According to the Department of Agriculture, the dishes included breaded or pre-browned chicken breasts, some of them stuffed with vegetables or sold as “chicken Kiev” and “chicken cordon bleu.” The appearance of the food led people to assume that the chicken breasts were thoroughly cooked, even though they were still raw or undercooked inside.

According to the USDA alert (emphasis mine)

Although many of these stuffed chicken entrees were labeled with instructions identifying the product was uncooked and did not include microwave instruction for preparation, individuals who became ill did not follow the cooking instructions and reportedly used a microwave to prepare the product.

This is what I would call a failure of labeling. Showing a fully-cooked chicken cordon bleu is clearly more appetizing then a picture of raw meat; but it is not a totally accurate depiction of what’s in the box. I wouldn’t call it unethical in and of itself, but the embellishment should have been offset with a clear indication that the meat was raw. Especially since it’s impossible to tell if a frozen piece of fully-breaded chicken is raw or cooked. If the USDA alert is taken at face value, then only “many”, not all, of the frozen chicken was labeled as raw. That does not seem right.

Unfortunately, no brands were named in the alert. So I can’t comment on the actual designs.

Now, I agree that the Whopper is a pretty good burger — better then anything from McDonalds (but a little less tasty then a Sourdough Jack). And the Cheesy Tots do have their moments. And I have to give props to my local BK for carrying Dr. Pepper, unlike every Taco Bell I’ve been to in the Midwest. And I really liked the creepy/hilarious “The Burger King” commercials. (And don’t forget the Video Game.)

But outside of hamburgers… Burger King is just bad. Almost all of their “chicken” products are mechanically separated meat. Their Original Chicken Sandwich is made of MSM, and has noticeably worse taste and nutritional value then the equivalent offering from Wendy’s, made of whole chicken. Burger King is the only restaurant who’s coupons I’ve thrown away.

Then there’s the health of it all, where Burger King gets low marks: “Fried foods from Burger King are alarmingly high in trans fat, according to The Center for Science in the Public Interest. A regular-size order of Chicken Tenders with a large order of French fries has 8 grams of trans — more than someone should consume in four days.“.