Although very common in fast food restaurants or in some kitchens, especially where there are young children at home, “chicken” nuggets are not a particularly healthy option. Being an ultra-processed food, they contain significant amounts of saturated fats, which are compounded by those added during preparation — in most cases, deep-frying.
The meat inside is of poor quality, as evidenced by a scientific study that undertook to analyse what lies within these breaded products. Research by Dr. Richard D. de Shazo, Professor of Medicine and Paediatrics at the University of Mississippi, involved dissecting the interior of these nuggets from two well-known fast food chains — with far from pleasant results.
The findings showed that the nugget from the first restaurant, excluding the breading, was composed of 50% muscle tissue, while the remaining 50% consisted of fat, some blood vessels and nerves, as well as “generous amounts of epithelium (skin and other organs) and other tissues”. In nutritional terms, it was composed of 56% fat, 25% carbohydrates and only 19% protein.
The second nugget, for its part, was composed of 40% skeletal muscle and “generous amounts of fat and other tissues, including connective tissue and bone“. Nutritionally, it comprised 58% fat, 24% carbohydrates and 18% protein. “If you discover what is inside, you will never eat them again,” the researcher stated.
The high fat and offal content of these ultra-processed products led de Shazo to criticise the fact that they were called chicken, given that what is actually consumed is, for the most part, not chicken meat. “We have taken a very healthy product — lean white meat — and processed it to end up producing something greasy and laden with sugar and fat,” he added.