It's a chemical preservative called tertiary butylhydroquinone (tBHQ).

Steve Boren · #1 07.30.10, 03:20 PM

Believe it or not

Just one gram can cause side effects ranging from nausea and vomiting all the way to delirium and collapse.

A potent new poison being added to the arsenal of international spies?

Nope. It's an ingredient in McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.

It's a chemical preservative called tertiary butylhydroquinone (tBHQ). Hmm... wonder if that's the stuff that made the McDonald's fries look as fresh as the day they were made after 10 weeks under glass in the movie Super Size Me -- tBHQ is in those, too. Oh, and it's petroleum based. Yum.

While it's limited to .02% of the oil in the nugget, I can't help but think it has no business being there at all.

Apparently, in the UK, they agree. Because for some reason, tBHQ and another chemical called dimethylpolysiloxane, which keeps the oil from foaming (and is also used in...wait for it...Silly Putty), are nowhere to be found in the McNuggets ingredients list there. Their version also contains half the saturated fat. Not that I'd advocate eating even the "less harmful" nuggets over there -- but reading about it certainly gave me pause.

McDonald's claims there are no risks associated with these ingredients, but I can't help but wonder -- if that's the case, why are they missing from the nuggets across the pond?

Yours in good health,

Christine O'Brien

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