Chicken: Safe or Scary?
Categories: Safety, Eating & Nutrition, Environment, Mealtime
Choosing the right chicken means better flavor and better quality. Credit: thebittenword.com, Flickr
We've been hearing for years that we should cut down on the amount of red meat we eat. Since these exhortations began, Americans have largely been plunging their forks into chicken instead -- to the tune of 8 billion birds a year -- because it's healthier, right? Well, that depends.
VERDICT:
Big-Brand Chicken: Your basic supermarket chicken is relatively cheap, and a good source of protein and many other nutrients. But unfortunately, it can also be a reliable source of pathogens. Many scientists are also concerned about the role factory-farmed, antibiotic-fed chicken plays in spreading antibiotic-resistant germs to the human population. These are problems that need to be addressed.
Organic and Free-Range Chicken: Organic and free-range chicken isn't necessarily the same thing. The organic label certifies that the chickens were given organic feed and that they were not treated with antibiotics, but it doesn't ensure the birds were actually running free in a pasture. Some free-range birds, on the other hand, may not have earned the official organic seal because they were out in the grass eating their natural diet of bugs rather than government-inspected feed. Whichever you choose, you're going to get a chicken that likely tastes better, contains more nutrients, was raised more humanely and isn't pumped up with antibiotics.
Chicken Nuggets: What's often so irresistible about nuggets isn't the chicken itself, but the fried breading and the dipping sauce (and the dinosaur shapes, if that's what you buy). Given a choice between healthier fare and the salty, fatty comfort of nuggets, most kids will reach for the nuggets. Opt instead to provide a choice between healthy foods only, and your child will never become a nugget addict.
Fast Food/Chain Restaurant Chicken: Kentucy Fried Chicken sells a chicken pot pie that has an ingredient list 518 words in length. Cheesecake Factory's chicken dishes routinely exceed 1,500 calories. And McDonald's Chicken McNuggets contain TBHQ, a form of butane, which is lighter fluid. New studies have also shown that the fat/salt/sugar combinations in fast food and chain restaurant dishes actually lead to overeating -- all those calories, and still you'll want more. Does chicken still seem like a healthy choice? Not in these joints.
Jennifer Schonborn is a holistic nutrition counselor based in New York.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Heather 11-04-2009 @ 8:44PM
To take care of the germs clean and cook your chicken properly.
Organic is often just a label, in fact some countries don't even have standards for "organic "yet
Bake the nuggets rather than fry them
just because the list is 518 words length does not mean it has 518 ingredients. eg whole wheat bread crumbs is 4 words , plus they do have to list everything! so if it has margarine in it then they have to list the ingrediants of the margarine.
You can always share the 1500 calorie dish, or get a different chicken dish
and as for Mcdonalds, well they are Mcdonalds.
Reply
Amy 11-05-2009 @ 1:23PM
This is why I grow my own chickens. I know EXACTLY what goes into my body. I don't have to trust some corporation's label.
518 words might not mean 518 ingredients, but do you REALLY want to eat this?
Chicken Stock, Carrots, Potatoes (With Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate To Protect Color), Peas, Heavy Cream, Modified
Food Starch, Contains 2% Or Less Of Wheat Flour, Salt, Chicken Fat, Dried Dairy Blend (Whey, Calcium Caseinate),
Butter (Cream, Salt), Natural Chicken Flavor With Other Natural Flavors (Salt, Natural Flavoring, Maltodextrin, Milk
Solids, Nonfat Dry Milk, Chicken Fat, Beef Extract, Ascorbic Acid [To Help Protect Flavor]), Monosodium Glutamate,
Liquid Margarine (Vegetable Oil Blend [Liquid Soybean, Hydrogenated Cottonseed, Hydrogenated Soybean], Water,
Vegetable Mono And Diglycerides, Beta Carotene [Color]), Roasted Garlic Juice Flavor (Garlic Juice, Salt, Natural
Flavors), Gelatin, Roasted Onion Juice Flavor (Onion Juice, Salt, Natural Flavors), Chicken Pot Pie Flavor (Hydrolyzed
Corn, Soy And Wheat Gluten Protein, Salt, Vegetable Stock [Carrot, Onion, Celery], Maltodextrin, Partially
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Flavors, Dextrose, Chicken Broth), Chicken Stock, Sugar, Mono and Diglycerides With
Citric Acid to Protect Flavor, Spice, Seasoning (Soybean Oil, Oleoresin Turmeric, Spice Extractives), Parsley, Citric
Acid, Caramel Color, Yellow 5. Enriched Flour Bleached (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate,
Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Water, Nonfat Milk, Maltodextrin, Salt, Dextrose, Sugar,
Whey, Natural Flavor, Butter, Citric Acid, Dough Conditioner, L-Cysteine Hydrochloride, Potassium Sorbate and
Sodium Benzoate (Preservatives), Colored With Yellow 5 & Red 40. Fresh Chicken Marinated With: Salt, Sodium
Phosphate and Monosodium Glutamate. Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Salt, Spices, Monosodium Glutamate, Leavening
(Sodium Bicarbonate), Garlic Powder, Natural Flavorings, Citric Acid, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, With
Not More Than 2% Calcium Silicate Added as an Anti Caking Agent OR Fresh Chicken Marinated With: Salt, Sodium
Phosphate and Monosodium Glutamate. Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Salt, Spices, Monosodium Glutamate, Corn
Starch, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate), Garlic Powder, Modified Corn Starch, Spice Extractives, Citric Acid, and 2%
Calcium Silicate added as Anticaking Agent OR Fresh Chicken Marinated With: Salt, Sodium Phosphate and
Monosodium Glutamate. Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Sodium Chloride and Anti-caking Agent (Tricalcium Phosphate),
Nonfat Milk, Egg Whites, Colonel’s Secret Original Recipe Seasoning OR Potato Starch, Sodium Phosphate, Salt,
Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Sodium Chloride and Anti-caking agent (Tricalcium Phosphate), Nonfat Milk, Egg
Whites, Colonel’s Secret Original Recipe Seasoning OR Potato Starch, Sodium Phosphate, Salt, Breaded With: Wheat
Flour, Salt, Spices, Monosodium Glutamate, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate), Garlic Powder, Natural Flavorings,
Citric Acid, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, With Not More Than 2% Calcium Silicate Added as an Anti
Caking Agent OR Potato Starch, Sodium Phosphate, Salt, Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Salt, Spices, Monosodium
Glutamate, Corn Starch, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate), Garlic Powder, Modified Corn Starch, Spice Extractives,
Citric Acid, and 2% Calcium Silicate Added As Anticaking Agent OR Seasoning (Salt, Monosodium Glutamate, Garlic
Powder, Spice Extractives, Onion Powder), Soy Protein Concentrate, Rice Starch and Sodium Phosphates. Battered
With: Water, Wheat Flour, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate),
Salt, Dextrose, Monosodium Glutamate, Spice and Onion Powder. Predusted With: Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Salt,
Dried Egg Whites, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Monosodium Glutamate, Spice and
Onion Powder. Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Salt, Soy Flour, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium
Bicarbonate), Monosodium Glutamate, Spice, Nonfat Dry Milk, Onion Powder, Dextrose, Extractives of Turmeric and
Extractives of Annatto. Breading Set in Vegetable oil.
Which boils down to the short and sweet version:
Chicken Stock, Carrots, Potatoes, Peas, Heavy Cream, Modified
Food Starch, Wheat Flour, Salt, Chicken Fat, Dried Dairy Blend, Butter, Natural Chicken Flavor With Other Natural Flavors, MSG, Margarine, Water, Vegetable Mono And Diglycerides, Beta Carotene, Roasted Garlic Juice Flavor, Gelatin, Roasted Onion Juice Flavor, Chicken Pot Pie Flavor, Sugar, Mono and Diglycerides, Spice, Seasoning, Parsley, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Yellow 5. Enriched Flour Bleached, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Water, Nonfat Milk, Maltodextrin, Salt, Dextrose,
Whey, Natural Flavor, Butter, Dough Conditioner, L-Cysteine Hydrochloride, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate, Yellow 5 & Red 40. Corn Syrup Solids, Calcium Silicate, Egg Whites.
No, thank you.
Reply