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Conventional wisdom states that a nuclear apocalypse would leave two things on the planet Earth: cockroaches and Twinkies. To this equation, however, I feel obliged to add a third item: McDonald's hamburgers. As any fan of the double arches can attest, McDonald's burgers have a tendency to hover in the stomach, undigested, for a disturbingly long period of time. That, however, hardly qualifies them for Twinkie and cockroach status. After all, between Twinkies' incredible slate of preservatives and the cockroach's ingenious design, we're probably talking about the most impressive preservation technology imaginable. How could the humble McDonald's hamburger possibly compete?Consider this: Karen Hanrahan, an Illinois educator and nutritional consultant, has a twelve-year old McDonald's hamburger that has yet to decay. After she purchased the burger in 1996, Ms. Hanrahan removed the meat from the bun and stored both parts in a cupboard in her house, occasionally taking them out to show to her various classes. While the bun has apparently become hard, it has not developed mold, nor has it been attacked by flies, ants, or other vermin. Meanwhile, the meat is shriveled but still recognizable.
There is some question about whether the burger's impressive longevity is due to preservatives, poisons, or merely McDonalds' state-of-the-art cleaning program, which keeps bacteria out of the restaurants. Regardless, I'd argue that Ms. Hanrahan has made it pretty clear that McDonalds' burgers are likely to last for the duration!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-06-2008 @ 5:55PM
Stephen said...
I don't know, overcooked meat stored in an air tight container, I'm sure if I made a burger at home (and overcooked as much as McD's) I would get the same results. It's also a little odd she chose not to have a normal burger (as in with sauce and onions) perhaps she knew that would break down the burger.
Dried meat has been a common way to preserve for many 100s of years.
http://crapkitchen.blogspot.com/
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10-06-2008 @ 5:55PM
Stephen said...
I don't know, overcooked meat stored in an air tight container, I'm sure if I made a burger at home (and overcooked as much as McD's) I would get the same results. It's also a little odd she chose not to have a normal burger (as in with sauce and onions) perhaps she knew that would break down the burger.
Dried meat has been a common way to preserve for many 100s of years.
http://crapkitchen.blogspot.com/
Reply
10-06-2008 @ 6:44PM
Rt said...
Looks like a hatchet job to me. What do you have against common food - other than scare mongering?
I can only presume you prefer $6 burgers.
What a waste of electrons. Is there a way to get specific bloggers blocked? Banned may be a better word since the propagation of such ideas may be criminal.
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10-06-2008 @ 6:45PM
Denise said...
I agree. Without the right mix of air & moisture nothing will rot or breakdown. Mold certainly won't grow without moisture. It's no different than composting vs. landfil. Think of all the items you have heard that they dig up from an old landfill that have stayed preserved for years.
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10-06-2008 @ 7:07PM
Temple said...
McDonald's food is highly-irradiated during processing to avoid bacteria contamination. This is similar to most fast food restaurants. There is likely not a trace of bacteria in the burger.
If you remember the most recent instances of people getting sick from fastfood restaurants, the vast majority of the time its from vegetables(lettuce or tomatoes). Salmonella in tomatoes was to blame for some outbreaks at McDonalds (and other places) last June. Meat is usually very safe.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/health/main4167625.shtml
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10-06-2008 @ 7:08PM
Temple said...
McDonald's food is highly-irradiated during processing to avoid bacteria contamination. This is similar to most fast food restaurants. There is likely not a trace of bacteria in the burger.
If you remember the most recent instances of people getting sick from fastfood restaurants, the vast majority of the time its from vegetables(lettuce or tomatoes). Salmonella in tomatoes was to blame for some outbreaks at McDonalds (and other places) last June. Meat is usually very safe.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/health/main4167625.shtml
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10-07-2008 @ 1:33AM
Catherine said...
Yeah, if you read some of the very smart and thoughtful comments on this post, you'll find it's just a load of hooey. Preservatives have nothing to do with it, that's for sure.
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10-07-2008 @ 3:57PM
DanGarion said...
Wow, I'm really proud of the fact that people are defending McDonald's. Glad people realize that the food at a fast food place is pretty much the same type of crap we can make a home. There really isn't much of anything different.
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10-10-2008 @ 12:40PM
Brenda M said...
Informative and GROSS! So much preservative that it wont show mold or decay? How could that possibly be good for me? I recently gave a speech showing MickyD's against a similar meal purchased and cooked at home. Almost 1/2 the calories and 1/3 of the fat for the home cooked version! Now I can add preservatives to the mix! Thanks for the article.
http://minervastablet.com/?p=186
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10-15-2008 @ 4:07AM
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