McDonald’s Debuts Veggie Nuggets — Sort Of

It looks like Japan's not taking any chances: Hot on the heels of last week's tainted meat incident that forced Hong Kong McDonald's locations to pull at least half a dozen items from their menus, McDonald's Japan has introduced tofu shinjo nuggets, The Wall Street Journal reports. An informal office poll reveals that this sounds disgusting to almost everybody.

So, what exactly are the bites made of, if not mechanically separated chicken byproducts? Nothing that will appeal to the vegetarian crowd: Reportedly, it's onions, carrots, soybeans, as well as tofu — the main ingredient — and minced fish, which makes the nuggets decidedly unfit for non-meat-eaters.

The nuggets, which were in production before the Chinese meat scandal broke, are served with a ginger sauce, and will be a "bit softer" than the original chicken version, a McDonald's spokeswoman told WSJ. A four-piece meal will retail for 249 yen, or about $2.44.

No word yet on whether these will be coming stateside — or if the fast-food mega-chain plans to invent a version that's actually vegetarian.

Click through to check out the 15-second Japanese commercial.