There are a lot of myths about McDonald’s food, borne out of the natural self-loathing we all feel when we eat there. One enduring mystery people have been debating for decades is what exactly Chicken McNuggets are made of.
To settle the question once and for all, McDonald’s Canada released a video on Friday showing how its famous chicken snack is made, and why it ends up in those four uniform shapes.
A company manager toured a Cargill meat plant where the restaurant chain gets some of its nuggets, showing how real chicken breast gets ground up and mixed with seasoning and some chicken skin as a binding agent. This chicken concoction is then portioned out, shaped and par-fried before getting frozen and shipped out to individual outlets where the nuggets are fully cooked.
So there you have it: Chicken McNuggets are made of real chicken breast. (For what it’s worth, McFlurry ice cream desserts do not include feathers either.)
The company is among the biggest meat buyers in the world and often it’s not the processing plant but the way the animals are raised that cause concern for environmentalists and animals rights activists.
In October, a McDonald’s egg supplier stopped purchasing from two farms that were shown to have cruel and inhumane conditions for their hens. Others have alleged for years that McDonald’s giant ecological footprint leads to rainforest destruction and meat production globally is among the biggest sources of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
So does knowing how McNuggets are made make one feel better about a McDonald’s purchase? Can one ever truly feel good about eating McDonald’s? Perhaps a future McDonald’s video will address those questions.
