07 22:38

Mcdonald's is off my list :-x

. .Tacobell's the best!!

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0 #20 Juan velarde 2012-02-06 17:50

it doesn't really matter to me because i ate chicken nuggets since i was little and i wont stop eating them just bacause of the other 50% thats not chicken.

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0 #19 Sarah 2012-02-06 16:54

I already hate McDonald's and never EVER order the chicken nuggets! Now I know why this is the grossest restaurant I've ever eaten at, does it really deserve the title "restaurant"??

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0 #18 melissa 2012-02-03 23:13

I agree with Brittnay! ;-)

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0 #17 Marcus Lorenzo 2012-02-03 23:12

If you ask me, McDonalds is still a great eatery. Even by reading this article, I still think that this is one of the best fast food places in town. In fact, I'm thinking about eating there after school.