Cheeseburger Watch 2010: Will it Rot?
Friday January 29, 2010 in Cheeseburger watch

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If you leave a McDonald's cheeseburger at room temperature will look the same 4 years later? This sounds implausible, BUT a friend of mine says she has seen a 4 year old burger that shows no sign of decomposition.

I'm a skeptic, so I have decided to do a very scientific (ha!) experiment and buy a McDonald's cheeseburger and leave it on my shelf.

It is photographed here and was purchased yesterday, January 28th, 2010 at the Hadley, Massachusetts' McDonald's store.

Why would I want to share photos of a cheeseburger growing old? Well, I am one of the many consumers that is concerned by chemicals in her food.

I know that the FDA has tested the chemicals for sickness inducing characteristics (such as cancerous growths). So, I'm not really afraid of what eating this stuff will do in the short term.

But, I do think there is something wrong when food that SHOULD decompose (as all natural food does) doesn't! There is no reason a bun, hamburger, and cheese should stay bacteria and fungus free for more than 3 days.

This begs the question - what safe chemicals is McDonald's using? how much of the stuff is in the food?

I have heard crazy stuff about what is in McDonald's hamburgers. The company maintains that the hamburger is 100% beef. My hypothesis is that 100% beef should rot.

So, a few rules:

Every Saturday, I will post a new photo of THIS cheeseburger taken on the previous Friday. Basically, you will see a record of the cheeseburger's growths every week.
If the cheeseburger does rot and smells bad, I'm tossing it! I will post it's last photo for posterity.
To my e-mail subscribers, I will not send you e-mails of the latest in the cheeseburger's demise. You can just check for the Saturday post if you are interested. I will update my RSS, FaceBook, and Twitter Followers. Just ignore it if you are not interested.

What are your concerns about chemicals in your food, if any? Please share.

Want to read about snacks?
So What's Inside Yoplait Yogurt Anyway?
The Worst Pizza on the Planet
What You Should Know About Snack Wraps

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11 Comments:

Ew ew ew!
I'm interested to see what happens, though.

Megan on January 29, 2010

me too! great experiment!

bunkie on January 29, 2010

this is a poorly done experiment....but a good idea!!

whats the temp range, whats the humidity like, is it exposed at any point to artificial light or sunshine? does it have airflow around it, or is it in a solid container?

All of those factors would change the outcome immensely.

Ethan D on January 29, 2010

Think this is great. I'm sharing with the whole office1

carolyn on January 29, 2010

100% pure beef? LOL!!!
Remember the maker of the movie, "Supersize Me?" After eating nothing but McDonalds for 3 weeks, he begins to experience withdrawal symptoms several hours after a meal. Withdrawal symptoms like a drug addict experiences. Folks, fast food is doctored up with chemicals. If it wasn't, it would taste like cardboard. Why can't anyone duplicate the flavor of McDonald's french fries, even the finest chefs in the world? Because they don't have the chemical flavorings that McDonalds has.

stan on January 30, 2010

you should do their french fries too! i seen a video someone did about this and they bought like 6 random things, 5 from fast food places and one from a little diner and put them all in their own glass jar with a lid and came back often to take pics. lets just say, i use to love thier french fries but i usually pass them up. thanks for doing this, i will be watching!

Melissa F on January 31, 2010

cool idea. can expand to other industrial foods and snacks. twinkies come to mind.

Hemi Weingarten (Fooducate) on February 2, 2010

I love this idea! I may try it myself!

Candice on February 2, 2010

What is the status??? Very curious....

Laurie on February 6, 2010

It would be interesting to do a control burger the same size, weight, patty thickness, and with the same ingredients in the same proportions and see how it compares to the McDonald's one!

Melissa on February 19, 2010

My Mc Donalds cheeseburger is over 4 months old and it looks just like the day I bought it, except that it is as hard as a rock (no mold, NOTHING!). I use this to show at my Wellness Workshops because it demonstrates that their is very little real food in this. Pretty gross. Also, the french fries do the same thing, they just get really hard. This is a great visual.

Rachel@AllergenFreePlease on March 1, 2010