A Short Guide on Chicken McNuggets

During the 1970s, chicken consumption had greatly increased in the United States, largely due to fast food chains such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Chicken Delight, and Church ' s Chicken. At the same time, the medical profession praised the healthful benefits of chicken as opposed to hamburgers . This caused a stir in the hamburger fast food industry. In 1979 Fred Turner, McDonald's chairman, wanted to sell a chicken product that could easily be eaten while a customer was behind the steering wheel of a car, so he requested that a chicken processor create a finger-food without bones. It took six months to develop McNuggets, small pieces of reconstituted chicken held together by stabilizers that were breaded, fried, frozen, and shipped to the outlet, where they were reheated. The original McNuggets contained ground chicken skin in addition to chicken meat and were fried in oil. When the McNuggets were tested by McDonald's technicians, six of the McNuggets had twice as much as fat as a Big Mac

The skins were eliminated and the improved McNuggets weighed in at 16.3 grams fat compared to 32.4 grams for the Big Mac. McDonald's contracted with Tyson Foods to maintain an adequate supply of chicken. When Chicken McNuggets debuted in 1983, they were an immediate success. Other fast food chains came up with their own McNuggets-type clones, such as Burger King's Chicken Tenders. There were good reasons for the success of McNuggets. They tasted good and were easy to chew. Many customers thought they were a healthy alternative to hamburgers, but this was not true. McNuggets were cooked in beef tallow and contained a large amount of fatty acids. When this information became public, McDonald's switched to vegetable oil and added beef extract to McNuggets during manufacturing to retain their familiar taste. McNuggets were particularly popular among young people. McNugget's helped change not only the American diet but also the system of raising and processing poultry. In 1980, most chickens were sold whole; today about 90 percent of chickens sold in United States have been cut into pieces to produce cutlets or nuggets. In 1992, the American consumption of chicken for the first time surpassed that of beef. Due to the McNuggets, McDonald's is the nation's second-largest chicken seller, after Kentucky Fried Chicken.