Better than its reputation
Stiftung Warentest checks chicken nuggets – a product tastes great
Kids love nuggets, but are they healthy? Warentest did the check.
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Chicken nuggets are not only popular with children. The crispy fast-food bites are bestsellers but don’t have the best reputation. Stiftung Warentest has checked what’s under the breading. Veggie alternatives were also tested.
Chicken nuggets have a regular spot in the top 10 favorite kids meals, right next to spaghetti bolognese and fish fingers. They were invented, so the story goes, not surprisingly in the USA by the nutritionist Robert Carl Baker. Hardly anyone knows that anymore. Because someone else hoisted the “gold pieces” onto the big stage: the fast-food giant McDonald’s. Since the chain added the nuggets to the menu in 1983, the appetite for them has been huge. But are they healthy?
Stiftung Warentest took a closer look at what’s under the breading. The quality of 15 frozen chicken nuggets products was tested, as were five veggie alternatives. The result is pleasing: Every second product scored “good” in the overall result, nine are “satisfactory”. Only one has to be satisfied with the rating “sufficient”. The nuggets from “Mekkafood” are the worst in comparison.
Nuggets in the product test – surprisingly delicious
In terms of taste, the testers had surprisingly little to criticize about half of the tested nugget products and rated them as at least “good”. Bofrost gets the absolute dream score in terms of taste for its “Chicken Chips” (1.0). The brand is also the test winner (overall grade 1.7). But the meatless competition can also keep up. According to the product test, the vegan nuggets from “Rügenwalder Mühle” are “equal to the best with meat”. They achieved the second-best result with a grade of 1.8.
So far so good. contrary to the good ratings, the testers also found less appetizing. In some cases, they found high levels of 3-MCPD esters in the products, which are possibly carcinogenic. Warentest has calculated the tolerable daily consumption specified by the European Food Safety Authority for a child of around four years of age, but can give the all-clear. Even with the constant consumption of 100 grams of nuggets a day, it will be difficult to break this mark, it would only be theoretically possible with one product. In individual cases, mold toxins were also found, which in the worst case can lead to vomiting.
Nuggets with fries? Not the best idea
The test winners in the two categories are still in the upper middle range in price, Bofrost charges 1.43 euros for 100 grams of chicken nuggets, Rügenwalder Mühle even 1.55 euros for the veggie counterpart, which means they are more than one euro below the most expensive product . However, the most expensive product also comes with organic meat. The bottom line is that some inexpensive retail brands such as Edeka’s chicken nuggets from Gut & Billig (Not 2.0) do well, almost as well as the best. They cost just about a third (50 cents/100 grams).
In the end, one question remains: Can parents with a good heart serve their kids fast food? It can be breathed. The experts come to the conclusion that for a child between the ages of four and seven the “nutritional quality is good to satisfactory”. The testers assume that the kids eat about four nuggets per meal.
However, the fries as a side dish should be avoided at best. Since the nuggets alone have a lot of calories, they recommend rice, boiled potatoes or salad.
You can take the complete test for a fee test.de see.