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Tray Trends: Pizza Flavored Stuffed Beef Mini Bites, and Other Goodies From Tyson
Tyson calls itself the “leading supplier of protein” to school foodservice. The company supplies patties and nuggets to thousands of schools across the country, including 95 of the 100 biggest districts. What’s coming out of those corporate kitchens? Recently released items include Chicken Round Ups (ring-shaped chicken nuggets made with government commodity meat — “the perfect play food,” Tyson says) and bacon cheeseburgers with the bacon and cheese “baked right into the burger.”
But I think my personal favorite is the company’s Pizza Flavored Stuffed Beef Mini Bites. I’m not entirely clear on what those are. And after looking at the ingredients, I still have no idea:
Beef, water, seasoning [salt, sucrose, onion powder, garlic powder, tomato powder, spices, dried romano cheese (pasteurized cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), dried whey, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural tomato flavor (flavor, maltodextrin, tomato juice, silicon dioxide, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, coconut oil triglycerides, polysorbate 80), natural and artificial sausage flavor (maltodextrin, modified corn starch, natural and artificial smoke, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, paprika extract {color}), natural bacon flavor (flavor, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, salt, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate), nonfat dry milk, citric acid, natural pizza flavor (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, flavor, tocopherols), dried parsley, disodium phosphate], sodium phosphates, and salt. FILLING: Pasteurized process Swiss cheese [Swiss cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), water, cream, sodium phosphate, salt, sodium pyrophosphate, lactic acid, sorbic acid (preservative)], diced pepperoni (pork, beef, salt, spices, water, dextrose, flavorings, oleoresin of paprika, sodium nitrite, lactic acid starter culture, BHA, BHT, citric acid), white sauce [water, seasoning (butter powder, {butter [cream, salt], nonfat milk, tocopherols, ascorbyl palmitate}, sweet cream powder (cream, soy lecithin, tocopherols, ascorbyl palmitate), modified food starch, nonfat dry milk, sugar, whey) and modified food starch]. BATTERED WITH: Water, bleached wheat flour, salt, spices, garlic powder, natural flavor. BREADED WITH: Bleached wheat flour, dextrose, salt, yeast. PREDUSTED WITH: Wheat flour, pizza seasoning (salt, sucrose, onion powder, garlic powder, tomato powder, spices, dried romano cheese {pasteurized cow’s milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes}, dried whey, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural tomato flavor {flavor, maltodextrin, tomato juice, silicon dioxide, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, coconut oil tryglycerdes, polysorbate 80}, natural and artificial sausage flavor {maltodextrin, modified corn starch, natural and artificial smoke, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, paprika extract [color]}, natural bacon flavor {flavor, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, salt, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate}, nonfat dry milk, citric acid, natural pizza flavor {partially hydrogenated soybean oil, flavor, tocopherols}, dried parsley, disodium phosphate). Breading set in vegetable oil.
I guess “protein” is a pretty good word here, since it certainly isn’t… well… real food.
By the way, Tyson is one of the companies that funds the School Nutrition Association.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:18 am
If parents were to read these ingredients, they would think twice before they’d let their kids near it! I’m sure this product boasts “trans fat free” and it’s “baked, not fried” but meanwhile look at the chemicals that go into it.
I suggest we demand full ingredient disclosure on all items in the cafeteria. That way eaters can make more of an informed consent when they chose what to eat.
Put that in federal school lunch legislation! ( and watch the School Nutrition Association and their funders squirm~!)
May 26th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I cannot believe how long the list of ingredients for this product is!
When I first came to this article, I thought it was an introduction followed by a short list of ingredients with a longer commentary, but nope, at second glance, it’s all just ingredients! Sick! Props to the person who wrote these all out.
Thanks for the great site! This is my first time visiting!
May 27th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
The first ingredient is beef. Arguably, if you remove where the company has fully disclosed what sub ingredients compose “seasonings” or “swiss cheese” or “pepperoni”, the ingredient list is
“Beef, water, seasoning, sodium phosphates, and salt.
Filling: Pasteurized process Swiss cheese, diced pepperoni, white sauce.
BATTERED WITH: Water, bleached wheat flour, salt, spices, garlic powder, natural flavor.
BREADED WITH: Bleached wheat flour, dextrose, salt, yeast.
PREDUSTED WITH: Wheat flour, pizza seasoning
Breading set in vegetable oil.”
Call the FDA…poisons! all of them! For goodness sake. Way to rouse the rabble.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Ana, in eight of the different additives, that heart-clogging, artificially thickened fat, partially hydrogenated oil (aka PHO, aka trans-fatty acid) was added. Your listing of ingredients completely neglects that.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
None of that is food. I think they call that chemistry. People need to re-learn to eat actual food, and they need to teach their children to do the same. I just spent 3 hours this afternoon in our school garden with a bunch of kids who were eating radishes straight from the ground, because they grew them themselves. After tending to those radishes and nurturing them from seed to harvest, there was no way those kids would refuse to eat them. Children are definitely more open to learning to eat better food than most adults I have met. Farm to School programming is vital to the improvement of our children’s nutritional environment.