You are in: Home / Fast Foods / McDonald's Chicken Selects: Tricked Again

McDonald's Chicken Selects: Tricked Again

Last month McDonald's handed out millions of free samples of its Chicken Selects. Chicken nuggets have earned a bad reputation, so it's obviously time to push something new.

The Chicken Selects have been around since 2004 and are described as "premium-quality, 100 percent white chicken breast meat, seasoned and lightly breaded so they are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside".

That sounds very tasty - a wonderful source of protein right?

Wrong.

  Chicken Breast Meat (skinless/boneless/1 cup chopped)
140g (source)
Chicken Selects® Premium Breast Strips (3 pc)
133g (source)
Calories 211 380
Carbs 0g 28g
Protein 40.6g 23g
Fat 4.2g 20g
  Sat. Fat 1.2g 3.5g
Sodium 88mg 930mg

And what about the premium-quality, 100% breast meat. Here is what the 'chicken' is:

Chicken breast strip fritters with rib meat containing: Up to 25% of a solution of water, modified food starch, salt, monosodium glutamate, sodium phosphates, chicken broth, natural flavor (vegetable and animal source), maltodextrin, spice, autolyzed yeast, chicken fat, polysorbate 80, gum arabic.
I'm tired of feeling tricked.

And I'm tired of seeing laboratory concoctions peddled as superior nutritious foods.

Read More

34 Comments

Laura

Pretty scary when you put it that way...and impossible to convince yourself that you are making the healthy choice. So important to look at the details lol

Reply
bob

not surprising since most, if not all, fast foods are unhealthy .. still taste kawnt though .. yesss

Reply
eric

I think it's interesting that most of that is marketing double-talk-- except for "100% breast meat," which is an out-and-out lie. Maybe someone just messed up in the PR department, but for a company the size of McD's, couldn't that open you up to liablity?

Reply
Robyn Tippins

That is not a lie. the 25% of 'other' is the breading. And, I certainly expected the calories to be higher than a typical chicken breast considering it's deep fried!

Reply
Spectra

Well, it's McDonald's, so I guess it doesn't surprise me that they inject the meat with MORE fat, salt, and other junk. Plus, breading and frying breast meat makes it just as bad for you as any other part of the chicken...they're just glorified, overpriced versions of the classic Chicken McNuggets.

Reply
lowcarb_dave

Wow Those numbers are terrible! That's a lot more fat and carbs than the normal chicken breast! High Fat/High Carbs is the most deadliest combo!

Reply
Vern Kirkman

Things like this just make me furious! You can't take anything these people (fast food companies) say, at face value! My wife and I have come to the point where we never eat out, unless we just have to because we're traveling somewhere.
And by the way, if you're going to eat those fast food salads, better take your own dressing if you're watching your fat grams!

Reply
Christi Nielsen

Doesn't surprise me. Aside from the fact that it's fast food, they're breaded or battered or whatever. Comparing plain chicken breast to something that is breaded is not comparing apples to apples.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's awful that they inject all that crap, although they are not the only ones who do it. BUT - let us think.
1 - it's fast food.
2 - it's breaded.
Those two things alone tell you that it's not going to be as healthy as a cup of chicken breast.

That's not to say that I excuse them. But when I eat fast food, I just always have to remember that God only knows what's been done to it.

Reply
Jim

You are right about the breaded thing. It's the chicken meat that gets me. I suspect the ingredients are the same as many other suppliers of chicken 'fillets' (such as subway etc.).

Reply
Christi Nielsen

I can't remember which restaurant, but I heard that one of those fast food rotisserie places inject their meat with crap too.

And if you look at the ingredients when you buy your chicken at the grocery store, many of them are injected also.

That just chaps my hide!

Reply
LR

Who eats at McDonald's, though? I mean, let them have heart attacks, it's their own fault!

Reply
Sean Padgett

By any chance could the writer of this article provide a citation for the ingredients list? I found most of the info on the McDonalds site, but I was unable to find the citation for the 25% solution. (I'm trying to convince a skeptical spouse)

Reply
Jim

Sean: Apologies for that - a mistake on my part. I'm normally very particular about quoting sources. I've added two links into the nutritional table above.

Reply
Svetlana

One famous russian saying "All is good when it's in the right quantity" smth like that. In little portions Junk food can't do you any harm.

Reply
Matt

Everyone needs to watch "Super Size Me" or read "Fast Food Nation" ... I haven't set foot in a McDonalds since. I have never been a big "eat organiz" proponent but realizing that what you're eating is not natural food, but rather substances containing some natural food that are engineered to taste great, be easily replicated, and make you want more, it seems that there must be better choices to put in your body.

Reply
Shelly

Yea, this article is pretty shocking, but i guess i kinda expected it from McDonalds.. but anyways.. im doing a paper for school on fast food nutrition and my main topic is McDonals.. i tried googling it and stuff but all i get is nutrition charts and thats not really what i want.. so if you ever read this and feel like helping out a student.. could you please give me some GOOD information.. kind of like more of what you had in this article. well if you will i would appreciate it greatly. and if you do.. please as soon as possible because the paper is due in a couple days.

thanx either way

Reply


More comments: 1 2 3

Add Your Comment

Required
Required (never displayed)

Be nice. There's already enough mean people in the world.


Created / Updated: November 9, 2011

WHAT IS DIET BLOG?

We take the best of diet news and advice - and combine it with real-world application and opinion.

Find out who we are and don't hesitate to contact us, we'd love to hear from you.

"We're fatter than ever while popular media is saturated with skinny. How did it get to be so complicated?"

Privacy Policy | Sponsor Policy & Disclosure | Terms of Use | Medical Disclaimer ©2003-2011 Diet-Blog v2.0 - All Rights Reserved.