Do McDonald's Burgers Decompose?

Unless the burger is made out of plastic I can't imagine it still looking basically the same after twelve years. I'm skeptical of experiments done by people who are obviously out to get the findings they want, and in Mr. Spurlock's case have no scientific training.

Super Size Me is ridiculous; five thousand calories a day ,no exercise ,and he's amazed that his health goes down hill.Sorry, I just can't stand the guy.

My son and I tried the Spurlock experiment for school. We still have unchanged McD's fries in a jar in our kitchen. Our cheeseburger and quarter pounder were slow to decompose, much slower than a Jakes cheeseburger that was also in the experiment. everything went in a jar, now some jars may have been different sizes which could effect the results. The buns were the first to go, they sort of melted around the meat..We held on to the quarter pounder for over a year and although gross the meat part still looked pretty good! it was fun by the way, we would gross people out with it at any oppurtunity...the fries, I guess that because they are so slim they suck up enough grease to keep forever..Wanda

I pity the alien beings who, 10,000 years from now can find only McDonalds fries as evidence of a former civilisation and have to try to figure out what on earth they are ;-)

Karen Hanrahan definitely dried out the hamburger. You need controls and hundreds of samples to make a good experiment. I'm not discounting the fact that there is bad stuff in fast food. Just don't eat there. Good little post about Micky D's though.

I would definitely say the burger would decompose more than the girls did in 12 years. That seems pretty ridiculous.

All i knw is that the burgers are well made... I like them.. people do tend to get out of shape, but then it can be controlled...

Buy your own and see for yourself. Mine did not rot. I`ve had it almost two years.I ordered a cheeseburger happy meal. I left it in the bag and put it in the closet. It looks exactly the same as the day I bought it.

A morning show in Australia had someone on the other day with a Hungry Jacks Quad Stacker that was 4 weeks old and looked like it had just been purchased... but who knows if that was true or what they'd done to it!

Last October (2007) I traded in my car. Before I took it to the dealership, I cleaned it out thoroughly. Underneath the passenger seat, in the very middle where I hadn't seen it/reached it before, was a 1/4 of a McDonald's cheeseburger, wrapped in a bit of the original waxed paper. I can only assume that it fell out of the trash bag and slid/rolled under the seat. When I unwrapped the paper, the burger piece looked to be in perfect condition - no rot, no mold, no "melting", and certainly no smell or I'd have noticed it under the seat long before then.

The kicker here? The last time I ate at McDonalds was sometime in the summer of 2004 when I moved from Texas to Arizona.

I well believe that someone has a petrified McD's hamburger that's many years old. If I hadn't already given up fast food years ago, this would have definitely given me pause for thought.

I don't believe for one second that the burger pictured is anywhere near 12 years old. I don't believe it's one year old. Even if she dried out the burger itself, the bun would have molded.

McDonalds food, is, for the most part, crap, but eating it once in a while isn't going to harm you. Every once in a while, I get a hankering for a Big Mac, and guess what? I'll eat one. And enjoy it.

It just seems that it's "hip" nowadays to blame McDonalds and fast food in general for everyone's weight and/or health problems. Anything to avoid taking responsibility for their own lack of self-control.

There are hundreds of factors that can affect how food decomposes and whether or not molds/fungus will grow on it. If you put a burger in a jar with a lid, you protect the food inside from the majority of airborne spores (although, there may be a fair number of them that get into the jar) that would cause the food to grow mold. Humidity, temperature, and the environment can also affect how molds and bacteria will grow.

When we did food shelf life studies at the food manufacturing company I used to work for, we kept the samples of food at various temperatures and humidities. Even with a lot of preservatives, most of the samples molded after about a week. But if we kept the samples in a modified-atmosphere package of CO2, it took a lot longer for anything to grow on the samples. Bottom line, I believe both sides to this story. It's possible to preserve a burger for a year or whatever as long as you dry it out enough initially so that the bacteria and mold can't grow on it to decompose it. Kind of like food mummification, if you want to think of it that way.

Well, I never thought I'd get an idea for my son's science fair experiment on this blog!

Thanks.

Very interesting topic. You have to wonder, though, at just about any food item that is THAT loaded with preservatives. Just what are we doing to our bodies. And, are we causing autism, cancer, etc?

"So who's telling the truth here?"
At ALL I hate it MC.

I am surprised that there is so much controversy about the 12 year old burger, but I'll add my 2 cents.

In addition to preservatives, many big food companies sometimes radiate/ nuke their food also to preserve it.

In fact we've been radiating food for years. Back in World War II they would radiate food to preserve it, and ship it over to the troops in boxes-- no refrigerators on the battle field.

Radiation kills living structures and disrupts the molecular structure of food. The FDA has actually approved radiation of green veggies to prevent the spread of ecoli and other bacteria.

So in addition to chemicals and preservatives, much of our food supply is also radiated, which will increase how long it takes to decompose.

My grandmother had canned goods that were more than 10 years old, but when you opened the rusty can the fruits inside still looked good. Hmmm.

And you know you've seen 10-20 year old gum stuck to things.

If people can make gum, candy, cereal, and canned goods to last forever without decomposing why can't they make burgers or fries that decompose.

The answer is that the technology exists to stop McDonalds burgers from decomposing and there are numerous examples across our food supply.

It you don't believe, try for yourself. By the way whether it's 12 years, 10 years, or 2 years IMHO 2 months is too long.

And I don't think anyone who thinks the burgers are healthy is really looking at the facts.

By him putting his items in the jar, they retained the moisture and had a perfect set up to grow moldy. I can remember, as a kid, hiding those hated little burgers (I hated those little onion bits), only to later find a dried version of the original. No mold then either. Petrified burger or moldy burger--I think they're both likely under their respective conditions.

Well, if she kept her burger in the fridge, then it could possibly have not decomposed. Not sure why it didn't get other grossities, like maybe a bug or two, or even basic mold though. Must have been an airtight container! LOL! Perhaps she and the Virgin Mary grilled cheese lady could open a food museum.

While the things like the documentaries might be gross, it is good to see the positive changes that have been made in the food industry. As an older, fat adult with lots of dental problems, I watch all these changes, and realize there is a whole generation of kids that will probably never have a cavity, always have fruit choices at fast food places, and will even have exercise games like Wii instead of Pong.

It is still a bit unnerving to think of all the other additives they put in our foods to make them shippable and shelf stable. I know we gave up buying Hamburger Helper a decade ago. My hubby and son and both allergic to MSG, so we had to start reading labels on everything. AMAZING how many things have it. Now THAT is something I wish they would ban as a food additive! It creates a craving to eat more of the product (here's a thought - how about just making it TASTE good enough to want more?), but can set off a host of health problems from migraine headaches to severe aggression to equally severe depression. I think more people are affected than we know.

I know that I had to give up eating Cheez Nips. They sound so innocent, and are so easy to take with you somewhere. But, the Monterey Jack ones are so loaded with MSG, I fell into a huge depression after eating admittedly quite a few of them. I just can't eat any of them any more.

One step at a time, we'll end up with safer foods.

Thanks, this is an interesting article… Not just black or white, but actually with an attempt for an analysis.

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Interesting topic! I teach nutrition and am studying Natural Nutrition. The comment that eating a bit of McDonald's can do no harm is like saying that a wee bit of cocaine or arsnic will do me no harm! Let's face it folks - the food industry is a multi-billion dollar industry - they will do what ever they can to make money and make us want to buy their products. If want another simple experiement - go into a grocery store that sells both regular produce (may have been sprayed or waxed, etc.) and organic produce (no sprays or waxing allowed). The organic produce does not have the same shelf life as the other produce. Preservatives do keep things looking/tasting better longer.

Why would anyone want to eat something that essentially never decomposes? Even if the studies weren't perfectly scientific, they raise valid points about what we put into our bodies. Furthermore, for those who discredit Morgan Spurlock's documentary, I would say that his point was that Mc Death--I'm sorry, Mc Donald's markets their food as being a healthy and wholesome choice for the whole family. This suggests that one should be able to eat their basic meal 3 times a day and not get sick. His film shows the exact opposite to be true.

if your going to try some kind of experiment you need some kind of control. has anyone tried putting a piece of raw beef in one jar, a piece of cook beef in another, a piece of raw ground beef in a third , a piece of cooked store bought ground beef in a fourth and then a cooked MD patty in the last jar. all the same jars kept at the same temp.
Theres a lot of bad reasons people make things like this up. if they were all so simple as selling a book it still wouldn't be obvious to everyone.

did you know that most people who eat the same thing day after day no matter what it is get very sick . they develop an allergy to the food type. i forget the name but it can happen easily.
You want to eat burgers or carrots every day of your life its your business and no one else's. do it and die if it kills you but at least you will die free.

Big deal. I utterly fail to see how this is unbelievable. Who has found several month old french fries in their car . . . under their seats? Everyone.

Besides, this woman with the 12 year old burger isn't the only person who has done this. A simple Google search will show that it's quite the common little experiment, and there are hundreds of people doing it.

Do a little research before looking like an idiot. Thanks a bunch!

OMG.... That clip really got 2 me, i'll never ever eat McDonalds french fries AGAIN!!! Im doing a project at school, and i have chosen to do it on how long it takes for a burger 2 grow mould, and it took a week and a half for a McDonalds cheeseburger 2 grow mould. But it was only a teeny weeny green speck on the bottom of the bun. I threw them out in the end because they smely horrible.

There's a lot of things wrong with eating McDonalds, but the supersize documentary has a lot of fiction in it.

No one should eat a 5K calorie with that much fat in it a day. Period. Doesn't matter if it's Micky D's or fat you eat at home.

Secondly, of course French Fries don't decompose. They are fried. Are people just that clueless. When is the last time the vegetable oil in your kitchen went bad? It doesn't. Oil doesn't decompose, and if you deep-fry something starchy in it so that it absorbs all that oil guess what - it won't decompose either.

Try it for yourself. Deep fry some homemade french fries and see how long they last.

that woman isn't really in shape herself. I think she's making the burger thing up. That had to decompose!