Chicken Nugget Autopsy: "Chicken Little" Found Inside

  • Thread starter jim mcnamara
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In summary, two chicken nuggets from different sources were sectioned and analyzed microscopically. One was 40% meat, the majority of the nugget was fat. Nugget #2 was 50% striated muscle - what we think of as meat. The rest was skin, epithelial tissues (gut lining), nerve tissue. Ignoring the sample size issue, this is interesting - another aspect of the 'pink slime' syndrome in "Food Science". At the worst, though, I think it is going to undermine chicken nugget sales. It is fair to put whatever you want (FDA approved) into food, as long as consumers know. My wife gets frozen nuggets sometimes, the label just says
  • #1
jim mcnamara
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I do not know where to post this one. It is kind of "science-lite" IMO.

"The autopsy of chicken nuggets reads 'Chicken Little'"
Richard D. deShazo, MD, Steven Bigler, MD, Leigh Baldwin Skipworth, BA
http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(13)00396-3/abstract

Two chicken nuggets from different sources were sectioned and analyzed microscopically.
One was 40% meat, the majority of the nugget was fat. A small portion was cartilage and bone.

Nugget #2 was 50% striated muscle - what we think of as meat. The rest was skin, epithelial tissues (gut lining), nerve tissue.

Ignoring the sample size issue, this is interesting - another aspect of the 'pink slime' syndrome in "Food Science". At the worst, though, I think it is going to undermine chicken nugget sales. It is fair to put whatever you want (FDA approved) into food, as long as consumers know. My wife gets frozen nuggets sometimes, the label just says 'chicken'. Which is correct. Just like 'pink slime' is a meat product. Misleading but correct. Here we go with more fun and games.
 
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  • #2
Golly, I'm shocked. Shocked I say.
 
  • #3
You snooze, you lose. Always get chicken tenders or breast fillets and skip anything that says nuggets. Now popcorn chicken ...
 
  • #4
Yes shocked. That means the chicken beaks and toes are going someplace else into another product...
 
  • #5
Not as bad as ground beef.

In a study in the USA in 2008, eight different brands of fast food hamburgers were evaluated for water content by weight and recognizable tissue types using morphological techniques that are commonly used in the evaluation of tissue's histological condition. The study found that the content of the hamburgers included:
Water content 37.7% to 62.4% (mean, 49%)
Meat content 2.1% to 14.8% (median, 12.1%)
Skeletal tissue
Connective tissue
Blood vessels
Peripheral nerve tissue
Plant material
Adipose tissue
Bone and Cartilage ("Bone and cartilage, observed in some brands, were not expected; their presence may be related to the use of mechanical separation in the processing of the meat from the animal. Small amounts of bone and cartilage may have been detached during the separation process")[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_beef

Not to mention allowable amounts of feces, insects, etc...

The Food Defect Action Levels: Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans is a publication of the United States Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition[1] detailing acceptable levels of food contamination from sources such as maggots, thrips, insect fragments, "foreign matter", mold, rodent hairs, and insect and mammalian feces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_Defect_Action_Levels
 
  • #6
I worked for the USDA a long time ago (1967) - wheat flour had defined limits for insect frass, and exoskeleton fragments as well. These are all artifacts of grain storage.

As I said earlier this is interesting, not necessarily personally revolting. Processed foods produced in industrial environments are going to have contaminants. Period. Seven sigma it ain't.
 
  • #7
Well, it is personally revolting, but unavoidable if you eat commercial products. I don't know how much cleaner Kosher meat is.
 
  • #8
I feel like I've become immune to some of these reports. The concept of "eating the entire animal" isn't new. It's just that these products are so surprisingly palpable and we expect them to be utterly disgusting.

If you gave me a ligament and brain sandwich and didn't tell me what it was, there's a pretty good chance I'd like it. (As long as it doesn't have capers... I HATE capers.)
 
  • #9
This made me laugh - School Pulls All-Beef Burgers From Menu, Citing Complaints

School board member Ryan McElveen, who has pushed for fresh and nutritious food in schools, "said that the change occurred after students noticed that the old patties appeared to be pink in the middle," The Post says.

Noting that Fairfax schools' lunch cafeterias precook their burgers, the newspaper reports "McElveen said it's likely that the all-beef patties did not have a caramel coloring additive."

Sounds to me that they weren't cooking them completely and nobody noticed until real burgers without food coloring were served. Solution: serve the other undercooked burger that just looks like it's been cooked. :rolleyes:
 
  • #10
I live on the edge... I like my burgers with a little pink in the middle. And I especially love them served by school cafeteria ladies...
 
  • #11
so happy to be living in farm country. My children got to know their chickens before they watched their plucked, decapitated carcasses go into the oven.
 

1. What led to the discovery of a "Chicken Little" inside a chicken nugget?

The discovery of a "Chicken Little" inside a chicken nugget was made during a routine autopsy of a batch of chicken nuggets. The nuggets were being examined for quality control purposes when the small, almost fully-formed chicken was found inside one of the nuggets.

2. How did the "Chicken Little" end up inside the chicken nugget?

Based on the findings of the autopsy, it is likely that the "Chicken Little" was accidentally mixed in with the chicken meat during the manufacturing process. It is possible that it was a result of contamination or a mistake made by an employee.

3. Is this a common occurrence in the chicken industry?

No, this is not a common occurrence in the chicken industry. Chicken nuggets are produced in large quantities and undergo strict quality control measures to prevent any foreign objects from being included in the final product.

4. What are the potential health risks for consuming a "Chicken Little" inside a chicken nugget?

Consuming a small, fully-formed chicken inside a chicken nugget is not likely to pose any health risks. The chicken would have been cooked along with the nugget and would have gone through the same safety and quality control processes. However, it is always recommended to discard any food that has foreign objects inside.

5. Has the company responsible for the chicken nuggets responded to this discovery?

Yes, the company responsible for the chicken nuggets has responded to this discovery and has taken immediate action to investigate the incident. They have also implemented additional quality control measures to prevent any similar incidents from occurring in the future.

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