If you followed along with Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, you might have seen his experiment on the very first episode with a handful of elementary school children and chicken nuggets. In the experiment, Jamie shows how all the “unused” bits and pieces of chicken are ground up along with all the fat to then be processed into what we all know as the chicken nugget. While the children shrieked during the process, upon completion of cooking these nuggets, Jamie was shocked to learn they were still open to eating them.
Consumer Reports is now putting the chicken nugget to the test regarding taste and nutrition. The results should not be overly shocking that the majority of brands were loaded with fat and salt. Consumer Reports evaluated 12 supermarket brands, including nuggets made from alternative ingredients, such as soy. In the full report that can be found on consumerreports.com, only one brand – Health and Wealth – received a “very good” nutrition rating and no single brand received a “poor rating.” Top brands for taste were Target’s Market Pantry along with Bell & Evans Breaded.
While the report certainly does not put enough emphasis on unhealthy ingredients along with the high salt and fat content, it is good to see that these types of reviews are being done. Hopefully in a future report there will be an analysis of ingredients to really distinguish the good from the bad.