Buzz
Opting for grilled chicken at a fast food restaurant may not be as healthy as you think. A recent investigation by CBC Marketplace discovered that the chicken served doesn’t contain only poultry.
The Canadian TV program sent chicken samples from five popular fast food chains to an Ontario university lab for testing. The results showed that all of them had significantly lower protein levels than what you'd find in a homemade piece of chicken.
While a plain chicken breast from the store should contain 100% chicken DNA, tests of grilled chicken from McDonald's, Wendy's, A&W, Tim Hortons, and Subway revealed much lower levels of poultry DNA. Marinating or seasoning would naturally reduce the chicken DNA percentage, but Subway, in particular, showed a concerningly low amount of chicken in their grilled chicken.
While other fast food chains had chicken DNA content averaging over 80%, Subway’s samples were so low that researchers had to collect additional samples for retesting. Subway’s oven-roasted chicken had an average of 53.6% chicken DNA, and the chicken strips used in items like the Sweet Onion Teriyaki sandwich had only 42.8% chicken DNA. The rest of the DNA was mostly soy.
Subway Canada reacted to the investigation, stating they were “concerned by the alleged findings.”
A Subway spokesperson told CBC, “Our chicken strips and oven-roasted chicken contain 1% or less soy protein. We use this ingredient to help stabilize the texture and moisture.” The company added they would investigate the matter with their chicken supplier.
The other grilled chicken options weren’t exactly healthy either. The tests indicated that even after accounting for other ingredients, these fast food options contained a quarter less protein than homemade chicken and had significantly more sodium—up to 10 times more. A food scientist CBC consulted suggested this is because the meat is a “restructured” product, made from smaller meat pieces held together with cheaper ingredients for added flavor. What seems like a simple piece of chicken contains more than a dozen ingredients; the study samples averaged 16, including sugar—an unexpected addition to a chicken sandwich.
This doesn’t mean you should completely avoid chicken sandwiches, but it’s time to stop congratulating yourself for picking one over a burger.
Update: After the Marketplace study gained widespread attention on Tuesday, a Subway spokesperson released a statement to the Huffington Post, strongly rejecting the findings. "The claims regarding the content of our chicken are completely false and misleading. Our chicken is made from 100 percent white meat, seasoned, marinated, and delivered to our stores as a fully cooked product... We are unsure how [CBC News] arrived at such inaccurate and factually incorrect data, but we are demanding a full retraction.”
