The Chicken McNugget: White Meat Or Chicken Beaks?
As the nursery rhyme goes, “Old McDonald has a farm, EIEIO. And, on the farm he has a Chicken McNugget, EIEIO.” If that did not sound right for some reason, it may have been because the Chicken McNugget was never on Old McDonald’s farm. The quality and safety of the chicken meat contained in McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets has been a subject of debate for many years (Snopes). The deliciousness of the juicy morsels is undeniable and debatably unbelievable. Reviewing how the chicken progresses from the farm to the fryer lends insight on why McDonald’s McNuggets produce a flavor that outshines its usually bland main ingredient. Additionally, A journey through the process where chickens are hatched, fed, stunned, decapitated, plucked, carved, ground, seasoned, mixed, extruded, breaded and fried will answer questions on how much of that nugget is still chicken and what steps have been taken to make it safe.
The process of creating a Chicken McNugget starts with breeding farms at one of three U.S. based commercial poultry suppliers: Keystone Foods, Lopez Foods and Tyson Foods (McDonald's). Even at this early stage, quality is a top priority. Farms
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Fluids drain from the carcass before moving on to the rubber fingers. The array of fingers makes quick work of removing the feathers, leaving the bird bare. Finally, the bird’s innards are removed in what is a mostly mechanical process. Machines then spray an antimicrobial rinse on the chickens before food safety inspectors check each bird for broken bones, abrasions and bacterial infections. To ensure food safety, every day, workers thoroughly sanitize the entire processing facility with hot water and food safe cleaning agents. The poultry leaves the first facility resembling the oven-ready bird that is familiar to most U.S.
...ge. Moments in the film, where he gave the harsh reality of his diet made the film more relatable and made the experience real. The foods that so often consumed by society are made and grown using chemicals and although we do not see it happening, it is killing us. The film revealed how the Mc Nuggets are chickens pumped with hormones in order to have unusually large breasts. Then gruesomely placed into a machine whole, where their heads are chopped off, and they then the rest of their bodies, including feces, come out of the machine in the form chicken Mc Nuggets is a gruesome eye opener. Everyone is slowly digging a grave with fast food and ready-made products that we dish up at home. The bagged vegetables that are so useful for Sunday dinners and the Ketchup that we love to load onto French fries and burgers all are loaded to the ‘T’ with nitrates and corn syrup.
... flesh are then ground into a paste-like matter, which is cleansed with the previously mentioned ammonia to rid it of E. coli. The meat filler product is purchased by many fast food restaurants, such as McDonald’s. The Beef Products executive predicts that his product will be in 100% of hamburgers within the next five years.
Chickens are one of the top most tortured animals in factory farms. Farmers get the most money for chickens that are heavier and have enlarged thighs and breasts. Like most factory farmed animals, broiler chickens are raised in overcrowded cages their entire life, and become very aggressive. Because of this aggressiveness the employees of the farms cut of their beaks and toes without any type of painkiller or an anesthetic just to keep them from fighting. After being “debeaked” some chickens are then not able to eat and starve. Layer chickens lay 90-95% of the eggs sold in the U.S. (2013b) The torture starts the day they are born. Chicks are placed on a belt, where an employee than picks up each chick to see if it is a male or female. Newborn male chicks are thrown into trash bags, ground up alive, crushed, and killed many other inhumane ways.
This chapter focuses solely on why fast food, fries in particular, taste so good. Schlosser informs his audience of exactly what they are eating when they order a large french fry at McDonalds. The fries may start out as fresh potatoes, but what many don’t know is how fresh potatoes factually turn into the famous french fry.
In 1998, McDonald’s, in order to remain strong, tested the “McDonald’s Big Xtras” or “MBX” which was a potential hit. The “MBX” was a 4.5-ounce burger launched mainly to compete with Burger King’s “Whopper”. It was also reminiscent of the1980s “McDLT”, In ’98; they also brought back the “Filet-O-Fish” which in 1996 had been replaced by “Fish Filet Deluxe”. On a promotion basis, they offered novelty sandwiches, like “Cheddar Melt” and the “McRib”.
Sparke, Amanda “ How McNuggets Changed the Story of Fast Food: Yes, You Are What
When Ray Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, the famous chain was born. The company has become very successful with having sold over one billion hamburgers within just eight years of business (McSpotlight - History of McDonalds). So if this chain is so popular, why has McDonalds been criticised so much lately? Mostly because their food options are very high in calories and fat. The most caloric item on their menu is the Triple Thick Chocolate Shake - 1160 calories, 27g of fat, 168g of sugar, and 510mg of sodium. The most fattening menu item is the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese - 740 calories, 42g of fat (19g Saturated), and 1380mg of sodium! “It delivers the highest calorie, fat, and sodium content of any sandwich or burger at McDonalds.” The other three most unhealthy foods on the top five list are: Chicken Selects with 660 calories, Grilled Chicken Club with 570 calories, and the Big Mac with 540 calories (Fitzpatrick). Only seven items on the McMenu contain no sugar - fries, sausage, coffee, Chicken McNuggets, hash browns, Diet Coke, and iced tea (Super Size ...
Fast food contains little to no nutritional value. Some of the ingredients may surprise some people. More than 4100 cows are slaughtered every hour in the United States.(Agorist) One would think that meat would be used for the products purchased at a fast food restaurant, but this is simply not the case. In a test of eight of the most popular fast food brand burgers using histologic methods, the percentage of actual meat ranged from 2.1% to 14.8%.(Agorist) This is unacceptable. Cartilage, bone, peripheral nerve, connective tissue, blood vessels, plant material, and adipose tissue made up the rest of the burgers.(Agorist) These nutritional hazards people call food are the cause of many dangerous health problems.
McDonalds promotes the construct of “healthiness” as a justification as to why a consumer should purchase their food. This article introduces an interesting viewpoint that despite these claims of “healthiness” or even the inclusion of low calorie options does not ensure that the consumer will not overconsume their food. I will use this source to expand the findings in "Nutritional Quality at Eight U.S. Fast-Food Chains 14-Year Trends” which argues that despite the addition of “healthy” options at fast food restaurants, the overall nutritional quality of the menu remained poor. An analysis of these two sources will be used to help answer my research questions: what consists of healthy food in the McDonalds “Questions” campaign and what are the implications of this definition of healthy food? I will use these sources to support the significance of my claim. Specifically, I will use Downs as evidence for my claim that despite marketing campaigns aimed at redefining McDonald’s as a healthy option, the definition of healthy food that these commercials promote is too limited and ultimately attempts to conform to new definitions of healthy food without actually changing their
Industrial farmers see chicken and other animals such as: cow, pigs, and goat as egg and dairy production and not as an intellectual individuals. From the birth of a baby chick to their death on the production line, chicken endure pain and suffer through out their entire short lives. Baby chicks are de-beak then they are move to battery cages that are wired up high in warehouses that are filled with artificial lighten. The cages are so confined that the ...
McDonald’s not only promoting unhealthy food to the adult, but also to the little kids. They spend over $1.8 billion every year on advertising. Also, they trying to show an image of being a caring company and a fun place to eat. McDonald’s works appeal to kids with a numbers of tricks. For example, McDonald’s playground, some communities don’t have playground for kids. So, McDonald’s playground is the only place parents can take their kids to play. Furthermore, there are Happy Meal appeal to the kids and birthday parties children can have at McDonald’s. Behind the scene McDonald’s is only interest in making money. They aim to open more and more restaurants across the globe. According to the article “5 Reasons to Never Let Your Kids Eat McDonald’s” Beth Buczynski said, “McDonald’s isn’t real food. The chicken nugget isn’t a part of the chicken’s anatomy, real ribs have bones, and most importantly, real food riots.” The interviewee, Jennifer Van, she said “people should not eat McDonald’s because you don’t know what it is made of. There have been videos and experiments done where the burger from McDonald’s takes much longer to rot than a normal burger, which means it cannot be normal. It probably has a lot of chemicals.” “If McDonald’s is so healthy for kids, why
Chickens are the most abused farm animals. In supermarkets chickens are different than they were 40 years ago because of the conditions they go through in the factory. Factory workers put these chickens or hens through chronic pain and it effects them greatly. Chicks are "debeaked" by searing their beaks off with a hot blade. "The beaks of chickens, turkeys, and ducks are often removed in factory farms to reduce the excessive feather pecking and cannibalism seen among stressed, overcrowded birds" (The National Humane Education Society). Egg laying animals can also be starved to shock their bodies into molting. Force molting is when chickens or hens are starved or denied any food for up to two weeks. This can contribute to suffering or early disease of chickens. "It's common for 5% to 10% of hens to die during the forced molting process" (Lin, Doris). Factory farms dominate food production and put animals through abusive environments that cause them
It is horrifying to know the fact that the processed food that we eat today is once animals that are processed alive. The ignorance of the companies has caused the suffering of these poor animals. Gale (2013) writes, “.[media] do not tell us that chickens are the most tortured animals in factory farms and that most chickens have to stand on their own feces all day and end up getting litter burn from their manure. hens are often crammed together in cases so tiny that they do not get enough room to even lift a single wing—which then immobilizes them for their entire lives.”
However, quality is not fully valued by these points. In fact, McDonald’s operates with a consistent quality product. It can be determined by supervising the operations of any McDonalds’ restaurant. The company has certain standards of cooking dishes, if it is volume oriented and each customer impact on product is not so high, McDonalds pertains to the top-quality operation. On the other hand, McDonalds doesn’t compromise its consumers’ comprehension about quality. From the whole history of the company, it is known that this restaurant has gone through the big quantity of quality inspections in all countries, where its restaurants are located. Evidently, they have credible and verified suppliers. Moreover, McDonalds has a special Quality Assurance team that controls the quality of the product at all stages of production. (Vignali, 2001)
Selling whole chicken could limit the customers that the REB Chicken Dealer could supply in the market.