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June 25th, 2010
03:44 PM ET
All McNuggets not created equal
All McDonald’s nuggets are not created equal. U.S. McNuggets not only contain more calories and fat than their British counterparts, but also chemicals not found across the Atlantic. CNN investigated the differences after receiving a blog comment asking about them. American McNuggets (190 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat for 4 pieces) contain the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based product. They also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, “an anti-foaming agent” also used in Silly Putty. By contrast, British McNuggets (170 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat for 4 pieces) lists neither chemical among its ingredients. “I would certainly choose the British nuggets over the American” says Ruth Winter, author of “A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives.” 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. "You would find that if you looked at any of our core food items. You'd see little, regional differences," says Lisa McComb, who handles global media relations for McDonald's, which has more than 32,000 restaurants in 117 countries. "We do taste testing of all our food items on an ongoing basis." One apparent difference is only a matter of labeling, according to McComb. U.K. McNuggets list ground celery and pepper, which are labeled simply as "spices" in the United States, she says. Marion Nestle, a New York University professor and author of “What to Eat,” says the tertiary butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane in the McNuggets probably pose no health risks. As a general rule, though, she advocates not eating any food with an ingredient you can’t pronounce. Dimethylpolysiloxane is used as a matter of safety to keep the oil from foaming, McComb 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.” In 2003, McDonald’s launched smaller, all-white-meat McNuggets after a federal judge dubbed the food “a McFrankenstein creation of various elements not utilized by the home cook." Among the ingredients that remained in the new McNuggets: tBHQ and dimethylpolysiloxane. Christopher Kimball, the founder and publisher of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and host of the syndicated cooking show America’s Test Kitchen, says he suspects these chemicals are required for the nuggets to hold their shape and texture after being extruded into nugget-shaped molds. “The regulations in Europe, in general, around food are much stricter than the U.S.,” Kimball says. soundoff (1,904 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Next »Leave a Reply to Social Media Marketing Businesses Near Me
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.
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@Exasperated is right, as well as @LP. If most people simply "Ed"-ucated themselves, then they may have appreciated the inherent humor of Ed's comment. Although, it was funny to read some of the subsequent comments. @David ... No, you do not have to eat your Silly Putty anymore so long as you eat your Chicken McNuggets. And, finally, @MIT Grad who stated that "all chemicals are bad" ... wow, I don't know where to begin with that one since everything is made of chemicals and chemical compounds – like, I don't know ... H2O. I think you should go back to school and get another degree, maybe some real "Ed"ucation. In the end, I suppose we may think of eating McDonald's as part of Darwin's natural selection.
@Joseph, here we go with the fixed income poor people tired arguement. If you were to spend $3 (not Including sales tax) per meal per day for Mcdonald's you would end up spending $63 a week on these meals. Are you saying that the same $63 can't be spent on getting groceries from the local grocery store to consum a healthier meal that you control the ingredients? Also, the same poor person on a fixed income that isn't working would not have any time to cook their own meals?
This has nothing to do with cost, it has more to do with convenience and laziness of not preparing meals yourself.
When I was a child McDonalds was a treat, and most of the time when you got a hamburger it was a Momma burger served on the white bread.
Also, to all of the people complaining about what chemical is put into these foods and now condeming McDonald's for using them should also look at the ingredients on the back of a box of wheatthins or cheese-its and try to pronouce everything list there. Honestly, you should be more mad at the FDA for allowing these companies to anything in these products.
mmm quinone, at least we wont get African sleeping sickness
@Sparky49, exactly what fine quality food are you speaking of in these resturants? Food in most resturant are processed the same way with these additives and perservatives that are present in fast food estiblishments. the only differences is that you get a much larger portion size. Look at you major chain resturants, they are even worse than BK or McD's, especially when it comes to sodium content.
Really, the solution is for folks to prepare their own foods and purchase groceries, but this is once again a convenience issue.
You shouldn't be scared of petrol byproducts in your food...petrol based nitrogen is pumped into the ground to grow our corn to then make derivatives that are in everything...try buying anything packaged that doesn't have xanthan gum or citric acid...it's tough
I am down for the boycott of these nuggets and it's maker. For too long in america we have give large corporations to feed us whatever crap they want or put whatever they want in tobacco and not have to be held accountable. IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND. I will not eat Mc Donalds or let my family eat Mc Donalds starting today..
I just naturally had no craving for McDonalds, or any fast food, ever. I don't know if thats not normal, but i prefer other natural stuff to fast food. I prefer sugar cane to a lollipop.
It's only tough if we let them. We are the informed generation and should expect and demand we not let large corps put our health before their profits. Not to even mention our children! Plain greed!!!
Ah everytime a McDonalds story comes out all the food snobs do as well. Yeah I feed myself and my kids this crap on a weekly basis, not the best meal choice but's it's cheap and easy and after a 12 hour workday I'd rather spend an hour with my kids than cooking for them. By the way careful with all your organic tomatos and lettace, unlike cholesterol, e-coli can kill you in just a day or two.
Not only is fast food not cheaper than a home cooked meal, but McDonalds is one of the more expensive ones. You can get a two chicken sandwich meal at Wendy's for the same price as a dinky 4 piece nugget meal. To say nothing of the medical bills you will have in the future if this is a nightly occurrence. There's plenty of quick and easy meals to cook that will also give you a few days of left overs for no more time and likely less money than a few days of fast food. There's a happy medium between being a slob and being a semi-health conscious frugal chef. And here's an idea, did you ever consider including the kids in cooking? Not only are you still spending time with them, you are teaching them important life skills and setting a far better example. Even a toddler can help in little ways.
So by eating McDonalds once a week or so makes me a slob? Funny thing is I bet I might be in better shape then you. Either way I can quit eating fast food but you'll always be a Mc Douche.
Whether these ingredients cause health problems is only one issue. Another, perhaps as important: Should we really be consuming peak oil as food?
Too bad it's not in our hand. How much money do you think the Mc Donalds feeds into our lobby system in congress. Stuffing the pockets of our law makers has been a huge problem and we need to take back our country. One way to do that is too cut off the funding by not supporting the companies that donate....err...err....bribe our lawmakers!!!
Ryan, if you want to spend an hour a day with your children don't expect it for too long. That"crap" you serve yourself will deteriorate your body's ability to metabolize the product's chemicals faster than your children's body does. Plus a bad argument when a huge portion of our youth is over weight and unhealthy. Remember when McDonalds was a treat! That's all it was, sorta like a soda. Making it a dietary mainstay is a very bad idea.
By spending time with his kids, he probably meant spending time on his butt in front of the TV telling them not now when they ask for help with their homework or to go outside and play catch.
I feel fine thank you for your concern See it's called moderation. In fact I ran over 10 miles late week during my lunch hour. I'm no marathon runner but I'd say that's pretty good. Oh and 'Really" both my kids are skinny as rails and active as hell so hold your judgement.
I haven't had a McNugget since I bit into a purple one 20 years ago. I've pretty much sworn off fast food and my health and bank account are much better for it.
For those who argue that they can only afford cheap food, you wouldn't believe how far a big bag of rice and dried beans will get you when your employer goes under. TRUST ME. I'd rather go to the grocery store and make meals out of actual ingredients than waste my limited funds on nasty, processed chemical crap.
You know most of you think it too large of a hill to climb to get these greedy companies to do the right thing. Your wrong! It's not a perfect system but remember leaded gasoline, lead in paint, asbestos, viox, ddt sprayed on the streets of suburban america, vietnam, korean war, katrina and the list goes on. We can and should make a difference. Every time we the people are pushed to a wrong we rise up in a proper manner and change it. Once again not perfect but we do have the power. Letting it happen is a crime that is punishable check your Civic Responsibilities out even if the punishment is living with the wrong.
Everyone on this thread is smarter than the previous poster. Humans.
In my experience here and abroad, costs are generally much higher on the east side of the atlantic.
It would have been interesting if the author had published the US and UK prices for McNuggets ... I suspect the difference would be significant enough to support all those extra regulations (and pay the additional salaries of those additional regulatory personnel). 😉
BOYCOTT OF MC DONALDS BEGINS TODAY 6/28/10!!!! WHO'S IN?!!!
I'm gonna boycott this post! Wait a second ... I'm already here – damn.
Oh well, off to get some McNuggets. Who's iin'?
I always thought when I went to Europe that McDonald's food tasted much better over there... Guess I know why now!
If you want to examine another real real difference in food quality, go to a McDonalds in Japan and order a cheese burger. We could not believe how good their burgers tasted. I don't think they allow fillers in their meat. After you taste a McDonalds burger in Japan, you'll never want to eat one stateside again. Ours obviously are loaded with fillers of some kind and lots and lots of salt. Maybe the CNN medical staff can analyse this as well. We ate there 7 years ago and haven't stopped talking about the quality difference yet.
In Israel the nuggets are made from corn. Yum!
I think my heart is screwed up
It's a good thing they did away with dark meat. /end sarcasm. Seriously though, when that federal judge dubbed the food “a McFrankenstein creation of various elements not utilized by the home cook," I don't think he meant the dark meat. All that grease and all those chemicals, and it's the organic ingredient that gets targeted? A super yummy ingredient at that.
I agree with most people who say we are what we eat! However the relationship of how Ruth explains dimethylpolysiloxane and TBHQ, she has not mentioned one small fact – both additives are FDA approved and food grade products. We are also talking in the amount of "parts per million" added to the vegetable oil in which nuggets have been fried. The TBHQ is not needed for frying oil but its added to guarantee a one year shelf life probably the result of a contract between manufacturing and customer MC D's
What Ruth should have said was that people need to understand what they are eating!
I wonder what part of the chicken they get these things from. Based on the taste and consistency, I'd say it's somewhere near the colon.
"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.”
So if one nugget has 12 grams of oil (fat), and the limit here is 0.02%, then you'd need to eat 415 nuggets to approach the amount of this compound required to make you feel odd. I think the nuggets themselves might lead to nausea, vomiting, and collapse long before this chemical.
I really do hate alarmist stats.
@Pat, this is exactly what I was getting at also, this is a FDA issue not a McDonald's issue. If other countries requirements are different and/or better then it is up to us (american Citizens) to get the FDA to do their job. Also, we would then have to live with the fact that our favorite foods would end up costing more. Maybe this would force folks to live like our parents and grandparent lived and make our own meals instead of waiting for someone else to do it. But that means that some people would actually have to spend time doing something other than surfing the Internet and watching TV.
To the poster that said that worked 12 hrs a day and decided to get McDonald's, I don't know what your situation is, but when I was comming up, folks cooked meals for the whole week on Sundays and froze stuff to take out during the week for meal because they were working all week and didn't have time. Maybe try something like that, you'll be alot healthier. Also, you could involve your children in your cooking and prep and make it a family activity, they'll get alot out of it.
I ate at Wendys yesterday when my husband and I were driving out of state. I haven't had fast food in months because I generally don't like it and generally like to eat healthier. While my meal yesterday tasted good, it was NOT cheap food – I think for the two of us it was over $14 for 2 chicken sandwiches, 2 orders of fries, and 2 pops. I don't understand how anyone thinks that eating fast food is cheaper than cooking at home. Sure, it is cheaper than stopping at a sit down place, but it is not cheaper than grocery shopping.
And the rule where you are not supposed to eat anything you can't pronounce wasn't made up for this article. Y'all have never heard that before? I think it is not supposed to be taken so literally – you can easily pronounce "milk" "cream" "wheat" but not all these chemicals. Sure, you can sound them out, but they are not familiar words and ingredients, and I'm sure even a chemist takes a few seconds to properly pronounce the word. If you can't buy it at the grocery store on its own, it probably shouldn't be in your food.
They show 99 cent burger.. you can go cheap if you want.. and also that's how they attract you. Also if a human size meal is $10, giant size will be $10.05, you make the choice...
T
Flygirl – Why would a news organization have medical staff??
Drake LaDue – right on.
Ed – of course you were trying to use humor to make a point – lots of no-point readers here, sorry.
Nobody who cares about the quality of food would eat processed food – not from McD's, not from other fast food outlets, not from boxes in the store. People concerned about real food and better eating would eat food in as close to a natural state as possible. It might very well be cheaper. And Bonnie – not all of us come from families who knew anything about good food – who prepared veggies not from cans – who didn't cook every piece of meat until it was shoe leather. I didn't have a salad until I was fourteen. I can learn now, yes, but years of convenience eating have conditioned my idea of time so that I have never thought of cooking as time-effective – so it's a struggle for me. But people have the right to put whatever they jolly well want into their mouths – they should be fully informed when the stuff is presented, though.
Educated people should think of chemicals, like most other things in life, as being on a scale – with one end of the scale having the knock-us-dead stuff, and the other having things like water (dihydrogen monoxide – there! I spoiled your fun!) that are fine in moderation. Truthfully NOTHING is fine if NOT in moderation – even pure oxygen will kill you. Non-educated people should first try thinking of learning as a good thing, and a worthy thing to try for – instead of something that they were denied in the past, and wasting their whole lives in resentment over that fact. Think more about a future than a past.
What makes me want to scream is the number of people here that have traveled outside the US and then eaten fast food. Is that why you go through the expense and hassle of flying to a foreign country? To eat McCrap? I'll never understand my fellow 'mercans.
Why is McDonalds trying to kill us?
I'm a chemist, and arguing over the semantics of the guidelines and discussing who can pronounce what misses the point: unprocessed foods are best. And whether the chicken nuggets are slightly healthier in the UK isn't as important as the fact that they are a "frankenfood," to borrow someone else's terminology. And Americans have become so used to processed foods that many don't know what real food is anymore, and what's healthy (Chocolate Cheerios?). Boycotting McD's won't solve our country's health problems, but if everyone relearned how to cook simple dishes from scratch and brought a sandwich, carrot sticks, and a banana from home for lunch a couple of times a week, that would probably be a step in the right direction.
50 nuggets for $10!!!!! Count me in, twice!!!!!
Christopher Kimball – great shout out to a veteran food expert! This guy knows a TON about food!!
It really isn't expensive to eat healthy....thats a lame excuse. One I've been using for years!! You can grow your own produce for free(minus the cost of seeds, which is what? like $2 a packet?) or buy cheap from Farmers Markerts. Pantry staples aren't expensive either(salt, pepper, flour and sugar) and then your other basics of eggs, milk, cheese and butter. 1lb of hamburger meat or a rotisserie chicken can go a long way in a soup or pasta(noodles and potatoes are cheap too!). Throw in your veges.....Viola! People are just to lazty to actually cook from scratch. Everyone wants an instant meal so they can spend their time in front of the tv. Kids?? They can help with the prep, and they would love to tend to your garden!!!
I "heart" Ed
Now I wonder how many other companies use the same ingredients – chick-fil-a? burger king? random restaurant serving kids nuggets? Since I feed these to my children on occasion, it really makes me re-think it. Eating cleanly is clearly a better alternative.
Why is everyone on these posts so bitchy? Calm down people, it's just someone's opinion.
I don't know why people say its cheaper to eat fast food...I stopped eating junk food and red meat some time ago and my food bill is actually smaller..For every Mcdonalds that exist , there is a fruit stand..IAnd to hear people say they have no time to cook show how lazy they are..I am sure they make the sametime for TV and facebook and video games, but none for a simple task as cooking a small meal..
Ever since Spurlock came out with the "Super size Me!" movie the media has had a field day with bashing anything to do with McDonald's. McDonald's is evil...McDonald's is killing us....McDonald's is going to take over the world!!! Look, Vitamin C can kill you if you have too much of it......food in moderation. As far as the names of the chemicals.....we really need to blame the people who named the chemicals, not the chemicals themselves. If the chemical dimethylpolysiloxane was called "anti-foamy juice" that would be much better, right? Then everyone with a 3rd grade education could pronounce it. Take a stroll through your kitchen pantry and look at all the other food, not by McDonald's, that has words you can't read.
LOL – I LOVE it! "Anti-Foamy Juice" Too funny!!!!! That's great!
Local customs and tastes dictate to the market. As a kid I grew up loving British softserve ice cream. Then several years ago I read an article listing all the chemicals in it that would get it banned in the US. When working in Bolivia, one of the major burger chains ran a nationwide ad campaign highlighting the fact that they only use vaccinated beef..
I PERSONALLY love chicken nuggets BUT i dont eat them anymore because of how disgusting they are. This blog also left out somethings of how they are made but i will gladly put the rest apart from chemicals and fat and all those stuff they mentioned.
parts of the chicken in chicken nuggets include:
eyes, feet (claws), beak, intestines...
how they make chicken nuggets:
blend all these things with the chemicals and all and coat them and fry them. Oh and the preservatives can hurt you my moms friend almost died because of them! any questions just respond to my comment.... thank you for your time
Kimball says "...these chemicals are required for the nuggets to hold their shape and texture after being extruded into nugget-shaped molds." So then how do they extrude them in England? Come on!? How do you end an article like that. If you take that statement from Kimball, it begs the question. Are they not nugget shaped in England? Do they stick in the molds, in England?
tBHQ is an antioxidant, like all other hydroquinones....you know what makes blueberries so good for you? antioxidants.
it seems that the "COMMENTS" section has been changed to a bullying forum. no wonder kids are tortured on social network sites, look at how their parents are behaving. tisk-tisk
Get over it! If you don't want to eat it, don't! I don't eat it that often, but I'm happy for fast food places when I'm on the road, and driving. Do you know how hard it is to eat a salad when driving? I personally don't, but anyone who can do it, should be considered more dangerous than a damned McNugget!
I can pronounce these names too; does that make me exempt? Anyway, I think I must have been some weird kid growing up because I fell into this odd minority of children who didn't like McDonald's. I never found their burgers that appetizing though I will say they've improved since my childhood. That being said, that doesn't make McDonald's the healthiest or the tastiest thing available. I've always figured there was something weird with their nuggets, especially when they started posting on the boxes, "Now made with real white chicken" or something along those lines. As my friend put it, "What? They weren't made with real chicken before? What were they using?"
I learned something interesting. The "white chicken" isn't chicken meat at all. Its intestines, the cheapest part of a chicken, which they( i forgot how) make it look like white chicken.
Nonchemmajor; right back at you 🙂
Amber, I grow my own produce and fruits, its pretty easy folks. It might be a new idea to all but put the seeds in a planter, water it, then make sure it gets sun and golly gee whiz a plant! Don't spray pesticides! Ends up being just like what we are all talking about here.
The person who said cook on sundays then freeze it must have grown up down the street from me. Thats what we do here. I make 24 quarts of home made sauce every third month. Takes less time than waiting in line, not to mention the waste of gas and adding to the bigger issues. My neighbors beg for the sauce and my oldest loves learning how to make it.
To the rest who think chemicals which are not found naturally in their foods is ok with moderation, remember mercury was ok in moderation until love canal. Lead the same. Acid rain never happened because it was ok. Do you really want me to go on? it's not ok! and it's not ok in moderation. DDT was safe at first then we realized it stayed in the food chain and accumulated in an animals body. Scientist have found DDT levels in Penguins where it was never sprayed. Moderation is a mediocre response to something we think won't hurt us today and someone else can deal with it later. Doctors, Govt, God etc... Take responsibility, own it then control it. Don't run McDs out of business. It would hurt a lot of people. Make them do it right and they would become even more profitable. Remember McDs does a lot for kids with the Ronald McDonald house and from a community stand point they employ adults, teens and when I do give in on the occasion, my kids smile and laugh play at the cheesy play area etc.. They are not the devil just greedy and need to be reigned in and told to stop worrying about making it cheaper. Make it better, keep the price point in range for all and as they saying goes "THEY WILL COME"
Signing out getting too rough for me, people taking it personal and not the facts. But it was fun. Have a good eve.
Well, guess that's why our butts are 33% bigger!