What's in that Chicken McNugget? Do you really want to know?

This is what I’ve been kvetching about: Food products rather than food. Frankenfood. Factory food. Is this really what your kids should be eating?

This is from ‘Eat This, Not That’:

You’d think that a breaded lump of chicken would be pretty simple. Mostly, it would contain bread and chicken. But the McNugget and its peers at other fast-food restaurants are much more complicated creatures than that. The “meat” in the McNugget alone contains seven ingredients, some of which are made up of yet more ingredients. (Nope, it’s not just chicken. It’s also such nonchicken-related stuff as water, wheat starch, dextrose, safflower oil, and sodium phosphates.) The “meat” also contains something called “autolyzed yeast extract.” Then add another 20 ingredients that make up the breading, and you have the industrial chemical—I mean, fast-food meal—called the McNugget. Still, McDonald’s is practically all-natural compared to Wendy’s Chicken Nuggets, with 30 ingredients, and Burger King Chicken Fries, with a whopping 35 ingredients.

Do you still love those pork rinds?

This probably best exemplifies the difference between ‘food’ and ‘food product.’

Thanks, Michael Pollan. Now I know the difference.