--- description: The fast food giant wants to jump start it's faltering U.S. business by tweaking it's menu. title: McDonald's Is Testing Preservative-Free Chicken McNuggets image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4483524dc81f64/698874e4cd1bba30196fe799/gettyimages-461116732.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Fast Food](/tag/fast-food/) ## Fast Food Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # McDonald's Is Testing Preservative-Free Chicken McNuggets by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 27, 2016 2:29 PM CUT  A box of chicken nuggets, left, sits beside a portion of french fries in this arranged photograph at a McDonald's restaurant, operated by McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Jan.7, 2015\. McDonald's Corp.'s Japan business and Cargill Inc. are investigating complaints objects were found in chicken nuggets made by a Cargill factory in Thailand, the restaurant chainâs second food safety crisis in six months. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images A box of chicken nuggets, left, sits beside a portion of french fries in this arranged photograph at a McDonald's restaurant, operated by McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Jan.7, 2015\. McDonald's Corp.'s Japan business and Cargill Inc. are investigating complaints objects were found in chicken nuggets made by a Cargill factory in Thailand, the restaurant chainâs second food safety crisis in six months. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Getty Images by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 27, 2016 2:29 PM CUT McDonald’s is testing Chicken McNuggets that are made [without artificial preservatives](http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-04-27/mcdonalds-testing-mcnugget-recipe-without-preservatives "undefined"). The fast food giant says it began testing the new nugget recipe in March, according to the Associated Press, with some 140 locations in Oregon and Washington offering the first batches. McDonald’s is revitalizing its menu in an attempt to [reinvigorate its U.S. business](http://time.com/4300840/mcdonalds-is-testing-new-versions-of-the-big-mac/ "undefined"), which the company admits has faltered in recent years after failing to keep up with changing consumer tastes. It’s not clear when the new nuggets will be available nationally or what exactly is different about them, but McDonald’s did say the recipe is “simpler” and “parents can feel good” about it, according to AP. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4309336/mcdonalds-chicken-mcnuggets-preservative-free/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4309336/mcdonalds-chicken-mcnuggets-preservative-free/"},"headline":"McDonald's Is Testing Preservative-Free Chicken McNuggets","datePublished":"2016-04-27T14:29:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:04:31.789Z","description":"The fast food giant wants to boost its faltering U.S. business by tweaking its menu","url":"https://time.com/4309336/mcdonalds-chicken-mcnuggets-preservative-free/","keywords":["Fast Food","Mcdonald's","Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4483524dc81f64/698874e4cd1bba30196fe799/gettyimages-461116732.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4483524dc81f64/698874e4cd1bba30196fe799/gettyimages-461116732.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Views Of McDonald's Restaurants As McDonald's Japan Investigates Nuggets From Cargill's Thai Unit","caption":"Views Of McDonald's Restaurants As McDonald's Japan Investigates Nuggets From Cargill's Thai Unit","creditText":"Bloomberg—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/fast-food/","name":"Fast Food"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4309336/mcdonalds-chicken-mcnuggets-preservative-free/","name":"McDonald's Is Testing Preservative-Free Chicken McNuggets"}}]}] ```