When I consider buying processed food that seems like it should be comprised of relatively simple ingredients and then I look at what's really in it and I'm blown away that I would need a chemistry degree to really figure out what it is I'm eating. At least, at the supermarket I have the option of reading what's in my food before I buy it, but what about when it comes to kids' school lunches? Sure a menu gets sent home so you know what is being served every day, but that menu does not include a list of ingredients, so really you haven't a clue what you are letting your child eat if you let them have a school lunch.
Monica Eng, a reporter at WEBZ, did something that all parents should do, she asked Chicago Public Schools for a list of ingredients for the top 5 entrees they serve for school lunches and you won't believe what's in your kid's chicken nuggets or how hard it was to find out what's in your kid's chicken nuggets.
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To begin with you would think that Monica Eng asked the schools for top secret information would put the nation in danger if revealed because these folks did not want to come clean about what was in the food they were feeding to students. Eng had to file a Freedom of Information Act request for the data because these suckas tried to say that the ingredients in chicken nuggets are "chicken nuggets." Uh, I don't think so.
So finally after being legally arm-twisted into delivering information that should be readily available, Eng got a list of what is in the top 5 entrees. Let's focus on the chicken nuggets, shall we?
I expected the top ingredient to be chicken, but nope, the chicken nuggets have very little chicken in them. Without counting the ingredients in the breading, the chicken nuggets contain at least 28 ingredients. In the words of NPR's Scott Simon,
Chicago public schools' chicken nuggets turn out to be made from textured soy protein concentrate, isolated soy protein – hope I'm not going too fast for you to write all this down – brown sugar, salt, onion powder, maltodextrin, silicon dioxide, citric acid, potassium chloride, sodium phosphates and, oh, yes, a little chicken.
Well at least now I understand why they were so reticent to to reveal the ingredients. Turns out that it is a matter of national security because feeding our kids chemical junk does put the nation at risk, don't you think?
Image via Corbis Images
