Have you ever seen one of those dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and wondered, how do they do that? I personally imagined some kind of cookie-cutter shaped blade on a big machine.

Wrong. Apparently, this is what chicken nuggets look like before they’re cooked. The chicken is mechanically separated and de-boned, then the remaining meat is ground-down into this unappetizing paste. According to Michael Kindt, the goop is then disinfected, re-flavored and bleached back to the whitish color we all associate with cooked chicken breast. And of course, shaped along the way.

While I’m not sure what background Kindt has in food science, the image alone is compelling enough.

According to McDonald’s, a four-piece serving of McNuggets contains 190 calories, 100 of which come from trans fat. They also contain 400 milligrams of sodium, and along with modified food starch, dextrose and citric acid. However, there’s no reason to target McDonald’s, this image could be from any of a number of nugget producers. Jamie Oliver once whipped up a batch of nugget-goo for a class of elementary school children on his show. He was quite dismayed that the American children were willing to eat the nuggets even after seeing how they were made, whereas British children in the same situation were sufficiently disgusted to decline a taste-test.

We hope this image will give you another reason to skip the fast-food drive-through and prepare some healthier fare at home.

Also Read:

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Recap: Chicken Nuggets



Consumer Reports Gives Chicken Nuggets Failing Grades



What Keeps a McDonald’s Burger from Rotting