There’s been a picture circulating on the Internet for years that McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets are comprised of some mysterious type of pink goop. Here’s that image if you’ve never seen it:
The color pink is due to use of ammonium hydroxide used to kill any germs within the meat. After this, McDonald’s did admit they stopped using this potentially harmful chemical.
A few days ago in response, McDonald’s Canada released a video to show that, in fact, their Chicken McNuggets are no longer this pink color. The video is embedded below, but before you watch it or we get into any other points — is this really that much more appetizing?
I am torn if it’s a good idea for McDonald’s to share this. First of all, it’s McDonald’s Canada sharing the video — but what about McDonald’s America? Are they using the same process? How about the rest of the world? It’s never stated.
Also, the person giving us the tour of the factory is introduced as a scientist. It would have been so much smarter of McDonald’s to have a nutritionist or professional of similar title (does McDonald’s have a chief nutrition officer?) giving the tour. Scientist does not inspire confidence that the food is fresh or even good for you, rather it suggests this is manufactured in some sort of laboratory setting and perhaps even bioengineering goes into this food. The words “organic” or “fresh” are not mentioned here. They say “the process starts with whole chickens” and no qualifier for the production of the chickens is used. Worrisome, indeed.
The mass-manufacturing of food is not a beautiful process. They’re literally showing the sausage being made and it is in fact simply reinforcing the truth of another ad which poked fun at how McDonald’s and other fast food chains make their food.
The target demographic of McDonald’s is not likely to care to see their food being processed in a factory. If they’ve been eating McDonald’s all along it’s a non-issue for them, it is highly unlikely they care what they put in their body.
The rest of us look on as mildly entertained a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) would open their doors, but truth be told most of us who are conscious of nutrition would not consume food at a McDonald’s anyhow. And as someone not in Canada I’m simply left with more questions. Not to mention how long it actually took McDonald’s to respond to this — the original story was circulating several years ago.
Overall I’m left scratching my head why they would do this and simply reminded why I avoid fast food altogether.