I teach a workshop titled Healthy Choices for Children. It’s a class for parents seeking solutions to how to improve the way they eat. It’s about the alternative food market, organics, and the top ten food additives to avoid and why, menu planning and more. It’s a 3 session fabulously informative interactive class.
Below is my absolutely favorite prop.
People are always astounded when I share this.
I have used this as show and tell for a very long time.
This is a hamburger from McDonalds that I purchased in 1996.
That was 12 years ago.
Note that it looks exactly like it did the very day I bought it.
The flecks on the burger are crumbs from the bun.
The burger is starting to crumble a bit.
It has the oddest smell.
The paper and bag in the backround is circa 2008 – to add decor to the photo. My friend Robyn’s idea.
This is the retro welch’s grape juice plastic container I have always kept it in. People always ask me – what did you do to preserve it ?
Nothing – it preserved itself.
Ladies, Gentleman, and children alike – this is a chemical food. There is absolutely no nutrition here.
Not one ounce of food value. Or at least value for why we are eating in the first place. 
The burger on the right, off the paper is a 2008 burger. I had to buy it to get the groovy paper and bag.
The meat is a tad darker, the bun a little less golden but in 12 years it will look exactly like that too.
Do you find this horrifying?
McDonalds fills an empty space in your belly. It does nothing to nourish the cell, it is not a nutritious food.
It is not a treat.
I marvel at how McDonalds has infiltrated our entire world. A hamburger here tastes exactly the same in China or some around the world place.
It’s cloned.
Makes you wonder doesn’t it?
Do me a favor and share this.
K a r e n H a n r a h a n
Wellness Educator/Nutritional Consultant
Mentoring YOU to Health Success
708.482.0678
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1273 Comments
Holy crap! That is incredible.
Thanks for this. It may finally help me stay away from the cheese burgers.
Overnutrition is one of the main social problems in America, people are too fat. So a food that has no nutritional value would be actually a good thing.Hamburgers however do have nutritional value, but the wrong kind.
Isn’t it ?
Isn’t it ?
I agree. Although I’d call it overconsumption of the wrong kinds of foods.
I agree. Although I’d call it overconsumption of the wrong kinds of foods.
I think it’s enough to make anyone pause.
I think it’s enough to make anyone pause.
McDonald’s does nothing to fuel the cell? So their food has 0 calories? AWESOME! Imma eat til I puke then eat some more!
While that is astounding, and McDs is garbage, it’s incorrect to say it does not fuel the cell. It has calories, calories are fuel. And while I’m sure they use all kinds of practices and chemicals in their meat that are completely disgusting, they don’t clone anything… do you have any idea how much a cloned meat burger would cost? Not $1 I assure you.
I actually meant nourish the cell.
I actually meant nourish the cell.
Thank you – you are correct. I meant nourish the cell and changed it. Clone was merely an expression of turn-key operation. Cerainly not a declaration! Isn’t creative expression wonderful?
Thank you – you are correct. I meant nourish the cell and changed it. Clone was merely an expression of turn-key operation. Cerainly not a declaration! Isn’t creative expression wonderful?
OMG ~ I’m never eating McDs again!
I left a hamburger out all night and it decomposed and looked pretty bad.. worse than the one in that picture. Further, one was in my car for several days.. it completely rotted. this is a lie. you are an anti american, anti capitalist. you HAVE to lie because your message sucks.
Glad you are trying to get the word out about McDonalds excuse for food.About 15-17 years ago (The last time I ate there) I bought a shake, put it in the sun for an hour. It separated into 3 layers, and when I mixed it back up, it had the EXACT same consistency as when I bought it. I don’t if they have changed the formula since then, so it may no longer be like this.
Mccy D’s Hamburgers have no nutritional value AND they make you fat. There’s nothing good about them, unless your goal is slow, painful, and constipated suicide.
Wow. That’s quite disturbing… thank you for sharing this! I am a vegetarian, and have been for several years now, but it frightens me to think of how much junk has built up from the years I DID eat that junk. Unfortunately, it’s not easy for people to make informed decisions about what they eat (at least in North America). In Canada, they voted against a Bill which would require labeling of all genetically modified food. In fact, it wasn’t even a ‘major’ (i.e. popular) issue. In my opinion, you can’t get much more major than something we’re ingesting daily!
I have doubts of your method. I am not defending McDonald’s, but I do not like unnecessary scaring over nothing. We do not need scare tactics to tell people McD food is bad for them.Let’s go over the evidence in your experiment. First, the burger you purchased twelve years ago was put into a jelly container. I suspect the container to be airtight as jelly is susceptible to mold, bacteria, etc. Second, you mention in the article that the burger was starting to crumble. This would imply that the burger has little to no water in it. Third, I am assuming you bought your burger from a McD that met all health regulations.Your conclusion from this evidence is that McD burgers are bad because they withstand the test of time. However, I disagree with this conclusion. I would argue that the burger was preserved because it was in an airtight, waterless environment removed from mold and bacteria. If there was sufficient water in the container, mold and bacteria would most likely flourish. Now, I am not saying you are wrong that McD food is bad in regards to health. It is a fattening food whose only nutritional value is the amount of calories it contains. But I am saying your experiment does not support the conclusion that McD food is bad.Furthermore, and this is simply personal sentiments, I do not like the tone of the article that engineered foods are bad. Chemically altering foods is a two way street. There is potential to make a healthier food that has more nutritional value than it’s predecessor (see: Banana) or simply make a food that last longer but has loses that value (see: commercial Tomato).
Tell a straving child anywhere in the world that there is no nutritional value in that hamburger. Also, if you view McDonalds as a place to get a good meal, then, with all the info out there, you deserve to keep believing this. If you look at it like going out for Icecream (a treat), then I can see no harm whatsoever if its only once a month or so. The problem is, you have some people who eat this crap everyday. However, if I was starving, it would save my life by eating it, so of course it has nutritional value.
ok, the one thing that gets me is why there isn’t any mold on the bread…
The bun would have mold by now. I believe the hamburger part of the story. Let’s eat!
What the HECK!! The 1996 burger almost looks better than the 2008 one. I will never eat McDonald’s Again . thank you so much for this enlightening information. i all ways new McDonald’s was bad… but i never thought it was this bad. Again Thanks Karen!
But they are delicious!
“calories are fuel”? WaF are you thinking? You have to finish elemental school! The Calorie is an mesure of heat over matter. May be you are traying to say Carbohydrates, in this case, glycogen, the kind of Carbohydrates which functions as energy storage (the fat in your belly nad your legs).
Just to be objective:McDonald’s hamburger (from McDonald’s Canadian Website):weight: 101 grams (g)250 calories8g of fat, 12% of daily value (DV)25 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol510mg sodium, 21% DV32g carbohydrates, 11% DV2g fibre, 8% DV12g proteinvitamin A 2% DV vitamin C 4% DVcalcium 10% DV iron 20% DVSeems like a lot of energy (carbs and fat), salt, iron, and protein, and a bit of fibre.I think anything with that much fat and salt would preserve itself quite well. It is likely that if you try this with a piece of bacon or any other burger you could get similar results. But I can’t say I’ve tried. Maybe Karen Hanrahan can try this and let us (and her classes) see the difference.
I’ve read studies that have said otherwise. That Super Size me guy did the same kind of experiment with 5 different types of burgers. They all went moldy. The only thing that stayed preserved were french fries. Come on, let’s get our facts straight people. Quit misleading me.
Not sure what is misleading about a picture of a 12 year old McDonald’s Hamburger. I personally have nothing to gain from sharing.
Not sure what is misleading about a picture of a 12 year old McDonald’s Hamburger. I personally have nothing to gain from sharing.
Thanks for the label. Wow look at all that sodium! I’d prefer to advocate fresh fruits and vegetables. I think one show and tell says enough.
Thanks for the label. Wow look at all that sodium! I’d prefer to advocate fresh fruits and vegetables. I think one show and tell says enough.
So sorry I meant to say nourish vs fuel and I have edited that.
So sorry I meant to say nourish vs fuel and I have edited that.
They do taste good in a predictable kindof way!
They do taste good in a predictable kindof way!
I thought so too!! You are very welcome!
I thought so too!! You are very welcome!
No, the bun never molded. It’s 12 yrs old.
No, the bun never molded. It’s 12 yrs old.
I can’t answer that officially, I can speculate that it’s not made from very quality ingredients. It gets me too. It’s not a ” live ” food.
I can’t answer that officially, I can speculate that it’s not made from very quality ingredients. It gets me too. It’s not a ” live ” food.
Are starving children eating McDonalds? Is filler better than nothing. Perhaps. I like to teach parents that they have choices and share with them something they might not of known. Who knew a burger would look like that after 12 years!
Are starving children eating McDonalds? Is filler better than nothing. Perhaps. I like to teach parents that they have choices and share with them something they might not of known. Who knew a burger would look like that after 12 years!
Their burgers are the same right across the world and that’s one of the reasons for their ‘infiltration’ (success) in our society. Where ever and whenever you are, you know that a McDonalds is a McDonalds is a McDonalds and when i’m half way across the world and not had a a clue what i’m going to eat for weeks… THANK GOD FOR MCDONALDS!
I guess that teh burger would have been preserved thanks to whats known as hydrogenated vegetable oils (or hydrogenated fats)- still legal in many countries, but very dangerous for us to eat. They preserve foods for very long periods- there is one website I have seen with a muffin from 1986 on it, which looks exactly the same as one bought today, which disgusts me. The burger does have nutritional value, but very little- of course it nourishes the cell, but to a limited extent, and whilst also containing an incredible amount of sodium, fat and sugar.
That’s OK. I don’t claim to be a scientist. This is a simple show and tell that I use to educate parents. It’s an example that always causes pause and offers choice. The reality of it is shocking.
That’s OK. I don’t claim to be a scientist. This is a simple show and tell that I use to educate parents. It’s an example that always causes pause and offers choice. The reality of it is shocking.
If the bun is left to dry out it will basically become a crouton. I believe mold needs moisture to grow. The same goes for the meat. If it was left out to dry and is not allowed to stay moist, then it could probably keep from molding. I think the Super Size Me guy left them in a jar which may not have allowed the moisture of the burger to escape and dry out properly. The fact that something can grow mold shouldn’t make you think it is good to eat in any case. Some people’s feet can do that.
Don’t blame McDonalds, you are just buying into everything the health freaks tell you. Americans just try to blame their fatness on anything but themselves. Try exorcise. My buddy is a football player and everyday after practice he eats 4 dollar menu double cheeseburgers as well as a bunch of other “unhealthy” stuff, but he is in better shape than just about anyone I know, probably even you. I would say thats pretty compelling evidence that McDonalds does have nutritional value. Americans need to quit blaming everyone else for their fat children and blame themselves for not getting their kids off the computer and more involved.
Isn’t it disturbing? I agree we are definitely what we eat!
Isn’t it disturbing? I agree we are definitely what we eat!
Healthy Living is definitely about the triage of well being, healthy eating, supplementation and excercise. McDonald’s to me is a choice.
Healthy Living is definitely about the triage of well being, healthy eating, supplementation and excercise. McDonald’s to me is a choice.
True. They don’t list the ingredients on their labels.
True. They don’t list the ingredients on their labels.
It can be very comforting to eat something that you are familiar with – they are the classic model for that
It can be very comforting to eat something that you are familiar with – they are the classic model for that
It would if it remained moist… Once dried both the meat and the bun of any burger/bun, would last indefinately. A thin patty and a spongy bun and lots of air are all it takes for this trick. Regardless I would agree about the probable non-existence of the nutrition.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Good Choice!
Good Choice!
appreciate the agreement about the lack of nutrition
appreciate the agreement about the lack of nutrition
Mcdonalds doesn’t use any preservatives in either their meat or their hamburger buns, other than BHT in the packaging for the hamburger buns which is also used for most other dry goods.The same would have happened to any other hamburger that you put in a plastic container and let it sit since 1996.I know it’s popular and fun to accuse Mcdonalds of being the devil and making their food out of chemicals, but they print out the ingredients for their food and post it up on the wall in every restaurant. They use grade A beef and wheat flour buns.The fact of the matter is that amongst fast food restaurants, Mcdonalds offers some of the healthiest options. Their burgers are leaner than other fast food places and they offer salads, fruit, yogurt and low carb wraps, and they manage to do it all at pretty good prices.On top of that they offer jobs to hundreds of thousands of people all over the world in places where employment would not otherwise be readily available. They have excellent benefits and treat their employees well.They also have high standards for cleanliness that go beyond the requirements of local governments.Just because you’re crazy/paranoid doesn’t mean you should be trying to teach an un-researched untruth to kids.Take it from someone who has done the research.
check the amount of grease on the 1996 burger, that’s what’s probably protecting it from decomposing.
I call shenanigans. The bun of the old burger still appears to be soft and pliable. In reality McDonalds hamburger buns dry out VERY quickly (less than 24 hours). After a few days the bun will begin curling up around the edges.Anyone who has had a kid “save one for later” can tell you this.
Um, your reply did not actually address anything in the original post.How can you keep a straight face whilst saying things like “I don’t claim to be a scientist … that I use to educate parents.”? Surely you can see the flaw here. You are “educating parents” on a topic of which you have apparently no comprehension. The example causes pause because nobody present understands what is actually happening and they end up taking your word for it.
I don’t care. I love mc donalds and I will eat it foreverrrrrrrr.-DJ
I like to agree that “good food goes bad,” and for affluent parents and other people who care about nutrition, fast food is a lot of mostly empty calories without much nutritional variety and with a lot of sodium and other chemicals found in highly processed food. However, cheap fast food represents what a lot of less privileged kids have to eat. With food costs rising, trying to feed children becomes even more difficult. What would be better, 100% Mac and Cheese, which is more fat and the same zero nutrition? Because poor kids don’t get to choose between McDonald’s and organic food. They choose between McDonalds and either other junk food or going hungry.A better tack might be to try to prod fast food makers into providing other cheap and more nutritious offerings.
Nothing to gain from sharing except publicity, traffic to your website, and scaring people into using your services. IF the hamburger really is 12 years old, it’s not a “lack of nutritional value” that prevented it from decomposing; as other commenters have pointed out, it’s the fact that you let it dry out in an airtight environment. A completely preservative-free organic burger would look the same after 12 years if stored in similar conditions. This is a cheap gimmick–you’d do better to be honest and well-informed with the information you provide rather than relying on scare tactics and pseudoscience to try to “teach” your audience about health and wellness. Shame on you.
You made jerky. They have recovered meat from 1000’s of years ago.I have seen a 100+ year old orange. If I show it to you will you tell people to avoid fruit?Have you eaten at a Mc Donald’s in a different country? The food does taste different.McD’s food isn’t great for you but, it can be part of a healthy diet. Using misleading examples to prove your point will undermine all your instruction.
I find the claim that the “preserved” burger is from 1996 to be a bit suspect. Even with all the preservatives in the food (and McDonald’s food is acknowledged to be full of them), there’s still a lot of moisture. Of course, it looks like the burger was ordered with nothing on it; they usually come with onions, pickles, ketchup and mustard. So that may have something to do with it.I kind of want a cheeseburger now.
You are an idiot
Wow…just wow. I will never again eat on of those hamburgers. I wonder how long it takes my stomach to break one of those down?
Well was it a Mickey D’s burger or another burger. Burgers are bad in general but McDonalds or any other fast food chain food is the worst. See “Super Size Me”
I’m thinking you would serve you readers well by defining your meaning of ‘nutrutional value’. I’m thinking if I did open a Mcdonalds (in say Darfur) then gave free meals daily to children who ate only my hamburgers there wouldn’t be one child who died of starvation from that day on. Later on they might have high blood pressure, diabetes etc but they would recieve nutritional value from the burger.
I find McDonalds delicious thus it has value.
Here’s the thing I don’t get about health freaks. Why does chemical mean not nutritious? Why “chemical” and “cloned” are negative words? Chemistry is how everything becomes what it is, some things are natural, other are artificial, both can be bad for your health or good for your health. If something is really good, I want it cloned many times!What people should unite against is much rather animal killing and places that sell meat.That said the 12 years old hamburger amazed me. Another amazing thing is how poor it looks. Here in Europe McDonald’s is generally quite tasty and the hamburgers are filled with a salad that goes really well with the hamburger itself.
I now feel even more awful for my midnight burger run last night. Thank you for this artifact.
A bit of fact checking wouldn’t go amiss. ‘No nutrition here’ is simply not true in any sense of the word. It devalues your argument.
bread is bread & meat is meat…mcdonalds’ products are as cheaply made as possible but the buns are mostly wheat and the patties are mostly cow.as stated in the comments, you’d probably get the same results from any fully cooked bread/meat products kept in a sterile container, whatever their initial quality or source.
I think it’s actually YOU that is lying, Bill.1) I have forgotten to put dinner away and it sat out all night – bad of course – but it did NOT decompose over night. This has included hamburgers, spaghetti sauce, salad, and yes hamburgers.2) As for one in your car for several days. I would assume the 12yr old burger isn’t exposed to the many heat/cool cycles that takes place in your car. So I don’t believe you there either.What do you own stock in McDonalds?
No big mystery here, I have a cupboard full of croutons which my wife and I make from left over bread (that we bake at home – no chemicals). If you leave a piece of bread out to dry it will not go mouldy. You can then store it indefinitely in a dry place. I’m sure the same goes for a burger patty.I have to say that I like McDonalds. I wouldn’t consider it health food, but I do find it enjoyable on occasion.
There are never a shortage of food Nazis.
This is complete bollucks.
I agree that McDonalds may be relatviely speaking, bad food. I agree that children would probably be better off for not eating it, generally.But as a Wellness Educator/Nutritional Consultant , you have a duty to not make ridiculous and untrue statements such as”It does nothing to nourish the cell, it is not a nutritious food.”That just makes you sound insane and ill-educated.
And yet you make some very strong and false claims on your website and apparently with parents. Yes, McDonalds is not a healthy place to eat but this is being extremely dishonest.
As far as fast food goes, I don’t like McDonalds for their burgers so much. When I really want a burger for lunch, I’m more likely to go down to Sonic, or to Blake’s Lotaburger (a New Mexico chain). McDonalds burgers just aren’t substantial enough. However I’m happy to eat their fries and shakes.Fast food is fast food, I don’t expect it to be healthy. I’m not gaining any weight from it, but that’s because I have an extrememly fast metabolism. People need to eat smarter, not necessarily healthier (they do go hand in hand in some ways though), and balance their caloric intake against what they actually need and what their body can process at any given time.Genetically altered food doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Humans have been genetically modifying their foodsources for millennia upon millennia, so what if we go in and insert the gene we want directly instead of selectively breeding it over generations? More power to frankenfoods, imo.
I’d still eat the 12 year old burger, 30 seconds in the microwave and I’m McLovin it!
I find it disturbing that you are put in a position to influence young impressionable minds with such bunk pseudoscience.I keep a spoon in my pocket that repels dragons. I have never been eaten by a dragon therefore it works. Since I can see it works I won’t test it in any way.That was a terrible article and frankly you’re a terrible person for not bothering to learn what calorie counting tests are. Come on it’s like fifth grade science!!http://www.exo.net/~pauld/activities/food/burnapeanut.html
Have you traveled much, and tried McDonalds from different countries. They really are quite different, from the places in Germany and Austria that sell beer with their burgers to possibly the worst ones in Great Britain that seem to be tasteless.Having said that I do agree that they are not really a high quality product. I say it took me $12000 dollars and two visits to the USA to educate my children into a good tasting burger, one with real meat and quality trimmings. They won’t even look at McDonalds now.But please keep a perspective on these things, a little plastic in your diet probably won’t kill you
Hmph, so there we go; scaring people off because of a dried out burger. While I agree that the nutritional value of McD food is questionable, your methods are also questionable. Convince people with facts rather than a sensationalist image–otherwise it’s nothing more than intellectual fraud.”look an old, non-moldy burger!”"oh my gosh I’ll never eat there again!”I can’t follow this logic…Most of us need to eat more vegetables and fish, and less simple carbs, sugar, and fat. But this burger does not explain that.
Temperatures above 100 degrees F will kill mold spores. Mold also requires moisture. The process of toasting the bun removes moisture and will kill the spores. So unless you re-introduce these elements, mold may not form. Also, why is this even remotely considered surprising? There are lots of “natural” foods that last years and years. For example, honey would last forever in a container like that. Big deal, food longevity doesn’t correlate to nutrition…
A few hours… ^ ^;It’s just meat and flour…
I try to avoid their burgers. I just eat chicken nuggets there when I need something quick and easy. At least they are made with real meat (well, now they are).
Um, that’s still wrong. I agree with you that McDonald’s is crappy food, and your 1996 burger is pretty impressive, but it doesn’t do any good to make blanket statements about fast food not having any nutritional value when it does have *some*. Doing so just undermines your credibility and gives the fast food chains a perfect opportunity to discredit you by pointing out that you are exaggerating and misstating the facts. I encourage your efforts toward teaching better diet, but do stick to the facts.
I knew all this, but sometimes late at night I still crave one! LOL!
@Ben – Bread contains more than enough water for mold to grow – a hamburger has even more. An airtight container still contains air – namely the air around it when it was opened to place the hamburger inside and that air is loaded with microbes. There would be plenty of air in there for the aerobic microbes to use too (not to mention the anaerobic ones don’t need oxygen). In addition there are countless microbes on the burger itself – they are everywhere and there’s nothing you can do about it.@everyone else: nobody doubts that beef contains calories nor fat nor nutrients. The point was that McDonalds excuse for food is not a healthy nutritional alternative to the countless options available in the confused little country. I believe that Karen has a preserved hamburger, I believe that you could get a McDonalds hamburger to decompose – they are not mutually exclusive phenomenon. You can’t worry too much about strict interpretations on blogs. Just enjoy this story and move on to the next nutrient sparse morsel the internet has to offer.
I’m going to call total BS on this. The burger meat and bun themselves have plenty of moisture to start the decay process immediately after cooling down to a temperature where bacteria can begin to grow.Even if you immediately put the burger into this airtight container after buying it, there would have been enough time for rot inducing bacteria to begin procreating.Also, the condensation from the heat would have rendered your so-called airtight, moisture-proof container completely useless.Do no believe this sensationalist drivel folks, and use some common sense. If bread, which nowadays has chemicals in it too can’t survive on my kitchen counter for more than a week while remaining relatively dry, how can a burger?
This experiment reminds me of the lady on YouTube who sees a rainbow in her sprinkler and thinks it’s evidence of pollution in the water.If your audience knew nothing about the refractive properties of water, then think of the impressive “show-and-tell” potential in showing everyone rainbows in their drinking water! It must mean it’s full of oil or chemicals or something, right? Makes you wonder…That’s all you’re doing here. You’ve done nothing to show that that a hamburger’s ability to resist decay is in any way related to its nutritional content. You’ve provided no control or comparison that would allow anyone to put the data into context.This is why we are overrun with pseudo-science these days.
“Mcdonalds doesn’t use any preservatives in either their meat or their hamburger buns, other than BHT in the packaging for the hamburger buns which is also used for most other dry goods.The same would have happened to any other hamburger that you put in a plastic container and let it sit since 1996.I know it’s popular and fun to accuse Mcdonalds of being the devil and making their food out of chemicals, but they print out the ingredients for their food and post it up on the wall in every restaurant. They use grade A beef and wheat flour buns.The fact of the matter is that amongst fast food restaurants, Mcdonalds offers some of the healthiest options. Their burgers are leaner than other fast food places and they offer salads, fruit, yogurt and low carb wraps, and they manage to do it all at pretty good prices.On top of that they offer jobs to hundreds of thousands of people all over the world in places where employment would not otherwise be readily available. They have excellent benefits and treat their employees well.They also have high standards for cleanliness that go beyond the requirements of local governments.Just because you’re crazy/paranoid doesn’t mean you should be trying to teach an un-researched untruth to kids.Take it from someone who has done the research.”"Patty 100% pure USDA inspected beef; no additives, no fillers, no extenders.Bun Enriched bleached flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, reduced iron), water, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, yeast, contains less than 2 % of each of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, calcium silicate, wheat gluten, soy flour, baking soda, emulsifier (mono- and diglycerides, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of fatty acids, ethanol, sorbitol, polysorbate 20, potassium propionate), sodium stearoyl lactylate, dough conditioner (corn starch, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate, calcium peroxide, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes), calcium propionate (preservative).Ketchup Tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, water, salt, natural flavors (vegetable source).Mustard Vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika, spice extractives.Pickle Slices Cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate (preservative), natural flavor (vegetable source), alum, polysorbate 80, turmeric.Onions (Dehydrated)Seasoning Salt, pepper, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (cottonseed and soybean).”=================People like you make this country suck. Good job!
I love to eat healthy foods, and avoid things that are ready-made, full of HFCS, etc. However, the lack of any basic knowledge of science, both in the article and the comments, is rather disheartening. I often make smoothies from yogurt and frozen fruit and milk/soy milk. If I leave the smoothie sitting out, it will separate into layers as it melts because the liquids have different densities. I’m not saying that McD’s shakes are fantastic for you, but this would happen with any frozen drink with different ingredients. As for whether McD’s burgers are “chemicals”, everything is made up of chemicals, so that argument is pretty ridiculous. There are plenty of reasons not to eat food from McDonald’s without using scare tactics and false science. As others have pointed out, most any food kept in an airtight container with no exposure to water will keep for quite some time. Croutons and dried meats come to mind…
How was the burger stored for 12 years? Frozen?
I’m going to call total BS on this. The burger meat and bun themselves have plenty of moisture to start the decay process immediately after cooling down to a temperature where bacteria can begin to grow.Even if you immediately put the burger into this airtight container after buying it, there would have been enough time for rot inducing bacteria to begin procreating.Also, the condensation from the heat would have rendered your so-called airtight, moisture-proof container completely useless.Do no believe this sensationalist drivel folks, and use some common sense. If bread, which nowadays has chemicals in it too can’t survive on my kitchen counter for more than a week while remaining relatively dry, how can a burger?
Good response. Very well thought out. I particularly enjoyed the part where you made an ignorant comment, and then went on to not even explain why you made it. Thank you for making my afternoon.
Mmmmm. Num num.. Salt. Not freakin’ sodium, salt. It’s not called “trans fats”, it’s Crisco and Margarine. Call it another name so people don’t realize you are insane. You idiots banned Crisco.
So you proved that you can preserve food by drying it out. Yet that is not what you are pushing. If you don’t like burgers, don’t eat them, but don’t try and lie about science.
So let me get this straight: You bought a hamburger from MacDonald’s in 1996, threw it in your fridge, and for 12 years it has stayed exactly the same? Or did you just leave it on the counter? Forgive my skepticism, I bought a cheese burger from MacDonald’s about 2 weeks ago, threw it in my fridge and forgot about it. Now it has mold. Do you live in the desert or something?
I want to know how a 100% pure beef patty has ‘no nutritional value’! I also think it is amazing how well preserved this burger is. Leave a banana out for a week and it goes rotten – that really sucks!
This article tells me nothing. There isn’t a single argument in it beyond “makes you think huh”.
It’s been said here in a few ways, but I’ll try to reiterate the problem with a simple question:What does the appearance of a hamburger and bun after 12 years have to do with nutritional value?Haven’t you ever eaten dried fruit? It lasts a long time too and it’s reasonably healthy. (It does loose some nutrients in the process, and you have to be careful not to eat more of them just because they are smaller.) What about nuts? How long can they last?This is just shock value. There’s nothing wrong with shocking people into paying attention, but it must be relevant to what you are trying to show. It doesn’t demonstrate a thing about nutrition. Try coming up with a demonstration actually relevant to nutritional value. Maybe have the raw ingredients in separate containers, or something like that. Seeing 8 g of fat in a jar is somewhat disgusting, and it’s a lot of salt.I say this because the people who’s attention you get are only convinced through their ignorance of your ignorance of nutrition science. Anybody who is a critical thinker, like many commenters here, will immediately dismiss you and anything you have to say, legitimately.I’d give it an F for truthfulness and usefulness, a C for the shock value, but an A for at least having your heart in the right place and goals in the right direction. You just need to education yourself a little more about nutrition science and try again with a better demo.
holy bejesus, i just belched.
Is it terrible that I’m still going to devour a Micky D’s burger tonight?
I disagree with your rhetoric and presentation (scare-tactics), and some of your conclusions, but we all can’t forget that not all parents have time to prepare healthy meals for their children. This is the price of convenience.
so we have food that doesn’t spoil. OMG. Who cares? Plus it has a high protein content. Having two hamburgers isn’t even as bad as having a footlong ham and swiss from subway. Just because something is marketed a certain way, don’t believe it. Also, in moderation, it is a cheap way to get the proper amount of fat in a day. Even though we are so concerned with our fat asses, fat and cholesterol are essential parts of diet. Vegetables just don’t have either. Finally, what would you eat other than hamburgers? Free range chicken? Like that makes a bit of difference. RBST free milk? There’s no scientific proof that it changes anything. Everything that you eat has chemicals in it; nobody knows what they do. Why beat down on McDonalds when at least it provides a service? Beat down on the parents who feed their kids this because they spend no time cooking and then don’t force them off Hannah Montana. And, by the way, I am 6′ weighing a paltry 142 pounds (just measured) and I eat McDonalds, Taco Bell, Chinese food or pizza at least twice a week, every week. At that rate, I should be dead from my ‘lack of nutrition’ and from the chemical imbalance. Don’t believe everything you read blindly.
So what, you made jerky. That doesn’t prove anything except how to dry and preserve one’s meats.
The history of the fast food industry and maccas is described in its sad glory in a book called “Fast Food Nation” – an extremely interesting and important read. It shows how the industrialization of food has changed the American landscape.
i’m lovin’ it is an international branding campaign by McDonald’s Corporation. It was created by Heye & Partner, a longtime McDonald’s agency based in Unterhaching, Germany, near Munich, and a member of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc. It was the company’s first global advertising campaign and was launched in Munich, Germany on September 2, 2003, under the German title ich liebe es. The English part of the campaign was launched on September 29, 2003 with the music of Tom Batoy and Franco Tortora (Mona Davis Music) and vocals by Justin Timberlake, in which the slogan appears. In 2007, after a public casting call which received 15,000 submissions, McDonald’s selected 24 people to appear as part of the campaign.[4] Images of those chosen, who had submitted a story and digital photograph which “capture[d] … themes of inspiration, passion and fun,” appear on McDonald’s paper bags and cups worldwide.1996 Indeed
i’m lovin’ it is an international branding campaign by McDonald’s Corporation. It was created by Heye & Partner, a longtime McDonald’s agency based in Unterhaching, Germany, near Munich, and a member of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc. It was the company’s first global advertising campaign and was launched in Munich, Germany on September 2, 2003, under the German title ich liebe es. The English part of the campaign was launched on September 29, 2003 with the music of Tom Batoy and Franco Tortora (Mona Davis Music) and vocals by Justin Timberlake, in which the slogan appears. In 2007, after a public casting call which received 15,000 submissions, McDonald’s selected 24 people to appear as part of the campaign.[4] Images of those chosen, who had submitted a story and digital photograph which “capture[d] … themes of inspiration, passion and fun,” appear on McDonald’s paper bags and cups worldwide.1996 Indeed
You’re an idiot. Just shut up. The nutritional value for the food is clearly displayed, as required by law. It tastes good, if you don’t like it, don’t eat it. The rest of us don’t want to eat tofu and broccoli, so just shut up. Your ignorant opinion does not translate into scientific fact, which appears to be what you are trying to do, however, anyone who can READ THE NUTRITIONAL VALUES OF THE FOOD PROVIDED BY THE FDA can see that YOU ARE WRONG, and what’s more, since you know you’re wrong, you’re actually LYING.
They are right, you know?This proves nothing other than thingswill tend to stay in their original statewhen put into an airtight container.I also think that McDonald’s is rubbishnot fit for human consumption.However, using scare tactics is not”educating” anyone, be it parents orchildren. It is nothing but usingscare tactics.The use of such tactics sometimes has atendency to come back and bite one in the rear. Witness the “War on Drugs”.
Jeebus Christmas, people!Stop with the calls of shenanigans and debating the possible ways the burger was ‘preserved’! The value of this photo is that, for whatever reason, it gets you thinking about the quality of ingredients that make up McDonald’s food. Yes, a McBurger does have some nutritional value, ie: it contains edible elements that, when processed by the digestive system, are broken down into carbohydrates, fat and protein. If you were starving and ate at McDonald’s it would keep you alive. But that’s about where it ends. McDonald’s burgers & fries provide nutrition at its basest level. So I guess it comes down to personal preference. Would you rather eat food that keeps you alive, or food that keeps you alive AND makes you healthier/more resistant to illness AND supplies you with vitamins, minerals and nutrients that help your body systems function at their best?
bad newsThe 99 cent double stack wendy’s burger is pretty darn good. I don’t know what condenced broth they add to their meat (or whatever), but I learned last night they are yummy. My microwave heats them up from the fridge in 1 min even
You might want to scare parents about honey, too. It can last for much longer than 12 years, so it must be much worse than your McDonald’s hamburger.Seriously, though. Yes, McDonald’s and its ilk are garbage. But so is your pedagogical approach. You don’t use your experiment to educate, but rather to frighten. EDUCATION FAIL!
I love McDonald’s! Yum!
Thanks for reminding me about McD’s. I’m going to go out and get a double-cheese burger, no pickle, no onions; digest it, and be no more worse for the wear!
The Supersize me experiment. Only the fried survived.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on6BSfHlK_w
Awesome. I’m hungry now, going to McDonalds later, although I’ll get the double cheeseburger with pickles and onion, as well as ketchup so it’s not so dry.I don’t know why you claim this has no nutritional value when McDonalds clearly posts the ingredients and nutrition facts on the wall of every restaurant as well as their website. I laugh at the idiot that was asking how long it would take their body to break the food down. I’ll tell you this, shorter than that tofu burger you’re chowing on.
Are you kidding? You expect people to believe this garbage? “I don’t claim to be a scientist. This is a simple show and tell that I use to educate parents”Then what is it that you think scientists do? You deserve all these replies that define how poorly you understand things.
So I got this hot dog from 2002 and it’s still pretty new looking. I’m hoping one day one of my roommates gets drunk and eats it.
Thank you EVERYONE for your comments!!To those of you pro-burger – rock on, it’s totally your choice, and for those who want to call me unscientific, a liar, un-american ( I am – thank you very much – I am from canada, the maritian antennea’s come out during a full moon – they have mcdonalds there too!!)
Thank you EVERYONE for your comments!!To those of you pro-burger – rock on, it’s totally your choice, and for those who want to call me unscientific, a liar, un-american ( I am – thank you very much – I am from canada, the maritian antennea’s come out during a full moon – they have mcdonalds there too!!)
I am highly skeptical. I know for a fact that McDonald’s hamburgers rot, having watched them decompose routinely when my old college roommate left them out on his desk. I’m inclined to believe that even a home-cooked burger and bun, kept in a similar way, would stay unchanged as well.
StumbledA burger in California is going to taste the same as one made in Europe as one made in China, for a reason. Because McDonald’s is global. In much the same way buying Pocky sticks will taste the same from Japan as they will in the United States, McDonald’s MUST taste the same if people are to eat there. Actually, you might find different foods at a McDonalds in China, but if they sell Double Cheeseburgers, they all have the same ingredients for a reason.
This burger is 12 years old and still looks the same therefore McDonald’s food has no nutritional value. Sounds good to me. Vote McCain!
I am just wondering why in the world someone would actually hold onto a hamburger for over a decade like it held some sort of sentimental value. What sort of sick person does this? Sort of creeps me out. I mean does she store dead bodies in air tight storage containers too?
Scott is correct, there is very much nutritional value. It’s just wildly unhealthy. There’s a difference.Also, if you tested it and the bun has no decay you have some absolute miracle vacuum and it’s no wonder the hamburger didn’t decay.I wouldn’t doubt that the hamburger has insane preservatives and is unhealthy, but this test is so ludicrously bullocks a 5 year old could probably call you out on it.
You’re not related to the person who did this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8… are you?
I would like to concur with Ben and further point out that I am enjoying a delicious slice of beef jerky right now that, if I recall correctly, was a staple food of early travelers due to its nutritiousness and long shelf life. And, before we get on to this subject – I picked it up last week in Amish country, it is made from perfectly content cows and is 100% preservative free (if you don’t count ’salt’ as a preservative… oh wait.)I, for one, do not find the “reality shocking”.
I am not sure I am buying this either. It proves nothing and thus far you have refused to back anything up.Andy
That’s what I was thinking. Is food that rapidly deteriorates innately more healthy? Although the burger’s no fruit salad, there is a bit of nutrition there.http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fast-foods-generic/8044/2
“They have excellent benefits and treat their employees well.They also have high standards for cleanliness that go beyond the requirements of local governments.”It’s rather apparent you’ve never worked for them, which leads me to consider what your “research” has entailed? Reading the press releases on their website?The only reason they give hundreds of thousands of jobs to people around the world is because they displace the local independently-owned restaurants, farmers, and service providers (because McD’s only buys from multi-national corporate partners for supplies, mind you) and thus people become out of work and have to resort to a minimum wage job with no growth possibility, rather than working for themselves. It’s a forced opportunity.Oh, but yeah, because I dissent with you, I must also be a “crazy/paranoid” health-food-nut hippie liberal who’s anti-American and anti-business, right? Take a psychology class ya dimwit, the mind’s a much bigger place than you’ve had the chance to experience.
It’s obvious you didn’t RTFA.Here, since you’re too lazy:”The paper and bag in the background is circa 2008 – to add decor to the photo. My friend Robyn’s idea.”
It’s obvious you didn’t RTFA.Here, since you’re too lazy:”The paper and bag in the background is circa 2008 – to add decor to the photo. My friend Robyn’s idea.”
While this article is shocking and provocative the author is lacking scientific method. Anyone can take something that has preservatives in it and let it sit around for a few years and show there is no change. The military has been doing this for decades. Canning and making preserves has been around for a long time too.There is no control to this as well. What will a home made burger react under the same circumstances? What was the expected result? Is it possible putting the food in the plastic container didn’t effect the results? Will the result be different if other food items are chosen like chicken instead of beef? Would the result be different if a burger is selected from a different McDonald’s chain? Would the result be the same if a burger was selected from a competitors restaurant? Is the author showing some sort of bias? Is the author holding some sort of grudge against McDonald’s? Does the author work for a competitor of McDonald’s and this is merely an article to scare people away from eating at that fast food chain?I have seen so many similar posts all targeting McDonald’s so who isn’t to say that this is all a guerrilla marketing campaign from a rival company.
Obviously this twat has never been high at 2 in the AM where the only food establishment open around your house is a McDonald’s. I love eating half my body wait in fast food an not gaining a pound… Not saying that it’s the best for my health but aside from my monthly blowouts I try to eat as healthly as possible.
The burgers sold in China tastes differently than the ones sold in us. They have some special burgers.
Exactly. I was thinking the same thing–to say that a McDonald’s hamburger has zero nutritional value is completely wrong. The fact that the hamburger didn’t degenerate over the years has NOTHING to do with nutritional value.Does the author claim to be a nutritionist? I see she claims to be a “nutritional consultant”, which basically means a self-anointed “expert” with no real credentials.
Thank you ever so much for ALL of your commentary everyone!! Wow – who knew the level of devotion. I especially appreciate the name calling. This one in particular is especially nice. For those of you pro-burger. Enjoy! That’s what is so beautiful about choice. For those wondering if I am tactically writing guerilla text for the other brand. Is that needed in the industry? is that how business gets taken care of I sell wellness.
Thank you ever so much for ALL of your commentary everyone!! Wow – who knew the level of devotion. I especially appreciate the name calling. This one in particular is especially nice. For those of you pro-burger. Enjoy! That’s what is so beautiful about choice. For those wondering if I am tactically writing guerilla text for the other brand. Is that needed in the industry? is that how business gets taken care of I sell wellness.
Oh come on now. Anything in moderation is OK. McDonalds rules! (just not more than once a month)
This is due to seasonings added after/during cooking.The Shogun burger is a perfect example, a burger with teriyaki sauce, YUM.
How is bugger formed?How is bugger formed? How man get ful?They need to do way instain mcdoneld> who kill thier meats. becuse these meets cant frigth back?it was on the news this mroing a employ in ar who had kill her three paty . they are taking the three patys back to new york too lady to rest my pary are with the mcdoneld who lost his burger ; i am truley sorry for your honger
So who is dumber and should be laughed at more in this equation? The person who eats McDonald’s once in a while or the person who hates it but stores it for 12years [and counting] while it stinks up her very own house?But what do I know… I’m just an Olympic swimmer… multiple-Gold medal winner and the face of United States Swimming… millionaire due to my incomparable athletic abilities and fame and much requested on many popular shows, movies, and other gigs on my way to star-dom.Sincerely,Michael PhelpsMister Perfect — see how the “MP” initials are shared in both my name and in my nickname?
That is NOT what the original poster is saying and you know it! Now I believe that you thought every word of what you said was true. However, as many posters here have pointed out, many of your statements are factually incorrect. Have some guts! Issue a correction and start teaching parents the truth! A McDonald’s Burger is bad for you because it has a high fat content and few vitamins. NOT because it is “chemical food” or because it doesn’t go off if you keep it in an air-tight container.
Is assume the bun around the 1996 burger is new? Surely the bun *can’t* be that old too!
You are a jew
One of those layers is emulsified chicken fat; boiled to remove any flavour.
man, people will fight over just about anything. i’m aware that this is an argument/debate, but i like to call it a fight. anyway, i agree that macd’s ain’t too good, or too bad, too much of anything is too much for me, but seriously, please don’t “educate” this in the name of science.
Seems like there are two issues here that this article may be confusing:1) nutritional value2) preservativesI would assume the 1996 experiment speaks only to the preservative issue, and says nothing about nutrition. That is, unless there’s something inherent about low-nutritional value foods that preserves better than high nutritional value foods. Nick from Avvo
I am not as concerned with people treating themselves out to an occasional fast food indulgence as I am with the fast food or prepackaged dinner meal becoming the daily norm for kids. These types of foods are over-processed (high glycemic index) and encourage misconceptions in portion size. While I’m not sure what sort of lesson this example teaches (besides the shock value obviously intended to get parents to sit up and take notice) I don’t think that it’s health-freakishness to want to educate parents on how to teach their children about fresher taste, better nutrition and portion control. Such an effort can only help the growing issues in health care due to the rising incidents of obesity-related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, in many of our cultures. These are issues that the majority of us taxpayers will eventually have to pay for, whether our own health or the health of our loved ones are affected or not, so I think we can do without the labels. I do agree that either backing up your statements with facts or limiting this column to opinion only would have lent more credence to your message. Even so, my hat’s off to you, Karen, for your valiant effort!
Get your head out of your ass. No one eats McDonald’s for nutritional value. And any burger would react similarly if put in a sealed container for 12 years.Of course there’s countless reasons why no one should eat McDicks but really this crap your posting is nothing new. Anyone seen Supersize me? Thought so.
“I sell wellness.”I don’t see how expanding people’s ignorance is a boon to their wellness. But I do see how scaring people with equivocation is detrimental to their wellness.I support the ends, but not the means.
Something tells me you guys probably work for mcdonalds. Why do you really care and bash her for pointing something as absolutely insane as a hamburger keeping its shape and colors after so many years. The other things where she “doesen’t stick to the facts” don’t matter, this is insane. Would you guys also bash on someone who would say that eating feces is bad because it has no nutritional value? of course it has a little value… but crap is crap however you try to defend it.
That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. OverCONSUMPTION is what makes people fat. A food not having any nutritional value is still going to put on the pounds. It’s better to eat ALL foods that have nutritional value than eating a bunch of foods without nutritional value.There is no such thing as overnutrition. That doesn’t even make sense.
Please get a life and stop dissecting tiny useless things. You sound like someone that has something to defend – maybe work for mcdonalds?finding every posible stupid ilttle thing you can to discredit the person even though the message is clear – how eating fast food is death.
But Pocky made in Japan and Pocky mad in the Philippines tastes different!
This story reminded me of a book I read by Terry Pratchett called “Good Omens”. In it, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse creates a giant food network, whereby he ensures that there is zero nutritional value in his food – he loves the idea that people are “starving” whilst also getting fat. A funny read, I’d highly recommend it.
It’s a nice article, and very informative, but American, Australian, Bulgarian, and Greek (all the places I’ve tried McDonalds) burgers all taste slightly different, and vary in size
As a member of the Hippy Hall of Fame, one of the many restrictions and rules is NEVER to buy or eat a MacBurger.Having read your article, I immediately applied for and got an exemption allowing me to purchase for not eating but observing a Macburger.Thank you for this opportunity to join mainstream by buying a MacBurger
You are an idiot.
Your post isn’t even worth the time to write anything more substantial than this.You are an idiot.
Actually, they are not the same throughout the world. In Europe the meat tastes distinctly different. In Israel, it is Kosher and of an entirely different (and in my opinion, higher) quality. In India, where the Hindu population considers cows sacred, the burgers are made of mutton.
HAHA that last part really got me. id like to second this comment.
“I sell wellness.”You sell disinformation at best. It’s snake oil salespeople like you that are the bane of human progress. You want to make someone better start with yourself and quit harming the development of children with garbage like this. Caloric tests are a good start, as well as ancient preservation methods not to mention the basic scientific method itself.PS the person you replied to is a douche for using the name “cunt”. I happen to think you’re somewhat an idiot but that’s demonstrable by reading the article you submitted whereas the person who called you “cunt” is just being an ass.
No, Karen. That’s not all you’re selling. You’re selling fear and misinformation.McDonald’s burgers are not without nutrional value, nor are they made of chemicals.I would seriously look back at what you did to achieve the props for your little horse and pony show, and hopefully you feel some remorse for fabricating evidence. I don’t think any educated person believes that a hamburger can last 12 years in that condition.Looks like you put your Ronco food dehydrator to good use, or something similar.btw, http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/73ao7/this_is_a_mcdonalds_hamburger_from_1996_pics/
Wrong!Calories are a measure of energy (not heat). But in common speech to say food contains calories means it contains substances – fat, protein, carbohydrates, alcohol, or sugar alcohols (xylitol, mannitol etc.) – that the body can use to create energy.
bullshit. the bread would be moldy. and lets see the original wrapper.
Yes, if you are starving to death, even fast food is better than nothing. Assuming you want to live, that is. Are you seriously saying that eating McDonalds is a fate worse than death? I don’t believe you will find any hungry children who agree.
Fear is the emotional response to being unaware of what constitutes genetically modified food. Cloned does not mean irradiated or mutated. Eating a cloned animal is like eating an identical twin of a naturally born animal. In fact, all breeding of livestock is genetic modification, and the results of “natural” breeding can be very unsatisfactory. Most of the produce you buy has been genetically modified. Where in the wild do you ever find an apple that looks like that, where it wasn’t grown from a tree of nearly the same selected and bred stock? Corn looks very little like its original ancestor from which humans bred it, modifying its genes by selecting the best stock, mixing and choosing the genetic traits to be reproduced. If you want genetic modification that sounds really crazy, look at the way fruit growers will take a limb that produces fruit they want and actually graft it onto the root system of a different kind of tree. But we are accustomed to these foods and eat them aplenty, so it’s easy to adopt a position based on fear, and decry the newer technologies which we might not even have bothered to investigate on our own, even though they may one day help people who don’t have such generous access to food as we do.
Where is the pickle? This is clearly fake.On a more serious note. can you state the exact method for the preservation of this burger. I for one would like to replicate the experiment.Hatti
Wow, praise to Mcdonald’s. Ford can’t even a $20k car last that long, Toyota is getting close. But marvel at McDonald’s abilities and what you can get for under 2$. That is outstanding value for money. Imortality lies within Fast Food. Wannabe Alchemists out there, the search for the Philosopher stone has begun.
McDonalds doesn’t love you.
I believe that your experiment conclusions are extremely biased. First of all, bread and meat would only rot if placed in an open container, not a closed container like you did. Even mold won’t neceserally appear if the bread was put in the box right after it was prepared.If you say that this food is not nutritional, how do some people live, eating only McDonalds hamburgers? Where do they get energy?I agree that this food is not healthy, but it’s not poisoned or something like that.I also hate the fact that people claim that GM products are unhealthy. This is complete bullshit. Anyone studying biology for a short time can confirm it.
As others have stated, this article is complete rubbish. The author is clearly uneducated and highly biased. The “experiment” does not follow the scientific method at all. A 7th grader could do a better job.I especially like the part about it “not fueling cells.” It’s clear the author has no understanding of biology and metabolic processes. There are thousands of calories in a Big Mac (which is why they are so fattening), provided by carbohydrates, proteins, and sugars. Those substances get metabolized and, eventually, turned into ATP which directly “fuels” cells within your body.Go to school, learn what science is, get a biology degree. Until then, kindly shut the fuck up.
I think that Rick is part of the McDonalds group.
I put real fruit and milk in a blender and after 30 minutes it started to seperate (indoors). When i reblended it it was same consistency as before is well. SO DON’T DRINK HOMEMADE SMOOTHIES, THEY ARE BAD FOR YOU IS WELL BECAUSE THEY “seperate into different layers”.
I can blow margin noa? MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGIN. Foo?
Actually, what you’re saying here is completely wrong. I’m not gonna call you a ‘twat’ for being wrong, but I will call you out on it
. McDonalds’ food is just that: food. If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be able to put “100% Grade ‘A’ Beef” on their burgers, or tell the public how their fries are made out of the best potatoes, etc. People have been attempting to get people to quit eating fast food for years. When I was younger, one of the ‘in’ rumors was that KFC used genetically altered chickens with no beef, and that the they couldn’t be called “Kentucky Fried Chicken” because of that; as a result they had to convert to just “KFC.” That, and what you’re saying here, is nothing more than a sensationalized conspiracy theory revolving around America’s current trend of being fat. Bottom line is that the FDA wouldn’t allow a company as big as McDonald’s to sell product that contains no edible food, only chemicals. Like some of the posts above say, there are nutritional values for a reason.As to why that hamburger lasted so long? You could’ve frozen it from 1996 to yesterday when you let it thaw. You could’ve bought two on the same day. It could just be that no airborne pathogens got to the burger because of where you placed it in your fridge. I’ve accidentally conducted an ‘experiment’ like this and the burger got moldy and green.You want us to believe what you’re saying? You bear the burden of proof. 
Eating Mcdonalds gave me man boobs.
Karen, I’m sorry to say, but there is no way that this is true. The only reason this happened was because of the airtight seal placed on the hamburger. If you look at this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSHaZIOk9nYyou will see that the burgers start to go within a week at room temperature. The fries are a different story, but the hamburger itself would decompose if you kept it out long enough. Maybe not anymore because there is no moisture or anything in it anymore, its just a dried up piece of thing.
Um… thats pretty gross. Somehow I doubt you did this to show people 20 years in the future what a burger looks like. You’re nasty.
All this article is is selective interpretation. One could make the arguement that a Big Extra is a balanced meal. You got your VeG ( lettuce and tomatoes [yes they use real lettuce and tomatoes], Meat, Grain, and cheese(dairy).
Notice how she has yet to respond to this? It’s because she’s been caught in her own load of bullshit, pardon my french. This is a scare tactic, plain and simple, and while yes, mcdonalds is certainly not a good choice of food, to say it has 0 value it complete garbage. It’s food, like everything else. It’s got protein, carbs, and fat. By no means is it balanced, but please, don’t try to wave this “prop” around to prove some point (which is completely misinformed).
How long does is it between when you eat them and when you stop feeling hungry?
The blog author does not know the difference between its and it’s. Please learn simple grammar before writing.
Those pictures make me hungry for some Mickey D’s. Gonna get me a double quarter pounder with cheese after work tonight.
I think that Rick was looking in the mirror, and talking to himself when he started typing out loud.
This actually doesn’t show anything unless you can show what would happen to a “normal” burger (or a burger with some ‘nutritional value’) over a period of 12 years, and compare the ‘chemical’ burger to the ‘regular’ burger.What would you expect to happen to a piece of cooked meat and a toasted bun over twelve years?
Honey never spoils. You can leave a jar of honey out for a thousand years and it will still be the same. Does this mean honey has no nutritional value? Also, that burger still looks kind of tasty to me
Well, that reply was a bit harsh, and all-knowing! Speaking of school…you could use a few grammar lessons.
Go home hippie, so you dried a burger out. Big whoop, way to twist things in your favor Hippie.
Nothing to gain? You’re stroking your ego, spreading groundless fear, and touting a massive ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude. If I said I love fast food, you’d probably look down your nose at me and call me ignorant, just because you like to feel superior to someone else. Don’t be ridiculous.
Well, I believe it. I have a friend who did that for a science project (granted, it was only for 2 months). She found the same thing, no change in the McDonalds burger.Even the bacteria don’t want it. I think that means there’s no nutritional value whatsoever.Here’s looking forward to seeing it in another decade =)
Mmm, I’m more of a Hardee’s guy myself. I’m going to go pick up a 1/3 lb Monster that contains more calories than I do, eat the whole thing, and digest it with no ill effects because my metabolism is so fast that I can. Half of nutrition is how your body reacts to what you put into it. McDonald’s may not be the healthiest thing for you, but for someone like me who needs roughly 3000 calories a day, it’s better than freaking celery.
This isn’t surprising. But hopefully, it wake a few people up. Then again, many people will opt for convenience over quality. Do scare tactics shock anyone anymore?
Nice to see thoughtful and positive commentary. Thank you.
Nice to see thoughtful and positive commentary. Thank you.
You are acting as if, when people tell you that the information you are providing is false, that it’s all a matter of opinion. But it’s not. If you knew even a little bit about the science of nutrition you’d realize how stupid you sound. From a science teacher: you betray the public trust by claiming to ‘educate’ when in fact you have no idea what you’re talking about.
You’re grossly incorrect. For those who are concerned with MACRONUTRIENT intake, rather than MICRONUTRIENT intake, McDonalds provides a cheap, cost-effective way to ingest calorie-dense foods that have lots of protein. For people who need to gain weight, it serves its purpose well. There are vitamins and minerals contained within, albeit not nearly as much as an organic, grass-fed alternative would provide. Truthfully, you get what you pay for, especially at 99 cents.
Here is a side by side photo comparison of McD’s burger and fries with the same from a diner. Fungus does not like McD’shttp://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/06/mcdonalds_exper.htmlAs for nutritional value of McD’s, if it does not rot then the enzymes are dead, and the body has to work much harder to digest the food. Essentially placing a big load on your system over time that can damage your internal organs.
mmm i could go for some mcdonalds now, you made me hungry
No ketchup? No mustard? No small bits of onion? NO PICKLE?
Somehow I suspect that you too have something to do with your country sucking.
LOL, Somehow I will just never be able to look at Mickey Dees the same way again!http://www.anonweb.eu.tc
Ha! You’re one to talk. You don’t proofread! You left the ‘P’ off the front of your name.
Holy drama, Batman.
SOYLANT BROWN IS MADE OUT OF PEOPLE!! IT’S PPPEEEOOOLLLEEE!!!!!
I HIGHLY disagree about the fact that a McDonalds burger tastes the same in China as France as America as Mexico. As I have been to all of those places and have eaten McDonalds in all of them I would have to say they all taste very different, I ecspecially noticed the difference in between Americas and Frances
I worked at McDonalds for 2 years and know that your presentation of a 1996 hamburger is impossible! Trust me, I’ve thrown many buns in my years working there because they had not been properly stored or rotated (new racks in front of older ones) and had formed mold, just like it would occur to any piece of bread you buy or bake yourself after a week or so. As for the meat, well it’s just that…meat. And meat rots and definitely would not stand the test of time as you represent.I’ll agree with you that the above selection of food does not offer good nutrition but it is not made of plastic either. As for the chemicals, I’m sorry to inform you that everything and everyone, yourself included, is made out of a combination of chemicals. Everything is based on chemistry, wether you like it or not.I would suggest that you take a different approach to encourage good nutrition.
this post is exactly why we have to shift our attention from the mcdonald’s hamburger to their double cheeseburger.
++
I guess neither is my Passover matzah. There’s an open box from 2005 in the back of my pantry and it still looks exactly the same today as it did then. The only ingredients are flour and water. Perhaps matzah has some secret chemicals in it and it’s not a “live” food either?*rolls eyes*
reddit’s having a field day with you:http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/73ao7/this_is_a_mcdonalds_hamburger_from_1996_pics/congrats! when potential clients google you, this episode of ignorance will be right there alongside your little blog. yay!
you love to see us sm:)e
My cousin had to sell his car and he found a McDonalds burger down behind the seat. He said it must have been there for around 9 months in the heat of California. The burger was intact and looked like new.
nope. didnt make me wonder. cuz i dont eat the shit nor do i care.
This reminds me of A teacher I had in grade school did a very similar example. The purpose was not nutritional: they wanted to illustrate the best means of keeping a burger warm after it’s heated. Thing is, they used the same burgers year after year! It looked pretty much the same as a fresh one would, but smelled horrific. Thanks!
Anyone who pays you to spew that nonsense should be kicked in the balls.
You are my hero. I’m a vegan and don’t eat this stuff anymore, but it’s still shocking.*People eat this* It’s like Soylent Green.I’m sending this link to everyone I know.
I think your experiment does say something about McDonald’s. It says to me that there are lots of preservatives (chemicals) in that burger and bun. I buy all natural organic bread. if I leave it too long, it gets moldy, even in the fridge. That’s what nutritious whole food does.
this is actually in reference to the postings that continued after this one. a milkshake. ice cream and milk blended to be drank from a straw. in the sun for an hour should turn into a soupy milky substance. perhaps any fruit or chocolate would separate, but if you stir it back together it should still be a soupy milky substance with some fruit or maybe chocolate floating around. smoothies, which depending on preparation, may contain ice which too will melt, but for the most part are held together with natural emulsifiers like bananas. when smoothies are sat in the sun it too should have melting properties, and too would probably separate. when mixed back together you simply are mixing the water back to the emulsifier to create a almost “watered down” smoothie. now what did the original comment emphasize? was it the separation? no, it was that when he mixed the milk shake back together “it had the EXACT same consistency” that there is the problem. that is not a milk shake. nor is that a smoothie. that is a chemical compound designed to taste like a milkshake. that is where that was going.
More to the point, you can easily look up the definition of nutrition, nutrients, etc. You’ll find that it includes carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins, and water. Basically anything that is assimilated into the body. Anything else that’s used for energy is not a nutrient.Check McDonald’s website for nutrional values, you’ll find them (along with fiber, which is not a nutrient, but whatever) all listed anywhere from 9 to 22% of the recommended daily value. The daily values are based on a 2k calorie diet, pretty standard. To bring that number down, you only increase the daily %.As far as I understand, your point is that “because a 12 year old hamburger looks perfectly preserved and is not rotting, it has no nutritional value”. That part of your article, basically the whole argument you’re making against McDonald’s hamburgers is not only wrong, but just doesn’t make any sense. Try shaping your argument towards the things they’ve done to the product that are causing it not to rot and what effect those things have on your body.What you’ve presented lacks any research at all and you’re really just hurting yourself. Put in some work to find out what IS bad about their hamburgers (and probably ALL fast food burgers) and present that with your sobering evidence.It may not work as well as lying, but at least you’ll be able to feel good about yourself.
Ok, I am skeptical as to whether or not you are telling the truth about how old that burger is. I do not believe it is 12 years old. I believe you are trying to prove a point, but are using false information to do so. Until I see the burger up close and can study it myself, I’m not going to believe what some blog on the internet says.
Wait, what does triage mean? It’s defined as the prioritization of medical patients for treatment. You used the wrong word, I’m guessing. Man, you’re stupid. Nutrition IS a science. Good on you for encouraging healthy eating, but do not make stuff up, and present it as fact. You’re no better than “Dr.” Suzanne Summers. Oh, maybe the word you’re looking for is “triumvirate.”
Wow, a lot of people sure are getting defensive about their precious McBurgers. God forbid you say anything bad about fast food, lest you sound like a “hippie”. Also, the “that makes me hungry for some McDonalds” comments are so immature.
I worked in a foodservice equipment manufacturer years ago, we torture-tested the c-store hotdog cookers by cooking hundreds of hotdogs over weeks to check the quality of our product. Those hotdogs didn’t rot either. Dogs wouldn’t eat the hotdogs. They looked the same if they rolled under the table & laid there for a month. Not even bugs would bother with them. This story is completely believable. And I still eat the occasional hotdog.
triage is what they perform when you go to the emergency room! =Palthough you unwittingly made quite an interesting comment
Have you tried the Indian one? Does mutton make a good, um, muttonburger?Anything is bad for you if you get too much – try drinking 2 gallons of pure water in one sitting, you could die.Don’t eat Mc Donalds every day, but don’t be a fastfoodphobe either.
The amount of scientific ignorance demonstrated here is dumbfounding. And coming from a supposed nutritionist makes it even more depressing. Even worse, when the factual errors are pointed out, the author merely waves them off with an ‘ends justify the means’ excuse. The funny thing is, McDonalds isn’t even close to being the worst fast food restaurant.
You continue to miss the point. ANY burger would look like that after 12 years! Again, McDonalds is not a healthy eating choice, however, your example proves nothing. Go get an organic burger, put it in the same container, and write another blog post in 12 years.
Suggestion: add some “french fry” things to the group. They become petrified and retain the shape and color seemingly indefinitely.Thanks for the notice. Try not to despair at the animal ignorance exemplified by those who do not appreciate science.For those that care about life and the knowledge brought to them by all those who died bringing the concept of “planet” to us layfolk; be careful what you purchase in this day of market-driven greed.Peaceijostl
True Becky! Lots of defensive, ugly, immature commentary.
True Becky! Lots of defensive, ugly, immature commentary.
Have it your way.
Wat really blows me away is how many pedantic fools read your great article and then sit back and split hairs with other commenters. Lame.Anyway, great article, great prop, disgusting food. I mean, it tastes great, but I guess that’s all it’s designed for huh?
Wow, its awesome. And i will do you a favor: i’ll share this in my spanish blog!
I meant trio — thanks for appreciating the comment
I meant trio — thanks for appreciating the comment
Thank you for your positivity, and for sharing too.
Thank you for your positivity, and for sharing too.
Elemental school? Glycogen is not fat, it is a polysaccharide, and you body stores very little glycogen at any time.
If McDonalds is opening a new chain somewhere in the world, then there are people living there with a disposable income and it is likely an urban area. This means that they are not providing employment where there is no other option. More likely, they are just offering competition to local businesses and regional chains. Otherwise, I’m really enjoying this discussion. I generally agree that McDonalds is unhealthy, but I also agree that it is unethical for a teacher to use information that is not wholly factual. I’ve found that folks in the US who have unhealthy eating habits are suspicious of people who advocate good healthy choices precisely because they think they are quacks who use scare tactics. Acquiring real knowledge on any subject is slow, but it lasts and lends itself to real change and personal responsibility. Shocking people has an immediate effect which is probably satisfying to the teacher, but doesn’t do much in the bigger picture.
Actually the “Sodium” on the label refers to total amount of sodium in the product, not just the amount given by table salt. Table salt does contribute to most of the sodium, but there are other compounds that can contribute. Also salt is nondescript, as it can refer to any ionic compound (example: Potassium Chloride is also a salt.)We also call it “Trans fat” and not “Crisco” because Crisco contains no trans fat.
Sorry but I can not understand how anyone who likes food can even contemplate tasting these things in the first place. But okay you like it, eat it but I do hope that you have the choice not to, luckily I have and I prefer real food not plastic imitations.
I’m saddened that you are teaching people. What food is not made up of chemicals? It turns out the water I drink is (omg) H2O.McDonalds may be unhealthy and all but just making up facts, well, you suck
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************You ignorant hippie. Read comments in response to your article from people that actually know something:http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/73ao7/this_is_a_mcdonalds_hamburger_from_1996_pics/
Just because you are not a scientist, it doesn’t mean you can’t use rational thinking in order to make a point. For example, I am not a “scientist” in the sense that I do not (currently) have a degree in one of the sciences. But I can still use rational thinking to evaluate a situation and come to a reasonable conclusion.Since you are an educator, I would implore you to support you conclusions (McD food is bad for one’s health) with real evidence. I understand that it is hard to make education interesting (I once worked as a substitute teacher) and sometimes props help spice up the atmosphere. But there are other examples you can use. Pictures out of “Supersize Me” come to mine (and this would be covered under Fair Use.) Show how the amount of calories consumed per burger could be put towards a much larger, filling meal that costs less. If you need a scare tactic, show how obesity is related to heart failures, cancer, etc. I am not condemning what you do (in fact, I applaud that you have taken the initiative to educate people on what they eat) but I do not like scaring people into a lifestyle. This follows with what I said about thinking rationally. If you want a fit body, you need a sound mind.
I hate you you stupid fucking hippie bitch! Go eat an organic free-range dick.I WILL KILL ALL YOUR PETS
This is a great article! Thank you for sharing this with us and will definitely be sharing it with others.
Who the picture of the ugly woman in the banner at the top of the page?
I don’t understand what the problem is, of course the burger will look the same, That doesnt mean it doesnt have protein, and it isn’t delicious, most people (normal people), will occasionaly eat McD’s because it’s cheap and tasty, that shouldn’t be astonishing at all
Fresh bread does contain enough water to promote the growth of mold and bacteria. However, McD toasts their buns (note the pictures above.) This process would remove a fair amount of moisture. How much, I am unsure but I would imagine there would not be much on the surface. (Karen, perhaps you should cut the burger in half to see if mold grew on the innards of the burger and simply hadn’t breached the outer bits.)I also doubt the container is “loaded” with microbes. Plastic is an abhorrent environment for mold/bacteria. As for the air, a safe level of mold is 200-400 ppm for residential buildings. Since the container was within a house, it would contain a unnoticeable amount of spores.As for anything on the burger, if the building was to code, I would expect there to hardly be anything on the burger. Cooking is another form of sterilizing.Furthermore, I merely point out the flaw in the conclusion drawn because no one else had. That is the point of comments; to share your insight on the situation presented by the author.
No. Facts are wonderful. Look them up.
Bill, you care about money more than people.That’s not good…McDonald’s is not “american”…It is “capitalist”, but is that a good thing even when it kills millions of people?”your message sucks” – not even gonna say anything about that one lolYou left the hamburger “out”?Cool, she left hers in a container.So that would make you an idiot.PS: Do you really think a hamburger would be less likely to decompose or rot in a car? Wow… That’s special
There’s four items in your list.
food with nutritional value mold and decay over time. things with less nutritional value and/or are pumped with preservatives and chemicals to ward off decay simply don’t decay, or they take much longer.you can do this same experiment by taking an organic loaf of bread and putting it in the cubbord… it molds pretty quickly, within a week or so depending…however take a bleached white loaf of generic bread and it can last months. take some rye breads that are super processed and we had one ontop of the fridge for 2 years and it didn’t mold at all.i completely believe that those mcDs buns havent decayed and havent even changed shape.another good experiment… take an organic patty of beef and cook it and set it out… how long till it decays? i’ll bet you a TON faster than 12 years!Or maybe some fries… take an organic back yard potatoe, cut and fry it and leave the fries out… see how long it takes them to break down to compare to those petrified mcD fries that we all get from under the seats of our cars some times…
Not necessarily true…it is possible to “overdose” on many nutrients to toxic levels…do some research starting with “hypervitaminosis”…seeya…
You’ve obviously never had a McDonald’s Cheeseburger. I have, and let me tell you, they are full of bone and gristle, The whole taste and experience of the meat was completely different. Before you state something for everyone to read and believe, do some fact checking. But yeah, I agree with your entry.
No, it is not just meat and flour.You left some out; here’s a few:- artificial growth hormones- pesticide residues- sugar- high fructose corn syrup- sodium- partially hydrogenated soybean oilThere’s a lot more too…You can try to block all of this information out, but obesity, heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis, cancer will still exist.
i once took a pancake from the school cafeteria, and kept it for the rest or the year. it looked EXACTLY the same as it did the day it was spawned. it did turn solid (petrified?) though.
You are incorrect, a global food company prepares their foods with similar standards, but the supply chain is never the same. I’ve eaten the double cheese burger in France, China and all over the USA… because I’m poor and like to travel. In the USA the taste is similar, but out side of our counrty. They do not have the same supply chain, and the meat is mixed with bone and gristle, or is entirely bone and gristle, in countries like China. They DO NOT have the same ingredients. I ate the cheeseburger in China 2 months ago… believe me… disgusting.
This is not a valid comparison (and the comment is completely idiotic).The hamburger didn’t decompose because it’s made with many preservatives and other chemicals.The smoothie separated because of gravity. (and did not stay preserved for 12 years)Now how do you equate these? Could you explain further?
This is astounding. Almost as astounding as the reactions it drew. Whew!
++ one of the best comments so farPeople are not telling you to never eat McDonald’s (although that would definitely be a very healthy choice). Just don’t make it a large part of your diet.
Way to pick up on one minor error and invalidate the entire idea!Have you ever read the Bible?
++Nice comment
Just when I was losing faith in human intelligence..
That is not good at all! I wish I could say “I will never eat McDonald’s again,” but it’s just so fast and convenient. Help!
While I have known for a while that Mcd’s burgers are more processed. I can’t help but think this observation you have made is useless information. More to the point I would not have a problem calling you the ignorant one.In the last 12 years Fast food companies have been forced to change the contents of their food, add more “real” food and less chemicals and preservatives. If you are claiming a burger from today is exactly the same as it was 12 years ago, then I call you a ignorant fool.This observation you have made holds very little merit to anyone who has more then a 80IQ. If you had purchased a burger every 6 months and stored it in the same containers. After the same time span they all looked the same I would be concerned. The fact you have a control and one variable doesn’t prove squat!I would suggest that you take that 2008 burger you purchase and start storing it in a similar matter, wait 10 years and produce the results.Twelve years ago, fast food places where forced by the government to trash food that sits longer then 20 minutes. So back then they could pump preservatives into the food to make it last all day. Why do you think every single fast food place around the world today don’t keep any food out to “quick” sell? They ALL make them when ordered, even during lunch time they have hardly any burgers pre-made.The fact people like fresh cooked food means the companies don’t have to worry about preservatives, why would they put the added cost into the burger if it doesn’t need to sit anywhere for any length of time.Remember twelve years ago, they would hire people to cook the food in the morning and have less staff though the day. Now they are fully staffed all day, because they need to do.Don’t blind yourself with ignorance from standards twelve years ago. Saying that ancient burger is made with the same ingredients and compounds as today it out right ignorance.
Where on the list are the artificial growth hormones and pesticide residue?… I couldn’t find them, but I do see the enriched bleached flour, salt, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and all the preservatives.Do some more research before you settle with lies and have to live (or die from) with obesity, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, cancer, etc.
Did you spray the bun with lysol? I fully understand that McDonalds is terrible for you, but it is downright impossible for non of that food to have molded. Is that part hidden in the picture?
“Humans have been genetically modifying their foodsources for millennia upon millennia”wow… should i even comment on that? nah… not worth it
does your bread have a huge amount of chemical preservatives, salt, and fat?it sounds delicious
Who cares if its not good for you. At least it tastes good! If I were you id eat that 12 year old burger I bet it still tastes as good
I have pickles as old that, they look like they did when I got them, and I’d eat them today.
- GRASA BASTANTE Y QUEMADA- CARNE DE TODAS LAS MEZCLAS- VEGETALES TRANSGENICOSNO GRACIAS NO COMO BASURA
“Your ignorant opinion does not translate into scientific fact”lolirony
You are still wrong. Your entire article is presumptuous and full of factual errors. By making statements like “This is chemical food” you prove your ignorance. Dihydrogen Monoxide is a chemical. Would you have us live without it? Making such boldly wrong articles makes it hard for people like me who try to educate people about nutrition to separate fact from fiction. You, my dear, are more miss-informative than McDonald itself. Thanks for making nutrition science a joke.
It was an experiment; you are an idiot.
Hey lady, why would you even keep a burger around for 12 years ?? Also http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/bagamcmeal/nutrition_facts.htmlSeems like it has more nutrition then a rice cake.and for the burger not to mold you would have to dry it out and make sure there is no moisture. You can do that with almost any food and it will look the same after 12 years. So you been holding on to a burger for no reason.
best comment on this page, hands down
Yes, people do eat McDonald’s for nutritional value. Have you read any of the comments on this page?Way to be negative and ignorant. I bet a lot of people like you.
“”if it does not rot then the enzymes are dead, and the body has to work much harder to digest the food. Essentially placing a big load on your system over time that can damage your internal organs”"this is the dumbest things I have read this month. Congratulations, you win. Enzymes are not living, they are a specific type of catalyst, meaning they make reactions with their specific chemical occur more easily (ex- sucralase breaking down sucrose molecules in to other sugars). They can be denatured by a change in environment (such as acids or cooking), preventing them from reacting. What happens when something rots? Mold or Bacteria are producing their own enzymes to break down the substrate. Your body produces its own enzymes to digest foods, and all the food you eat (enzyme or otherwise) goes through the process to be broken down, THERE IS NO EXTRA LOAD when the enzymes you are eating are denatured. PLEASE do not post these terrible unscientific ramblings that a high school bio student would know is wrong.
Well, if you are what you eat than I guess I’m immune to aging too! Go Mickey D’s, the fountain of youth and oh so affordable!
the problem is not sounding like a “hippie”. the problem is that these ideas are being passed off as science by a supposed expert. Yes, McDs makes fatty, vitamin poor foods. YES they are not healthy foods, and most likely unhealthy. BUT do not make this point by spreading falsehoods about nutrient values, enzymes, GMOs, and chemical synthesis.
Where is the ketchup, onion and pickle? None of them seem to appear on either burger. If you want to pick on cooked ground beef patties, go ahead, but leave our fast food burgers out of it. They can be yummy or not so yummy, but eat enough of them and you will gain weight.
Man that burger looks tasty and I feel like some mcdonald’s now.
“Try exorcise.”Good idea. Let’s bring a priest to McD and root the evil out once and for all.@Hannah: The real scare here is how somebody can call themselves a “wellness consultant” without even a hint of medical background. It’s painful to see that random commenters from the Net correcting you on basic nutritional facts and biology. Next time, before trying to “educate” someone, go read a book yourself!
what of it?
And that’s an insult because….? Here’s one for you buddy, you’re a genius! Yes I’m being sarcastic.
I’m not sure what you meant by this comment, but I’m assuming it was offensive. For many people, comments like that perpetuate stereotypes and hatred and in this world, I think we could use a lot less of both.
Let’s also not forget about all the sugar and salt, which of course lead to heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Which are three of the leading causes of death in first world countries.
Ongelooflijk! Ik wist al wel dat de Mac slecht voor je is, maar dit is wel heel erg. Gelukkig eet ik die chemische prut nooit, maar heel sporadisch eet ik een Kipburger van Mac. Is dit even slecht als de hamburger? Nu maar hopen dat de Mac-verslaafden hier iets van opsteken en voortaan gewoon 2 ons groente en 2 keer fruit gaan eten!
you’re really a fuckin’sick bastard tokeep a burger that long.i don’t have the good words for u but one question are you married i hope not for the other..Jesus sick person that you are
No nutritional value but tastes great
This is a lie. I used to work at McDonalds in 1996, and we did not toast the buns. The buns were not toasted until the made-to-order push in 1999. Before that there weren’t even bun toasters in the restaurant, save the specialized one for the Big Macs.So, either you toasted your own bun in 1996, or you’re lying. Or this burger is only 9 years old, and you still have a valid point. Or you made the whole thing up.
Just a quick note; McDonald’s doesn’t taste the same all over the world. Other countries have different laws and standarts when it comes to preservatives and raw materials. You couldn’t legally sell a standart American hamburger just anywhere across the globe. I live in Europe and though McDonald’s is not actually nutritious, it’s not the worst type of fastfood out there. I was in England once and the McDonald’s restaurants there made me sick. When I was in America I could hardly stand the sight of it. I could both smell and see that the quality of the food is 10 times worse than at home (not that the quality is at all excellent here – it is after all fastfood).It’s not nutritious, healthy food no matter where in the world you are, but the amount of preservatives, fat and so on varies. Plus in some countries they have to put all the information about the ingredients out where people can see it, which of course makes people think about what they eat. I still prefer to bake my own bread and generally cook my own food – and if I feel like eating a burger once in a while, I’ll cook it myself as well. It tastes better and I know what’s in it.
impressive show-and-tell, terrible propaganda. Very sensationalist.
so how does it make you fat, if there is no nutrition in it, idiot
hey lady, you sound funny
I’m agree with previous author. They all are different. And actually, the quality of McDonalds burgers in USA is extremely poor, they are simply tastless.I’ve tried McDonalds burgers in India, China, Russia, USA and want to say that China ones are the best.
That’s rank!!! It defies belief that it’s not gone mouldy. Forward on. Arrived via reddit. Thanks.
Did you keep it in the fridge or just in the container in the pantry? I’d like to try this and see what results I get.
Unfortunately, you’re using some fairly duplicitous logic here. You infer your methods are not scientific, because you’re not a scientist. OK. But then you go on to say that the same flawed methodology is being used to “educate” parents. How do you explain the cognitive dissonance here? You’re basically perpetuating something that is false, or inferring it, i.e., that because the Hamburger is so pumped of harmful chemicals, that it would not decompose.However, drying out meat in an airtight, waterless environment, is similar to them methods used to make something like beef jerky. I think McDonald’s has little to no nutritional value, but your experiment also has little to no educational value.If you want to educate parents, use facts, not your own uninformed conjecture. It only serves to harm and discredit your valid concerns.
I think that you are paranoid.
This post is absolutely nonsense. Even if the meat didn’t rot, the buns would have. It may be unhealthy, but this is going too far.
I have felt sick so many times from eating MacDonalds burgers, cant see why they are forever fresh!
We are what we eat – Plastic clones, fake, and all look and taste the same. That’s why food like this is so very popular.
Thanks for this! I will share this on my posts and with my kids.
Anyone who flings around the word “exact” in as carefree a way as you and the guy you’re quoting doesn’t deserve to command any more attention than an idiot ranting on a street corner about the end of the world.
I agree with you. That makes NO sense. Overnutrition– that’s why I eat 3-4 square meals a day (I’m talking whole grains, no preservatives, no or less pesticides, mostly locally grown) and I only weigh 111 lbs? And no, I’m not undernourished. I am the “perfect” weight for my height.
Let’s see, a hamburger that remains remarkably intact after 12 years, and somehow that’s bad? If the author knew anything about oxidation and free radicals, she would know that preservatives that get such a bad rap are actually some of the most potent antioxidants in the world.
OMG %(
sorry but this is bollax. I worked at the golden arches for 2 years and found lots of rotton burgers, there’s NO WAY this is as old as your saying (they rot like anything else after a few days). They may not be a salad, but they are still mighty tastely and not THAT bad! Pa pa pa par paaaaah…..ps. Burgers sold in china are dog meat, no?
i dont think thats so astounding as it seems on first look.the burger has no cucumber, no sauce, no onion. its seemingly complete dry, no water too. and where the hell can you buy a burger with nothing more than a bun and meat?when i grill a piece of meat (and kill all bacteria while doing it) and do the same to a piece of bread and let it dry as it is laying around i dont believe it will degenerate. there is no need of chemicals to do that.i dont say mcdonalds food is healthy, no, its not. its basically a lot of calories without much more.that doesnt mean you will die if you eat one from time to time.
Because that’s just what the majority of Americans need… to gain weight! Oh thank you McDonalds for saving us.
I skipped most of the comments. I find that when in a hurry I will purchase these nasty things for my kids once they have devoured all that I have brought, they turn into little beasts. Gone are my “nice” kids replaced with hyper kids and then the giant fall. No, no soda or ff, I feel guilty enough with the burger itself. Something else to ponder…. the McNugget… mostly a corn product.
very very well said. My thoughts exactly. The burger still looks the same because of preservatives, not because it’s cloned or chemically made. It has preservatives because the burgers are shipped all over the world, which is why they taste the same everywhere… that’s the whole point of a franchise and a signature product. The fact that it lasted 12 years speaks to the science behind the preservatives, not the fact that the burger lacks in nutrition.I am not advocating kids go eat McDonald’s, but as the poster mentioned, focus on the chemicals added to make the burger hold up in color and shape and the introduction of foreign chemicals to your body. Make a stated argument based on facts, not assumptions.I did get a kick out of this post though, 12 year burger. Neat.Feta
I suggest you look up the definition of nutrition. Hint: carbohydrates, protein and fat are all nutrients.
Thanks for saying what I was thinking in much more detail than I managed to do in my comment. Also, quite honestly, I was much too gentle in how I expressed my thoughts — people like “Mother Earth” (grandiose much?) who take such a cavalier approach to the facts (misstating some, ignoring others, making up still others, and failing to be aware of yet others, all in service of a pre-ordained conclusion) actually hurt the cause of improving nutrition (and diet generally) a lot more than they help.
You are still incorrect. McDonalds most certainly nourishes the cell. I’m not sure why, even after being corrected several times by more informed readers, you are unable to simply admit you are wrong and restate your case. This really detracts from the overall impact of what you are trying to accomplish. In fact, it makes the whole thing sort of a throw away, not gonna bookmark it or tell anyone I know about it affair, since it’s clearly either disingenuous or misinformed.
You’re very welcome.
You’re very welcome.
Astounding is a perfect word to explain it – thanks for the comment Pat
Astounding is a perfect word to explain it – thanks for the comment Pat
Please do !!
Please do !!
I swore off McD ever since I saw the movie “Supersize Me”. Disgusting.
“I’m lovin’ it” slogan debuted in 2003. The wrapper under the hamburger has this slogan. Maybe it’s 5 years old?
Funny. Why isn’t the bun moldy?
For all those that skipped most of the comments, all her arguments and points are obliterated by fact above.You can safely ignore any points the author tries to make in this article and likely her other articles.
Don’t worry jard… this isn’t about science or facts, which are clearly discarded here, this is about evil companies and evil things and about making people feel good about doing something pointless.Those of us with useful minds and an unbiased look at facts can safely disregard all this and let the other folks cling onto their happy, ignorant, self-righteous ideas.
AWESOME! So if I eat McDonald’s hamburgers my aging will stop and I’ll be preserved in my current state of good health and beauty? I’m hittin’ the drive through – NOW BABY! NOW!
It is amazing, but I don’t see the problem with that burger. There’s preservatives in it, that’s why it kept for so long.The author said: “…this is a chemical food. There is absolutely no nutrition here.”That’s incorrect. Fiber in the bun, protein in the meat, etc etc.Some questions for the author:- Have you analyzed the burger to see what is causing it to last so long?- Whatever you found, is it actually harmful?- Have you found & tested other food to compare?Until you answer these questions, your everlasting burger is just a curiosity, and actually makes me hungry for McD’s.(And mark’s comment above too: No pickles, sauce, it’s been kept dry, etc.)Honey doesn’t go bad. Does that means you shouldn’t eat it…?
What really bothers me about this whole discussion is that Ms. Hanrahan cautiously selects which comments deserve her response, ignoring valid and well-constructed arguments (like that guy Ben’s, and some subsequent comments about the burger’s storage method contributing to it’s preservation) when they go against her point. C’mon, Karen, those issues deserve to be adressed! Completely ignore such comments, but immediately leting out a “Yeah, isn’t it horrible? A 12-year-old burger!! Oh my god!!” to anyone who agrees with your post, is an an offense to your readers’ intelligence. And, as someone pointed out too, sounds (reads?) pretty arrogant.That’s the main problem with some activists, whatever the cause may be. They get so obssessed about villanizing the “enemy” at all costs that, sometimes, they fail to realize that this kind of behavior may push away a lot of good, inteligent people who coul’ve been worthy additions to their pleads (man, that sentence is long). This article is a good example. A lot of the commenters AGREED that fast food isn’t good for your health. But all this drama about the Neverending Burger, and the oh-so-horrible-horrible chemicals within it, plus the complete disregard for some polite, constructive criticism…and the effort goes down the drain.
I am an artist and former chef working in Savannah, GA. I have had my own similar McCheeseburger project going, except not as long and mine involves rhinestones, lace and beads. When I go to the local farmers market with them, folks can’t believe that I keep them stored at room temp (In an organic granola bar box). Please stop by and check them out. Rubistudios.com
Why on earth did you buy a hamburger and not eat it, then decide to keep it in a Welch’s grape jelly sandwich container?
well much as i agree that McDs is total crap, isnt the reason for its longevity purely down to the amount of salt in all their food ? Not the fact that there is nothing nutritious in there at all. There is certainly some protein and fat, which mould and bacteria would happily grow on if there were less salt. I agree with what you are saying in principle, McDs is complete shite, but the reasons you are giving are inaccurate and misleading, not to mention clearly coming from an agenda driven perspective.
i love mcdonalds
Unfortunately, the burger can’t be 12 years old. The packaging has the slogan “I’m lovin it” which, according to wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_McDonald%27s_TV_campaigns_and_slogans) didn’t start until 2003. Debates about the quality of McDonalds food aside, this burger obviously isn’t 12 years old.
This is the most biast $h1t I’ve run into for quite a while… the burger was completely dry and it was concealed into a jelly box, jelly acts as a mold that restricts H2O, mold, bacteria and anything else can get in. The second delema I have with this study is her quote “I do not claim to be a scientist” DONE!If you are not authorized to post information like this up then why do it? The world has plenty of other things to worry about… this petty scare tactic should not be one of them.
I second this. If you leave a piece of bread out it will become stale. If you wipe a piece of bread on the floor (or window screen) and add a little water, it will cultivate mold. I’m no scientist but I learned that in 7th grade.
“I marvel at how McDonalds has infiltrated our entire world.”Infiltrated? McDonalds isnt some top-secret spy; people buy stuff from there because they want to, because they have the freedom to choose. If you don’t want to eat at McDonalds, then don’t. It’s that simple.
Hi Rubi – I am intriqued with what you are up to. Thank your nice email too.
Hi Rubi – I am intriqued with what you are up to. Thank your nice email too.
I don’t believe you. I think it’s a fake, unless you can produce a receipt from 1996.
yo yo Karen! how did you store da burger!!! i gotz 2 KNOWWW
This is lies. The slogan “I’m loving it” isn’t that old. So… why wrap it in a new wrapper? I believe thats circa 2003 at the earliest.
There is no way that thing is that old. No mold on the bun? I call BS. Not to mention that you have 0 proof that there is no nutritional value to said burger. It may not meet the specifications of your “educated” opinion but, unless you have a chemical breakdown of this burger, I suggest you stop talking. I’d love to see what the McD’s legal department has to say as well.
But they love my money more than you love me
I can testify to the fact that McDonalds apple pies simply turn completely solid and are otherwise equally well self-preserved.
I would definitely agree that there isn’t anything healthy about McDonalds, but I think it’s pretty obvious this burger was frozen. The amazing part is that she’s been able to freeze it for so long. Now if you want a disgusting shelf life go looking at a twinkie, it’s years and needs no refrigeration.
How strange! I live in Perth, Western Australia, and a friend of mine recently told me about colleague who has an eleven year old McDonalds cheeseburger which she used to use as a prop in health presentations in the late 1990s. Snap! Hers is similarly perfectly preserved, though apparently the cheese has glued the bun to the meat.
Please RTFA before posting. Thanks.
It’s called being biologically active. Which many refer to as “live” enzymes. Heat and other things can kill “live” enzymes which means they are rendered biologically inactive.You can be pedantic, but the fact remains, without biologically active enzymes you are much closer to eating cardboard than real food.Can you tell me the nutritional value of cardboard? It’s all about what your body can use most efficiently to fuel itself. McD’s is not good fuel.
True story. Taking bigger, better cows, and breeding them together makes bigger, better calves. Been doing this for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time, we have been choosing which animals to breed for their desirable traits for millenia upon millenia. Those desirable traits, or any traits for that matter, are a result of many things, mainly genetics. Genetically modifying livestock through selective breedin
I don’t find this horrifying…honey is an all natural food and it’s fine even after a couple of thousand years. One thing does not necessarily mean the other.Monday I had a good day at the casino and treated myself to a rib eye steak aged 15 days. It was mighty tasty.
“There is no nutrition here”.Well, no, you are wrong. Anything with calories has nutrition – that’s what nutrition *is*.Granted, a Maccy’s hamburger doesn’t contain any *healthy* nutrition, but are you sure you are the right person to be lecturing kids about diet choices when you don’t even seem to understand what food actually is and does?
How in a million years can you say that McDonald’s is not American? It proves that when the right product is introduced to the system, by anyone (in this case two brothers), the system will regulate it’s life. People like McDonald’s, and continue to eat it despite the efforts of the anti-capitalist left of this society. You claim it kills people yet for some reason people keep buying and it went from one single store to serving 40+ billion people a day. That is capitalism my friend. It’s actually the epitome of capitalism yet there will always be those who would rather sit at home and watch a hamburger grow mold than actually try at life. The result is a loud minority trying to make things worse for the majority. When they are ignored all they do is try to yell louder and louder.Also I would also like to point out that while people are arguing the overall impact and clarity of this article, it requires a blind leap of faith to assume that the obviously agenda driven author has indeed kept a hamburger for 12 years. She just happened to know 12 years ago that’d she be able to post an article on her precious blog if she only saved the burger. I find this highly suspect and would much rather see constructive uses of our time like actual legitimate research or you know getting one of those things called jobs. Screaming at the wind is hardly helpful to society.
I thought the article was super. You either agree or you don’t, but it does cause one to think… And I agree.The food we eat fuels us – and yes we can get by on quick pre-made meals. but doesn’t your body deserve more?!
This article made me dumber. It’s like watching a developmentally disabled teenager try to explain where babies come from. No, Karen, not the butt.
The burger may have limited nutritional value, but your “article” has even less educational or scientific value. Take one of those disgusting veggie burgers, store it the same way, and see if you get similar results. You probably will, so you can take your original dried-out burger and stick it up your smug, self-rightous arse.
This is the longest blog about NOTHING ever… i loved the “kill your pets Hippy Bitch” part. and btw, those new chicken sandwiches are bomb! Love em in laymans terms!”I like gold, I like showers, i dont see a problem with puttin them together, I’d love a golden shower”- Boondocks lol funny chit
Geesh lady it’s always about you huh? Don’t you just love it when you are trying to have a some-what intelligent conversation with someone and they have to constantly butt in to tell a personal story totally not related to the topic? Oh and for the extreme egocentric people they always have to add how much money they have, how terrific their life is, or HOW MUCH THEY WEIGH!!!!
Correct me if i’m wrong. Mcdonald policy is to throw away food that has been done but not sold after 3 hours. At least they won’t sell u a 12 years old burger. And they hired professionals to evaluate their food. I know it’s bad to consume them everyday but once awhile is definitely ok for everyone.
Who cares it tastes good(not as good as BK Whopper) as long as children get a balanced diet and this as a occasional treat then I don’t see what all the fuss is about, There is such a thing as saying NO to children, Thats the problem today more kids are treated like adults and are given to much choice nowadays, When I was young you eat what was put down infront of you and if you didn’t you went to bed hungry.
I am not pro-hamburger. I have not eaten at Mcdonalds for over six years. So please don’t swing this as me being against your cause. I agree this type of food should not be eaten, but I believe you’re ruining your credibility by making some of the broad, and almost ignorant statements in your article and in your comment replies. First I noticed how you pointed out that the bun ‘mysteriously’ never rotted. The truth here is that the bun has just dried out, and bread that is dry rarely grows any mold, as those who like caeser salad will find out when their bag of croutons lasts years. Bread that is dry will often turn to dust before any mold touches it, since mold needs moisture; and also, I have a friend who used to work at Mcdonalds, and he confirmed that the buns, when not dried out, do mold. Next, the reason why the hamburger itself has unsuccessfully rotted is because it’s loaded with preservatives, not because it’s cloned meat, or has no nutritional value, and also, it likely dried out. I believe you stored it in an open area, because it is known that if you store the hamburger in a closed container, not allowing the moisture to escape, it will eventually rot, but due to the heavy preservatives in it, it will take a very long time to do so. (The french fries on the other hand, will last forever, so possibly this would have been a better example for your experiment?) On another note, the high sodium content would have contributed to it’s lifespan. And unfortunately Mcdonalds, as poor as the food is, does have nutritional value, so your broad extreme one sided statement is false. You should instead be going after the preservatives used, and the high fat and carb content of their food, and how this can, with moderate to heavy consumption, be detrimental to your health.In conclusion, the biggest reason why the hamburger didn’t rot is because you basically allowed it to dry out, a process that would make many natural, preservative free foods last for a long time, or even forever–such as bread and many vegetables and fruits–and the high sodium content, and preservatives, only aided this greatly. You should have used the french fries, because those are a better example, because they won’t even rot in a good mold forming environment. Finally, stating that Mcdonalds had no nutritional value is false; you should emphasize the poor nutritional value instead of jumping to such a broad extreme.I am sorry if I seemed rude. I just think you need to think a little more on how you’ll take on this issue, so you don’t come off as amateurish, and ultimately not thinking things through. I am all for your cause, and only wish you to better convey this to others. Strangely, most of the commentators above criticizing you don’t seem very pro-McDonalds either, they’re just pointing out where you didn’t think things through, and the loss of credibility you take with your generalizing statements. Thanks you for reading.
(Also, cloned meat is post 1998.)
does it taste the same as one from 2008?
McD’s is filthier than FilthyRichmond.com
Oooh, I’m so proud of my burger I keep stored in my air tight container which I parade around to everyone. “Uh oh, not again, is she dragging that burger out again. Geez!”
Well this is all that will be left when the nuclear holocaust comes.One thing though. McDonalds burgers don’t taste the same everywhere. I had one in London, amsterdam and cape town and they all tasted different. Factoid.
I agree, something’s fishy here. I worked at McD’s in ‘96 and we didn’t toast the hamburger buns. What gives?
yeah… i prefer burger king!
bah-dah-bah-buh-buh…..
Im in the process of suing McDonalds for making me fat
I think you are using the rather unremarkable fact the burger still looks like a burger after 12 years as a smokescreen – I eat McDonalds on occasion and am perfectly healthy… the key to good eating is balance, not creating boogeymen where they don’t exist.
incredible, more like unbelievable. I’ve seen a Mcd’s burger left out for less than a week covered in a furry mould and leaking gunk – don’t believe a word of it.
I beg to differ – it’s entirely possible.Otherwise, that “5 Hour Energy” garbage with 8000% the necessary dosage of B vitamins would be great for you, right? Yet, it’s not.Like the other guy said, do some research.
So if I eat a lot of McDonald’s hamburgers, will I live forever? Or just never decompose when I die?
I think all you guys haven’t understood the long term statement here. If you eat McDonalds food you’ll live forever! Just like the food they serve you! THAT’S the whole point of eating immortal food! Eating immortal food makes you immortal!Even if you die by accident your body will stay around forever! Can even imagine the coolness in having an eternal corpse in your living room from someone that ate every day at McDonalds! That’s why you gotta love McDonalds! ;-P
Wow, cool it everyone! I only read a few of the above posts. Leave this poor girl alone! That hamburger is so gross. Thanks for posting this! I can’t eat McDonalds hamburgers…gag. Although, I have to say, a McDonalds Hot Fudge sundae is one of my favorite things. I know it’s all chemicals but it is so good. I bet you could put one of those in a box and it wont even melt in 12 years!
Thanks Sarah and you’re welcome.
Thanks Sarah and you’re welcome.
Watch the movie, Super-Size It!
This is a little bit hard to believe. Why would you put a 2008 wrapper for decoration? Why wouldn’t you have the original wrapper or just display it by itself? That makes it harder to believe. Plus, why would the bun get MORE golden 12 years later? Looks a little fake…
SCARY stuff.
I call bogus. The moisture from this thing would have evaporated long ago and rot or mold would have definitely set into the bread at least unless you treated it somehow with some kind of antibiotic techniques. I do admit the meat may be salty enough to last that long.Also, I take offense at the way you use the words nourish and nutrition in order to scare people. A burger (even mcd’s) has plenty of nutrition, just with a very poor balance towards fat and carbs. And cells do NOT need to be “nourished” or “swaddled” or be read bedtime stories at 8m. They need to be FED, again in the right balance and the right amounts. A MCD’s burger is fine once in a while. Just use common sense and make sure you exercise and eat lots of vegetables and other healthy foods to make up the balance.
Is it just me, or does the old one actually look better?
Eeeew!
Mold will grow on a McD’s burger if kept in, uhhh.. conducive conditions. source: being a total slob
As a former employee of McDonalds i would like to say that they were the cleanest place you could possibly hope to work and they treat their employees great. However, their food is full of herpes, menstrual fluids, and deliciousness.
My question is what does a real burger look like after 12 years? and how do you store the burger do you leave it out in that container on your desk? refrigerate it? keep it in the freezer and defrost it? I think that this would make a difference. To be honest I think the old burger looks better than the new one! Also I think that most people know that McDonalds is not good for you, its just people choose to ignore these things because they are either past that point where there weight and cholesterol has reached the point of know return or for those who simply need a quick cheap meal. I personally don’t frequent the golden arches myself but I will say that I do like their fries and hot mustard sauce its amazing!!!! But its been years since I’ve eaten I like my cholesterol low and healthy myself!
well put I totally was focused on the fact that there was NO comparison!!!! I mean what does other meat products look like after 12 years. But I’m glad you brought up the salt and the reason behind why it last for so long.
Well written!
I think i´m hungry^^ i´m going to eat a hamburger
Dude, true or not true, why do you only reply to the comments that you agree with? And if this is an argument for not eating McDonalds (I suspect I’ve shat out almost all of the Maccers that I’ve eaten over the years) why not, how shall I say it, argue? Why, for example, *hasn’t* it gone off – and in ten years why haven’t you tested it to find out? Why is it bad for me that it hasn’t gone off? I’ve eaten picked onions that haven’t gone off in ten years. It’s because they’re pickled. I’m not desperately ill as a result. Utterly fair play for teaching people healthy eating, and please carry on, and kudos for keeping a dried burger over the years through all the bong induced hunger pangs, when you could have eaten it. It’s a well-deserved “woooooah” but I’m a cynic, and so are most of the young ‘uns that I know; without the science we’ll just be talking about this over our big macs next time.
Well I think that you should teach them about the OTHER choices they have to offer their children and WHY McDonald’s is not good for them. Simply showing them a dried up old burger doesn’t explain very much. I think that you should take notes from this blog and do some further research before you continue your demonstration.
Are people on the net so easily fooled ?Keep bread for a few days …. you think it will still look like that ?Come on …. basic science …. it will turn moldy. and the meat would have rot.No preservatives ? don’t gimme that bullshit.Dont just believe what u see on the net… pple.
Well, it’s easy to try it out.Just buy one and leave it in a box for a month…Better yet, make that 2 – one in an air tight container, the other out in the air.
no wonder it tastes like crap
Thank you, sir, you made me snort an unhealthy diet soda drink up my meat-eating nose.P.
Fantastic! I’m glad you mentioned that this is empty food. All too often people will eat anything and call it food. It’s not food, it merely fills your stomach. I think there is a little nutritional value, but not much. There are a lot of empty calories. Unless you count chemicals as valid calories.you’re a brave one for keeping that burger for so long.
Todd did NOT pick on one minor error to invalidate an otherwise sound position. What he did was to point out one *example* of the cavalier attitude “Mother Earth” has toward her public statements: she uses words she doesn’t understand to allege “facts” that aren’t facts at all based on an expertise which she apparently lacks. I don’t question her good intentions, but I definitely question her professionalism and her credibility and I think that’s the point that Todd was trying to make in his post. P.S. What the heck has the Bible got to do with anything? Just for context, I am a person of faith, but I’m not sure why you think it has relevance here.
This is marvelous! I’m rather intrigued by your perseverance with the preservation of this hamburger. What’s next, another 12 years?
By the way, I’m just a bit curious. Was the hamburger dried or frozen? Kept in warm area or cold? Thanks Karen!!! 
Hey, why the confusion about nutrients etc etc? i think what karen meant about certain foods like McD’s is that for the amount of calories you are going to consume, the ratio of nutrients to calories is just terrible. For example: how about eating 2000 calories worth of snickers bars…or beer. sure you’d have fun doing it! is there some protein?fat?carbs? sure, but most of the calories consumed are EMPTY calories. ultimately, its your choice how you want to use up your calories but personally, i like to eat nutrient dense WHOLE food. Something that was not concocted in a lab that makes my body’s organs work harder to break down, food that was not messed with to make it SHELF STABLE, artificially flavored etc etc. It is sad when you look at modern grocery store shelves in america, we deserve much better than this. in this modern world, we have less nutritious food than our forefathers ever had. Sure, some of these modern “foods” taste great!! that is, if your palate has become accustomed to that sort of “food”. its like when you are so used to eating fake super sugary or super salty foods, real wholesome foods just don’t cut it, and don’t taste right to you bc you’re so used to those chemicals that make fake food taste so INTENSE. That is precisely what those chemicals do….they are so extremely intense in flavor that when you have the “real thing” you may not enjoy or even like it. The very opposite can happen too. when you enjoy the flavors and tastes of REAL whole foods, the fake stuff they sell to you tastes disgusting! look out, there are rules these companies have to follow on their “food” labels. “chocolate flavor” means it was made with high fructose corn syrup, sugar, chemicals, oh yea, and MAYBE some cocoa (doubtful though). You know what they are doing?? they are THINNING OUT your food and STRETCHING the ingredients so they can save money!! its cheaper for them to make it that way! im telling you, the average crack or heroin user does not want watered down drugs filled with fillers!! why are we putting up with this?? do any of you have kids? do you want them growing up on twinkies and doritos and not realizing how truly delicious a real tomato off the vine is? has anyone ever had an apple fresh off a tree? (whole different animal than what they sell at regular stores). Hey look, the food industry is just like any other, they are here to make money, not look out for our well being. Be careful what you consume, and what you buy. I just feel sorry for all those poor factory farmed animals that are not treated like they are living beings, but like they are inanimate objects. But that is a whole other topic maybe for another blog. Peace out.
Thank you, Dave and FetaCheese. I was having issues with the “cloned” and “nutrition” statements, too.geek. (*who avoids gross food products such as those sold at Mc. D’s*)
It’s true, how can you say it’s paranoia? I’ve seen McDonald’s burgers after a few months, and besides being a bit dryer, they look the exact same.It’s disgusting that people eat that crap.
I’m all for boycotting McDonalds, but this argument is pretty bogus.”There is absolutely no nutrition here.” – Can you actually back this up? Just because the burger is “Self Preserving” doesn’t mean it has “absolutely” zero nutritional value. It may not be much, but I’d wager it has some. You should choose your arguments more wisely. Solid facts are more than enough to form a coherent argument in favour of staying away from McDonalds, you don’t have to make up this wishy-washy, un-varified junk. As a poster previously mentioned, it devalues your argument more than anything.This article has absolutely zero scientific fact backing it up. See what I did there?
by skipping all the reasonable arguments and responding only to those posts that support her statement, the author of this entry has lost all credibility. Good luck selling your services.By the way, did you order your 1996 burger with nothing on it or did you scrape off the mayo, special sauce, mustard, and ketchup?
That reminds me of a job I had in the dot-com boom – we kept a twinkie on top of the security camera for years! Aside from some dust, it was exactly the same. Creepy!
This above story is not true. A McDonalds hamburger in my fridge started to disintegrate after 2 weeks when I tried this experiment. I am not arguing that there is little to no nutrition in McDonalds food, which there isn’t, but this is a falsification of the facts.
I completely agree – I think it’s the salt and the trans fats which are supposed to be shelf stable for YEARS. I may be off but I thought in Spurlock’s movie (Supersize Me) he did that experiment and after a few months the hamburger bread did mold (the fries stayed intact). Either way, it’s good to remember that a human body can actually eliminate crap. Yes, it will take longer and put a load on your liver and kidneys, but don’t scare people into thinking it will kill you. It’s definitely a terribly unhealthy choice, and might actually kill your arteries if you eat it everyday, but if you crave it, indulge once every 2 months, you’ll be just fine.
Karen is just a liar
karen lies to get traffic to her pathetic site so she can hire her fatass to her next victimslamedont link to this page , she lies
Also because Crisco is a brand name, and probably not the one used in many cases.”shortening” is the correct term. Though Crisco also makes vegetable oil and probably some other things.
Hi Karen,When you say McDonald’s tastes exactly the same anywhere in the world, you are explaining why it is so successful worldwide. Sometimes you find yourself in a strange place. You must eat something quickly and the restaurants you see don’t look really “reliable” (in terms of hygiene). Then you see a McDonald’s. That’s your lifeboat. You know you will have a warm sandwich prepared less than 10 minutes ago, with an internationally recognized hygiene standard. Believe me, in Latin America countries you can often find yourself in a situation where you would pray to find a good old McDonald’s sing on the corner.It may help to explain its success, doesn’t mean the food is healthy.RegardsAlex
Holy crap that’s…Don’t know, I’m speechless!
pause, yes, give up? absolutely not. (I agree w the agenda driven guy) We don’t eat the crap because we think its good for us, and if anyone does, they’re an idiot.. (kinda like puttin 210 degree coffee between your legs, thats just not smart folks!) we do it because it’s easier than preparing something more nutritious. Anyone that would read any article and give up anything that they enjoy, is an idiot, (unless they’re obese, but in that case, this article isn’t gonna be the thing that makes them give up the things that got them up there in the first place) The purpose of this article, shock and awe, is obvious and that’s a great tactic to get your personal view out there, but should be followed up w some hard simple facts about nutrition that most ppl just really don’t know!!
I don’t see why people are so *aggressively* missing the point being made, that a now 12-year-old hamburger isn’t showing any appreciable signs of decomposition. “Oh, she said ‘chemical food,’ and technically water is a chemical! Ha! What do you think of *that,* health nut?” You’re one of those oh-so-clever guys who mau-maus “organic food” by saying, “Why, what *other* kind of food is there? Ha ha ha, I’m so witty I kill myself!” Yes, yes, you sure are. May I interest you in a hamburger?
This entire post is about as stereotypical parroting that has plagued the activist left for years. There’s nothing new or creative about the accusations being made here, and in fact the arguments make you seem quite ignorant to any questioning minds who don’t already agree with you. There is shock value in the burger image, but you’re hurting the healthy-eating movement more than helping. McDonalds has nutritional value, although a bad one. McDonalds provides a product that millions of americans, the majority of them working poor, enjoy on a daily basis. Instead of flat out denying that it has any worth or value, you should consider focusing on how you could offer what McDonalds offers: quick, cheap food at convenient locations, without slowly poisoning people. If you’re trying to be a cheerleader for people who already agree with you, then bravo; if you’re trying to win hearts and convert minds, you may consider a different approach.
Who is to say that a homemade bun and a home cooked patty would look any different after 12 years?
I’ll give you $5 if you eat it.
I’m glad I stopped eating McDonalds about 15 years ago
last year i did an experiment on witch food decomposed the fastest thus using less preservatives and after looking at your 12yr old burger mine had not alot but it still had mold after i even put it in a ziploc plastic container can you please explain this to me
First off, good for you. Second, thanks for the reminder of how bad the food is. Third, I don’t think there is anything unamerican about this post. When did the golden arches make me an American? For real.Sometimes people have to say bad things to make their bad habits seem better.
When I was first introduced to MacDonny’s as a young child, my mother referred to it as junk food, and that it should be treated as such. ‘Junk’ as most of us know, is another word for garbage or refuse. Whats interesting to me, is how so called intellectuals or educators still waste so much time debating the obvious. I’m glad to hear your teaching about nutrition using stale burgers. Talk about cooking an issue until it is well-done.
If the body can create energy, then every physics book in the world must be wrong. Perhaps you mean the body can utilize the energy stored in the fat, protein, etc.
Option A”You’re an idiot that saves burgers for 12 years (if so your sick!)OPtion B: You’re a moran that tries to foul us with a burger bought in 2008 and you tell us nonsence. !!!!
hamburgers and french fries are never the healthiest choice – be it home made or the mcdonald’s variety.however both have nutrients and fill your hunger.furthermore, mcdonald’s food is just plain delicious.all things in moderation.
Ok, that is interesting. But, I have to wonder. What did you expect? I have never said to myself, “Gee, I need something healthy to eat. Let’s go to McDonald’s” No, I go there sometimes because it’s easy and the food tastes great. I don’t recall on of their ads ever saying something like,”we’re the healthy choice!” No, it’s fast food and anyone who doesn’t get that is an idiot. It’s not supposed to be healthy, it’s only purpose is to taste good when you eat it. If you want something healthy make it yourself but stop looking at fast food to take care of you and stop making them ruin their food by making it healthier. I don’t want them to keep changing their food because a few morons are complaining about their health. Fast food places are supposed to offer you something to eat, fast. That’s it. Healthy has nothing to do with it. Now if they promised healthy food and lied about it that would be a story. But, they never claimed that.
who fucking cares
Food that doesn’t decompose doesn’t necessarily translate into food with no nutritional value. Biltong (a uber South African version of what americans refer to as “beef jerky”) can be kept in cool-dry storage for months, yet retain the salt, protein and fat.Whether or not you find The Eternal Cheeseburger to be “horrifying” or not, the fact remains that the bun contains wheat, the patty contains beef, both are digested upon entry, and the indigestible preservatives will mostly be flushed out of the system eventually.The same, coincidentally, for just about any other food on any other shelf anyway. Being alarmist about it doesn’t change anything.
this is a f*kkin lie, no food will stay like this for 12 year its physically impossible. if it is 12 years old you either put some extremely agressive chemicals in it (definitely stuff that can kill you or make you very sick, so no mc donalds didnt put it in there) or you kept it in a vacuum, but even then it will probably be digested.. anyways I dont buy this for one sec.. you, dear ma’am are a big fat liar. anyways I dont see the point in it, so what if a burger would stay like this for a few years? No nutrition? wanna bet?
“Chemical food” and “absolutely no nutrition”? Are you trying to sound stupid and ignorant? This little demo proves nothing about McDonalds but a lot about you.What a fraud.
I call BS. Sure, there might be a lot of added preservatives, but keeping the meat from rotting outside a freezer for 12 years is a pure lie. And what about the bread, no molds…?”I marvel at how McDonalds has infiltrated our entire world. A hamburger here tastes exactly the same in China or some around the world place. It’s cloned.Makes you wonder doesn’t it?”No it doesn’t. And what do you mean with ‘it’s cloned’? Sounds like more healthy-wellness-vegan-nutrition nonsense to me.
What you wrote makes less sense than a statement you critisised. Calories are exactly a measure of “fuelness” if i may use such neologisms. Calories are measure of energy, which food provides, no matter if its carbs, fats or proteins. (it is just a case of tradition that we rather use calories as a unit to express energetic value of food whereas juls (J) as a measure of energy in physics- they are in SI system) And glycogen is only a storage of energy in muscles, which is used by the body in the first place (rather short time storage), after using it up, body starts taking enrgy from a long term storage, which is fat. Fat in your belly is FAT (lipids), not glycogen. It gets to the crebs cycle in a state of acetyl coenzyme A as far as I remember. Carbohydrates as main, long term energy storage are present in plants, therefore cereals vegetables and fruits.
Funny.. the “bleached white loaf of generic bread” I bought from Target went moldy on my counter in about 5 days, possibly less. Of course moist bread kept in a dark cupboard is going to mold.. that’s just the kind of environment mold likes. Take a piece of any kind of bread, processed or organic, and leave it open to the air on your counter and what do you get? Dried bread that would now be suitable for turning into breadcrumbs.
Whatever these naysayers are whining about, I agree with your *point* 100%. Your scientific method is a bit off, but I completely agree with your scare tactics to show children nutrition, which is key and vital in the American diet- people need to be SHOCKED to start paying attention. I have a friend who ate a 2 year old Twinkie on a dare. There was no discernible difference, taste, or otherwise- between the aged one and one bought that very morning. This is the ‘food’ we’ve been tricked into eating- it is horrific, and a travesty. Again, forget what everyone’s whining about, you’re doing good.
You’re responding to a troll. Teenage boys with nothing better to do haunt teh intarwebz, posting insightful commnts such as “you are a jew” and “lulz 0mg saddam obama is teh commi3!!!11 lulz!!!11″. Get used to it.
Okay. While there might be some logical errors in Karen’s comments, do we all need to freak out over the small stuff? Look at the bigger picture.I know one comment was made amount “Super Size Me”. If any of you haven’t seen it, I implore you to do so. That is only one example of Mc Donald’s food being a poor choice. In fact, I’m a big fan of ‘Super Size Me’, because it actually provides argument for Mc Donald’s food. One guy practically lives off the stuff, and he is perfectly healthy. Go see that, come back and argue the same then.I personally don’t care for Mc Donalds. Especially after the research I’ve done. I’d rather everyone argue valid points rather than belittle every small grammatical error or argument.As for nutritional value, its true that given any piece of food theres going to be some form of nutrition that your body can utilize. However, there is a huge difference in what your body can utilize more efficiently. What will keep you healthier longer. Of course, our bodies can adapt, others can’t. Although nutrition is a science, we don’t know everything yet. Hell, I can’t recall how many times doctors/nutritionists keep saying eggs are bad or good for us. All you can do in the end is choose what is good for you and your diet. Diet – the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group. Not to particularly lose weight, as we normally associate the word.
i do not think that the comment needed to be explained…it was clear that the comment…isnt it? …was clearly made by an idiot ..therefore following readers come to a simple conclusion that u must of missed..or maybe u jes like to clutter the internet with more stupid comments…including this one…all of these blog things are pitiful u guys should all go do something else
What exactly motivated you to decide on a 12 year experiment? PS – Did you ever fear that your children (and/or bears) would find a hidden snack?
the food looks like the cafeteria food we eat
i wonder wat they did sow the meet and bread wont get wrotten
the food looks hella nasti becouse it is roten!!! by jose cobian & roger
omg. tat must b the most disgusting burger in the world
this is extremely nasty!!!!!!
The FOOD LOOKED REALLY GREASY BUT SOMETHING WE LIKED WERE THE PEACHES!!!!=]
You must have seen Fast Food Nation – this reminds me of some of the info in that movie – wow! Thanks for this – we need this information. I stay away from junk food – but now I’ll get even farther away!! Cheers! Bonnie
this is so nasty!!!!
ever so true – i thought that too
I thought the old one looked much more appealling
Most commonly asked question. I kept the burger on a plate in my cuboard, then it went into the sandwich box as shared on my blog, and then into a drawer.
You go Suzanne, my kindof girl!!
Thank you Sommer!
I would not have ever predicted the devotion to the burger, thanks for the agreement and shared point of view
what a crock. oh no its not super healthy, STAY AWAY!!! any of ya’ll want a hamburger?
McD’s says it’s 100% beef.. sure ok?? but WHERE DOES THE MEAT COME FROM, like where was it grown, where was it slaughtered at, what kind and what part of cow did come from, did anyone from the USDA inspect the beef BEFORE, DURING and AFTER it was ground to hamburger?? too many question not enough answers!!lETO
Although I agree that McDonald’s food is probably the worst thing you can put into your body, I find this terribly hard to believe. I worked there as a kid, and when the food was no longer servable (ie. past it’s storage time, closing time) we would throw it into a bin for composting at a later time. By the end of the night the food was pretty rancid. By the next day, you could clearly see molding and the start of the decay process. This may be because there were a lot more bacteria in the bin than any other place, but the food would eventually break down (in a matter of days). This lady saying that this is a burger bought 12 years ago is highly suspect, and in my opinion ridiculous. The point to her story is to not get people to eat McDonald’s food, I agree with that, just don’t make stuff up to get your point across.
Go back to the feature picture. Read the wrapper. The “I’m Loving It” campaign did not start until September 29, 2003. Hmmmmm? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_McDonald%27s_TV_campaigns_and_slogans
Delicious is subjective.Nutritious is optional.Billions and billions served can’t be wrong.You don’t like it – don’t eat it.
what a crock. oh no its not super healthy, STAY AWAY!!! any of ya’ll want a hamburger?
Watch this….proof this article is bogushttp://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ljW5YEdao&feature=related
Well I would like to inject my own 12year old thought on the 1996 hamburger that has not changed.I first would like to comment on everything that I have taken in on this entire rant.From racism to starving childrenI would just like to point out the Jewish community would probably have nothing to do with this, since McDonalds is American.Who needs canned food if the shelf life is so good, save on recycling?Starving children probably are not worrying about a stupid burger, I imagine they would want one no matter what year it came from.”Bible” now that is heavy, won’t even go there.And the people that are health nuts, you are probably ramming your fist in your throat to remain thin, all the veggies and fruits I can eat. But if your parents are fat like mine you are also going to end up being fat no matter what you eat. Believe me I have tried!So that is what I have chose to speak about, how much can be wasted on a topic so stupid about warning parents about what they should feed their childre.When right now they are driving themselves and their children home after a long day at work and the day care; stop by Rotten Ronnie’s and order a children’s meal and a #5 Super sized with a coke and make their way onto the street………WHAM nailed by a drunk driver or held a gun point by some drug addict looking for a 1996 burger to inject into their system……..That is food for thought.
I’m happy that I’m a vegan
With all the emphasis on nutrition and so on nowadays, are you certain that the modern burgers use the same ingredients as he scary scary zombie burger?
fact is, most foods if kept in a cool dry place will preserve well. take a fresh piece of cooked chicken and dry it….and put it in tupperware..and it will look like a piece of chicken for 12 years. mcdonalds food is a choice….and like bubble gum, oreo cookies, doritos and millions of other foods, not something one should consume every day. but damn….a big mac tastes great every once in a while.
Perhaps the limited nutrition in the burger is offset by all the crap in it. While it is true you won’t die of starvation if you eat it, you’ll die of something else. In those countries where starvation isn’t a problem and we have disposable income, healthier choices SHOULD be made, since you aren’t forced to eat this as some starving children in Darfur would be; they of course wouldn’t be forced, but you get my point. McDonalds is bad for you, that is a fact. Moderation is key though, just don’t eat this crap every day and eat healthy the rest of the time and you’ll probably be ok. Whether or not this article is fallacious is a moot point because McDonalds IS bad for you. This person just has an agenda (and in no shape or form does it state there is no agenda, so that is also a moot point.)
All I know, is I would not put this in my body versus a home cooked one, that is also cheap and tasty!
Would you recommend that everyone avoid honey, too? Because it preserves itself, it is “chemical, not real food, no food value”? Because honey survives, totally unchanged, for even longer. Thousands of years! It’s still edible, and it looks exactly the same…just like a McDonald’s burger.I agree that one of those foods is good and one is bad, but “it stays the same” is not a valid reason for either one.
Hi! i’ve just read your note and i like it.In fact, the way the food rottens may vary, it depends on the environment and in the humidty inside the food… but i agree that it’s really odd that a hamburger that is 12 yrs. looks like the one on your pic.I remember when someone told me that McDonny makes the hams somewhere in the world and then it distributes around the world… even to think that i’ll have a meal that is at least 1 week old it’sdisgusting and unhealty for sure! McDonny needs a lot of logistic and planning to make the same thing to all their restaurants.Even worse… McDonald’s promise is to say 100% Beef… i’m not a PhD Mathematics but… they can’t say it’s 100% Beef if they put chemicals, preservatives, or something… not by just saying that the Beef they get is from genetically altered animals (For ANY reason… you are eatting that stuff in your 100% Beef ham) so, is this healty? i’m not an nutritional expert but i can say… NO, it isn’t.I’m a computer specialist, so, i’m always eatting fast food, i feel it’s a big problem, since that companies never thinks to the real needs of their customers… they just want to earn money, even if they poison us in the roadway… no matter, we are just a lot of statistics for them!It’s odd to think that a meal can preserves that way, it’s even odder to think that a stuff like that are good for any life-form… and even odder is to attack someone who tells us something that everyone MUST already know, the fastfood enterprises uses strange things as meals, they don’t care if that stuff is good for you… they care that you are satisfied and comeback later to buy other meal… that’s it! Wake up! for them, we are just statistics!!If you don’t care Mother Earth, i’ll put a small reference on my website to this article, and i’ll translate it to spanish.See ya!
This propaganda is a wasyed attempt. You only have a current McDonalds burger to compare it too. What happens to a burger bought from a butcher, cooked and kept for 12 years? Guess I’ll have to wait 12 more years haha. What a waste.
so did you eat it afterwards?
cool, but they taste so nice so what does it matter.
I’m sorry, i just don’t believe this one. it smells like a massive hoax. mcdonalds uses grade a beef, theres no reason to use anything like a preservative, its FAST FOOD!! you know how fast mcdonalds runs through its supplies? there is no need for preservation, its cooked and gone in no time at all. preservatives would be throwing money down the drain and even a greedy corporation isn’t stupid enough to do that. and what kind of moron leaves a burger in a plastic box for years anyways.
Do you know how good a hamburger like this tastes? Doesn’t matter how it will look in 10+ years, it has a nice taste, that’s all that matters. If we wanted food value we would eat things like lettuce …
Frankly, I am not sure I buy the photos either. In the end, if an informed once-over of the McDonald’s Nutritional Information sheet and a basic understanding of diet and health issues should be enough to scare most people. Unfortunately, most people either don’t understand the value of nutrition and/or are addicted. A scary picture might turn a few of them, but not many. Heart disease and difficulty breathing might do it though…maybe. Maybe not.
Of course it is easy to fake this…But I still believe. Mc’D is quite chemical yeah :S
To me this only proves that obviously there’s quite a bit of chemicals in McDonalds burgers. However, I find nothing that supports the idea that it could not be nutritious food at the same time. Could you explain how you can draw this conclusion?
Some major flaws in your argument. a) Not keeping the original wrapper and then have a photo on a modern wrapper means most will instantly dismiss this as rubbish. b) McDonald’s burgers have changed significantly since 1996. You have conveniently forgotten that until Burger King did their “contains 100% beef” campaign, McDonald’s did not. So the condition of a 1996 burger does not reflect the condition of a modern day McDonald’s burger as they’re not the same. c) Saying a McDonalds burger has no nutritional value is pure fantasy. When you got the wrapper for your 2008 buger you should have noticed the nutrion information leaflets or checked online. A quick check tells me that a McDonalds hamburger has 250 calories, 14 grams of protein, 30 grams of carbs, 8 grams of fat, 3 grams of fibre and 1.2 grams of salt. By your reckoning these values should all be 0. Had you had a sensible argument about what sorts of preservatives McDonald’s use to stop their food going off and what effect they can have on us then maybe you wouldn’t have so many negative posts.
I call bullshit.
I worked for mcD’s for 7 years, and whilst i was there thousands of buns were thrown away because them grew mold so quickly. I’m not defending the company as they screwed me around no end, but i find it hard to believe that the bun could be 12 years old. Have you ever acutally looked at what goes into the burger? because it seems to me that you are pushing the whole “fast food is bad for you” purely because your a Nutritional Consultant. If you actually looked at what the burger is made of i think you’d very quickly shut up. No Mc’ds isn’t a bowl of bloody salad, but it’s not as bad as narrow minded people like you keep trying to tell the rest of the world it is.
It may be preserved from the amount of salt in it but that does not mean it has no nutritional value when fresh. Pioneer men ate dried beef jerky when fresh meat was scarce. Salt is a natural preservative. Red meat is packed with necessary B vitamins. Just look at the increase in the number cases of multiple sclerosis with people decreasing the amount of red meat they eat. No one is going to eat a 12 year old hamburger for the nutritive value.
“Het is bijzonder hoe onze planeet is ontstaan, en hoe er zich leven kon ontwikkelen. Zonder die kleine onzuiverheden in het begin, vlak na de oerknal, waren er nooit sterren ontstaan. Zonder de sterren waren er nooit grote atomen ontstaan waarmee iets gebouwd kon worden. Dan waren er nooit meteorieten en planeten gekomen. Als er in het brok aarde geen radioactief verval was geweest en als er geen bombardement had plaatsgevonden van meteorieten op de aarde, dan was de temperatuur nooit zo gestegen dat onze planeet vloeibaar werd en dat alle zware elementen naar de kern waren gezakt. Dan was er geen beschermend magnetisch veld ontstaan. Zonder geleidelijke afkoeling was er geen korst ontstaan waardoor gassen konden ontsnappen.Er was geen atmosfeer geweest met koolzuurgas die de warmte vasthield. En met zoveel waterdamp dat het miljoenen jaren regende. Dan waren er nooit oceanen gevormd waarin zich leven kon gaan ontwikkelen. En in dat geval was er ook geen zuurstof geweest. En als het leven zich niet had ontwikkeld, was er niet alleen geen zuurstof geweest, maar ook geen ozonlaag. En had het leven nooit het land op kunnen kruipen. De dinosauriërs waren weggebleven en ze waren dus ook niet uitgestorven. Dan waren er geen zoogdieren geweest, dan waren wij er niet geweest en had ik dit nooit opgeschreven.Het hangt af van de wijze waarop je naar de dingen kijkt. Je kunt je verbazen over die kleine onzuiverheden die de ontwikkeling van het heelal zo stuurden dat uiteindelijk de mens ontstond. Je kunt ook zeggen dat het allemaal gewoon toeval was. Maar als het slechts toeval was, dan toch wel een fantastisch toeval.”
Hey.. how can I know it’s not fake? Do you have the receipt??
imagine that, mcdonalds is bad for you…
You know, Honey (natural, not the one you buy in the market, i mean the hard one) doesn’t go bad and it has high nutritious value, why?BTW, i’m not defending Mc Donald’s in any way…
Go eat your fucking sprouts.
“Wellness Educator”?You write like a 4th grader. What education have you had? Your sentence structure is awful, your grammar poor. Your claims are less than believable; while it may not be optimum, there is definite nutrition in McDonald’s food, as proved by the USDA. Exactly what do you mean by “cloned”? That statement gives the false impression that McDonald’s uses meat that comes from cloned cows, which is untrue.Your “experiment” is pure junk science. People of course would do themselves a favor and keep fast food to a minimum, and make better choices.Your silly scare tactics presented in such a juvenile way only hurts your cause.
O.K. So each to his/her own. We all have a free choice. eat um or leave um!!
i will def. think twice about what goes into my body…i am trying to eat healthier, also drink alot more water as i love my pepsi, can def. eat better than this
I think you need to do this exact test with a non-McDonald’s Hamburger. I haven’t fully bought into the whole “organic, vitamin, mineral don’t poison your body with that stuff” theory. Staying healthy has just as much to do with diet as with nutrition. It’s the sedentary American lifestyle that’s killing us. Human’s survive on Calories. I believe the perfect diet is a good diet is a balance of protein and carbohydrates along with certain amount of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Have you heard about the diet of Michael Phelps? 12,000 calories a day! And it’s NOT health food by any means. This is a perfect example of how the human body using food simply as fuel. Yes it needs vitamins/minerals etc. But caloric intake and a healthy amount of exercise is most important to staying healthy.
Dear Karen, I think you are on to something Big(Mac)here. Scientists have been trying for years to discover how the Egyptians embalmed Pharoahs to preserve them for eternity. Is it possible the Egyptians had the first Whopper? For some reason though, the Pharoahs didn’t live very long.
I can’t believe that some will buy into this crap. There isn’t a shred of proof anywhere that this is even real. If i was going to make an argument like this i would make my case idiotproof, but thre isn’t a single photo of that hamburger in the middle of it’s aging process.
I pretty much stopped eating at ” Mctomaines” “BurgerDeath” “Blendys” “Blight Castle” ect years ago, except for the occasional visit when I was very hungry and they were convenient. Not really due to nutritional standards, but because it seems you eat, but are hungry again very quickly. Besides, most “greasy spoon” restaurants are less expensive andfar better tasting, and the food stays with you longer. Most fast food is “slider” food, it slides right in, and slides right out.
Does anyone ever call you KOOK? Just wondering.
Dear Karen,What about the bread?…it’s not rotten either…is the bread also from 1996?…or it was just put there for the picture, as well as the paper?.Did you kept it (the burger) in your freezer or outside the fridge?…that’s very important.Greetings,D.
How about you just shut up and let us eat what we want to eat. It’s great that you want to be healthy but personally I find fast food delicious, and hey ya wanna know how not to get fat from eating it? Walk.
Do you put it in the fridge, or just stored it at room temparature? Just showed my 13 year old daughter and hubby, my daughter is fascinated by the lack of mold and other signs of decay. She wants to start her own. She hates McD’s and has been trying for a year to get her friends to stop eating there. She wants to know hoe to go about it.
Now eat that Stale burger and listen to latin music…. (The burger will turn your stomach though)http://www.BachataRadio.com
The slogan “i’m lovin’ it” was definitely NOT used in 1996. It was not used until around 2003.Check your facts before posting nonsense.
i belive it …there was a sonic oinion rig in the back of my truck & it looked pretty tasty for 2-3 years!
i have eaten food that looks the same after 2000 years,its called corn! that evil food of satan!(sorry if that was stated before, nine long pages of comments was a little much for me!)that being said, i feel like im eating the same burger everytime i go to Mceasytohate… its like theres a star trek replicator in back and it just keeps popping out the same burger! augh!
That person was replying to another person who said they weren’t going to eat McDonald’s again because their smoothie separated and when they mixed together again it had the same consistency. She was implying that only McDonald’s shakes do that and that automatically makes McDonald’s shakes worse than other shakes, which is completely asinine.
I find this very hard to believe. I think she went out and got 2 burgers at 2 different MC’D. Then made this up storie to fell important. Even food in a fridg spoils and gets fuzzy. The buns may look the same but bread goes bad as well, so I see this as a person who just want some attention, who knows maybe she works at some of resturant and is saying crap about MC’D so no one will there and MC’D will close. Who knows she maybe even work for them at one point in her life and then she got the boot. MC’D as been around for along time,so all this CRAP she is saying I don’t believe it and will continue EATING at MC’D. Why are you singling out MC’D. WHY?? You have a case of the ASS towards MC’D. What about KFC,Burger King,Long John Silver,Chic-fil-a,Pizza Hut,Hardee’s,and other type of reaturants. See what their food does. So this why I think it is all Crap and she has a boner to pick with MC’D. I don’t care what anyone thinks,everyone has had their saying and now I’m having my saying.
I have worked for the outstanding Golden Arches for over 20 years. I assure you that we use 100% USDA grade “A” beef. We flash freeze our meat to ensure that all of the juices are kept inside until it is cooked. This article is ridiculous and only targets McDonald’s because it is a worldwide known icon. Do this test with staples bought in your local grocery store & you will DEFINATELY find that MANY foods do not perish. This article is false & unbelievable. Karen, lock yourself in your “green” home, eat your tofu and organic crap & leave the great 55 year old business to doing what they do best. They provide a great service to millions of people everyday and every single one of those individuals have a CHOICE in what they eat. If you don’t like it, then move to a farm, grow your own food, process your meals yourself and live in your screwed up, sheltered world. Peace, love & happiness you kook!
…prove it.
Do you really think that is really a 12-year-old burger? It coincidently had the 2008 wrapper under it for “decor.” It may have been a picture of a 1-week-old burger instead. Who knows?
This person is a load of crap. I’ve had many a burger forgotten in the fridge and the bun molds the meat yes I said meat shrinks and smells really bad.
You, and FetaCheese below you are the first commenters to state the obvious.Yes, it is probably chemical preservatives, rather than it’s lacking in nutritional value. However, this observation of a 12 year old hamburger, if true, cannot be dismissed so easily. Ms. Hanrahan has indeed injected her predisposition into this article, but if she is not lying about this hamburger, we not only need to know how this could be, but why. I, personally, avoid Mickey D’s. It’s not a philosophical thing, I just find that I feel sickened by the time I’m halfway through the meal.There’s a reason, and I don’t claim to know what it is, that McD’s hamburgers make me wanna puke. Obviously, this is anecdotal evidence, based on personal experience. But, I know what I know. These foods are full of chemicals that you would not feed to your children, if you knew about them. Again, anecdotal, based on personal experience.Ex; Have you ever seen a McDonald’s employee, on lunch break, eating McDonald’s? I haven’t.
If that burger really is 12 years old, and preserved in a sealed container, it is no different than beef jerky. Burger King is the worst.
There’s only one problem to this supposed real burger, McDonalds didn’t use the the “I’m lovin’ it” advertising slogan till 2003, which would make it a bit impossible to be a burger from 1996. But let’s not let the actual truth get in the way of your 15 minutes.
I am so glad I have become a TRUE vegan ! And to believe I used to poison my body weekly as a kid with this junk. It’s horrifying at what the industry is doing(marketing) today, and helping to give us a boost with our S.A.D diet ! How pathetic that many fall for it, knowingly, and worse yet, willingly ! As I used to too!
this is true. in my school 3 yrs ago we did a experiment for health class on mcdonalds french fries, and do our whole classes disgust the fries preserved themselves for the whole year, i’m not saying that the 12 yrs is cmpletely true but its true of how many perservatives are in the food.
lol exactly mcds doesnt do anything but make u fat and lazy. its a heart attack on a bun. i hope u enjoy ur mcds.
I think you are full of it. I am a McDonalds Employee, and was back in 1996 as well. The meat is as much the same as it was 12 years ago. Completely spoilable! There is NO possible way it would have stayed with the buns for twelve years in a rubbermad container. Try being more realistic with your lies!! YOU ARE A PHONY!!
LIES, THERE IS NO WAY THE BODY DOEN’T GET SOMETHING FOR IT –PEOPLE ARE OVERWEIGHT FROM FOOD LIKE THIS-TWO-I TASTED FOOD FROM MCDONALDS OVERSEAS AND IT TASTE IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT-THE MEAT COMES FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE–IF PEOPLE BELIEVE THIS YOUR NUTS
I agree. We can buy meals at the grocery store with more calories/fat than the McDonald’s hamburger. If you look at the paper under the burger, the nutrional information is printed on there. You can find the information at McDonalds.com also. Just because they are “McDonald’s” and the giant in the fast food industry, they are always the one being “picked” on about nutrition. You are correct in this article is looking for the “Shock” value, not to inform you about nutrition. Do you homework and make healthy choices. This is one company that has tried to inform the public of their choices, it is not their fault if you make the unhealthy ones. Again, you can make even more unhealthy choices at the grocery store, but no one is beating up on them.
Also I know a person who lost 30 pounds eating only McDonald’s just to prove the guy was full of B.S. (which coincidentally is natural) and to get slimmer for his wedding day. Want to know how he was able to accomplish this? He exercised daily, he didn’t just eat the burgers and fries (they offer salads (with NATURAL Newman’s OWN DRESSING, apple wedges with low fat caramel dipping sauce , low carb wraps, a fruit and walnut salad, and bottled water there too. They also have a grilled chicken sandwich for days you just have to fries so the day isn’t a total wash, low fat chocolate and white milk and in one location he frequented they had soups like broccoli cheddar ) McDonald’s isn’t necessarily bad for you, its unhealthy eating habits that make you fat. If you eat every item on the menu (as the guy did in super size me did) of course you aren’t going to be healthy. That proves nothing. Its exercise, portion control, and healthy eating choices that make you fit, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU EAT. Also I’m not going to point all the flaws with your little old hamburger theory because I think everyone else summed it up nicely.
Thats so nasty and of course right before i read this i was at mcdonalds! thats so disgusting
that is so disgusting!! i haven’t eaten mc.Donald’s since i was like 5. (about 10 years ago). I truly believe it. Thanks for doing this. hopefully those people who eat this “food” will stop!
Yep, I agree. The mold sets in quite quickly. Ever watched the experiment that was part of Morgan Spurlock’s “SuperSize Me”? Those burgers were moldy in 2 weeks, and fully rotted at 10 weeks. See yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSHaZIOk9nYListen, we all know that a McDonald’s burger is probably not the healthiest food item to eat. The problem with many extremists / crusaders is that instead of relying on the facts, they clearly try and manipulate or exaggerate things that aren’t true. Is this really a burger from 1996? I might believe it if it had been vaccuum-packed, frozen and thawed just before the picture. But again, that would be a distortiono f facts. Karen is implying that the burger in the picture has been sitting out in the open for 12 years.I have no reason to believe anything further posted by this user.
Very interesting! Anyone who has doubts should watch ‘Supersize Me’.
Super genius, the comment you replied to was directed at the other great mind above who decided that because a shake separated it was automatically horrible for you. The shake is probably awful for you, but the comment you attacked made a valid point….all mixtures will separated if their components have different densities. Thank you come again.
If this artical has any value, Why have a lot of School District Nutritionalists santioned these in the Cafetaria??
ahhh who cares? theres way more important things to worry about than McDonalds hamburgers,
I Just Ate A McDonalds Cheeseburger The Other Day And Guess What It Was Banging Come On Now How Do We Know When She Bout That Burger If It Was Still In 1996 Wraping Then Ok But She Put The 2008 Behind It For Effect Yeah Ok And Im Brad Pitt You Bought Them Both At The Same Time They Just Look Different Deal With It
Are you all so ignorant to fall for this woman’s b.s.? If you believe this, then send me all your money or you will die tomorrow!!! Where’s the proof the burger is 12 years old??? In a world of gimmicks, why are so many fools still believing anything some one can construe to make a few bucks?
I don’t really see a problem. As long as you don’t eat one of these everyday, you won’t have a huge imbalance of bad chemicals. Do you have any idea of how long beef jerky can last? And that stuff is “natural” with only a few ingredients in it.I think your a bit paranoid. We all have to die someday, why waste more money for organic foods when you can simply regulate your diet?
I simply don’t believe this. I agree that our society would be much better off with healthier choices, but I don’t believe that this burger is 12 years old. Even if the salt content were to preserve it for quite sometime (and they are FULL of salt) the burger would shrink and harden as it dehydrated. I feel that this woman has an agenda other than just nutrition education for our young people, and that her task would be more efficient if she spoke only the facts, without her opinionated embellishments.
If you ever have an unwanted guest at your house, you know what to feed them!
McTubby up there doesn’t look like a “granola cruncher”.
Your clain that Mcdonald’s food is unhealthy is totally wrong. If you think Mcdonald’s food is unhealthy you must not purchase any food from your local grocery store. You are trying to imply that there are preservatives or chemicals in the food but if you really knew anything about the raw products that go into a McDonald’s hamburger you would see that your assumptions are wrong. Nothing but 100% pure beef in the burgers and the bun is no different than one that you would bake if you had the desire to do so. As far as your statement that McDonalds sells cloned burgers, what is relly being done is people are preparing food following strict procedures and guidlines. When a car company makes their cars are they cloning them or are they simply doing their job and making a product for a consumer. If you are not a fan of McDonald’s that’s fine but don’ttry to turn other people off because of your biased feeling or opinions.
“absolutely no nutrition”oh come on. A Twinkie has SOME tiny bit of nutrition. A bag of potato chips. To the degree water and sugar is necessary to your diet, a can of soda does too.This hamburger and its bun has some amount of protein. That is nutrition. Both or either/or has some amount of other vitamins and minerals, even if in tiny amounts. This is something of a gimmick. The no nutrition part is simply false. The food is unhealthy enough to be able to avoid making things up.
I bake bread on a regular basis, and have for over 20 years and can tell you that is NOT a 12 year old bun. Regardless of any chemicals put in breads they mold, even if you keep them the fridge. As for the burger, I doubt it’s age as well… McDonalds is not a way of life, it’s just fast food.
nice slap a piece of cheese on there and throw it in the microwave for a minute yummy
Well, I think she must store it in a freezer or something because of that morgan spurlock movie – 30 days. Where he ate nothing but mcdonalds for 30 days. They did a similar experiment in which the only mcdonalds food that did NOT mold or eventually rot was the fries. Each burger (and i cant remember if they had a plain hamburger atm) rotted, and they had, i believe, 5 other sandwiches, which even if they had no hamburger, why wouldn’t the hamburger rot if all of the others did. So no, I think there was some other type of preservation used on this burger, probably un-intentional, but never-the-less something.
I dont believe this for a second, I use to work there and I know what a Mcdonalds burger looks like after 24 hours and that is not it, besides the bun hasnt even grown mold, this is bullshit
OMG COOL IMMA EAT A HAMBURGER.