Why Olive Garden Was Accused Of Using Canned 'Mystery' Chicken

When you go to Olive Garden, you usually expect to eat some real food. While the popular chain isn't exactly authentic Italian food, you still expect the meal you get will be prepared using fresh meats, pasta, and vegetables. If you were to find out the food you were eating was "fake" — like your chicken parmesan being prepared with "mystery meat" instead of real chicken or your ravioli being stuffed with unidentifiable gristle — then you'd most likely have more than a few questions for those folks manning the kitchen.

It was one of these accusations of "fake food" that caused some moderate surprise. According to Newsweek, an ex-Olive Garden employee made startling accusations toward her former workplace, insinuating that a majority of the food isn't as freshly prepared as one would think. One of her claims involved Olive Garden allegedly altering the type of chicken used in its dishes, switching from real chicken to something the employee referred to as "canned mystery chicken." The former employee also went on to describe "mystery cheeses," slugs and spiders found everywhere from drink dispensers to salad mix, and even employees eating toppings off salads with their bare fingers.

Needless to say, these were some very disturbing accusations that, if true, would certainly paint Olive Garden in a very unflattering light. Olive Garden, for its part, was quick to reassure customers that these claims were nothing short of ludicrous. 

When a company is as big as Olive Garden, any sort of rumors or reports of unsavory activities going on in its day-to-day operations is serious business. Not taking these claims sitting down, Olive Garden was quick to reassure its customers that such rumors regarding its food were in no way true — especially the part about the use of canned chicken in its kitchens.

Olive Garden told Eat This, Not That that the claim that it uses canned mystery chicken wasn't true, and that in fact none of the chicken used in its dishes is canned. Contrary to the reports made by the former employee, the chain has insisted that it uses only fresh meats, vegetables, and other ingredients in its dishes. To further provide evidence for Olive Garden's claim, Wright Foods stated that the chicken used in Olive Garden's soups, such as the chicken gnocchi, is freshly-cooked in-house and sourced from local farms or suppliers if possible. In short, Olive Garden doesn't use any canned ingredients and strives to use only the freshest ingredients it can get — or at least, so it claims.

But just because Olive Garden claims that its chicken isn't canned or a "mystery meat" in any way, shape, or form doesn't mean that other rumors regarding its food haven't made the rounds. In fact, one particular rumor is that Olive Garden's food isn't just "fake" — it's prepared using a microwave.

It's a common joke online that a majority of restaurants don't actually "cook" their food. Instead, these restaurants just toss some frozen food in the microwave and serve it to you hot as if they cooked it fresh. Of course, these again are just jokes with no real evidence. But Olive Garden has been one of the many restaurants that's part of the punchline. Olive Garden has gone on record denouncing these claims, with one former employee on Reddit even explaining, "Microwaves are strictly for heating the dipping sauce and some of the warm desserts."

Another Reddit user and employee of Olive Garden also gave some insight into how food at the restaurant is prepared. "It's definitely not kept at room temperature lol or everyone could potentially get sick. It's cooked in boiling water for around 10 minutes then immediately chilled below 40F," the user explained. "After it's placed in the walk in cooler. When ordered the pasta is poached for about 10 seconds and Alfredo is placed on top. It literally takes 20 seconds to make once everything is prepped." 

In short, the food isn't kept at room temperature all the time, but it's reheated and chilled simply for food safety purposes. No microwaves are allegedly involved in this process. Even if Olive Garden isn't "authentic" Italian, it's at least not made by microwaving mystery meats.