NutritionDoc

Dinosaurs, Stars, Tiny drumsticks. Breaded, formed chicken nuggets come in all shapes and sizes and are almost universally loved by kids, but most varieties barely resemble meat at all and consumers might be surprised to discover what is in them.

Generally, 2 types of "nugget" sit in your grocer's freezer: whole meat and formed. Whole meat is just what it sounds like - chunks of chicken that are unsually battered, breaded, fried and frozen. Formed products, on the ohter hand, contain chicken "trimmings" - the meat left over or cut from larger whole pieces. This meat is not necessarily inferior, it is just too small, miscut or does not look as pretty as the whole chicken breast you would buy to make Chicken Parmesan.(hint . . . hint . . . mmmmm good Chicken Parmesan from Shelby & Russ). The trimmings are finely chopped and mixed with a solution of water, salt and phosphates that binds them into a sticky paste and adds juiciness. A forming machine molds the paste into whatever shape manufacturers - or kids- want, and the resulting nugget is dusted, battered, breaded, deep fat fried and frozen.

Some processed nuggets can have almost double the calories, 5 times the fat, and 6 times the sodium as an equal amount of regular skinless chicken breast.

Choose wisely . . . live well.