What's for Breakfast: Tyson Chicken Sandwich

By Ed Bruske

aka The Slow Cook

They're back!

D.C. Schools Food Services Director Jeffrey Mills has complained that Chartwells, the company contracted to serve meals to the system's 45,000 students, continues to dish up Tyson chicken products even after they've been asked not too.

I wonder if that includes these breakfast sandwiches, heated and served while still in their plastic packing. That's what kids were getting this morning at my daughter's elementary school. (The parents in the cafeteria did not blink an eye, as far as I could tell. They just watched their kids tear the plastic away and start eating.)

I wrote about these sandwiches a month ago. Here are the ingredients:

SAUSAGE: Boneless dark chicken meat with skin, seasoning (salt, dextrose, spices, beef extract, maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast, natural flavor, modified food starch, onion powder, tocopherols, garlic powder, gelatin), modified food starch, water, sodium phosphates, caramel color, natural flavors.

BISCUIT: White wheat 100% whole wheat flour, enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, shortening (interesterified soybean, with distilled monoglycerides added), sugar, honey, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate), buttermilk solids, salt, xanthan gum, mono and diglycerides.

Nutrition Facts

• Serving Size: 1 PATTIE W/ BIS (94g)
• Servings Per Container: About 100

• Amount Per Serving
• Calories from Fat 90 Calories 260

% Daily Value*

• 17% Total Fat 11g
  • 20% Saturated Fat 4g
  • Trans Fat 0g
  • Polyunsaturated Fat 3g
  • Monounsaturated Fat 3g
• 12% Cholesterol 35mg
• 22%Sodium 520mg
• 9%Total Carbohydrate 27g
  • 8%Dietary Fiber 2g
  • Sugars 5g
• 28%Protein 14g

• Vitamin C 4%Vitamin A 2%
• Iron 10%Calcium 10%

Note the salt content: 520 milligrams. That's 22 percent of an adult daily requirement.

These little sandwiches are built to last. According to information Tyson provides via its website, this product has a shelf life of 270 days.