9 Nasty Truths About Your Favorite Foods
Famous Death Row Last Meals
Photo: julien, Flickr
Anyone who's cleaned out a minivan can attest that McDonald's food just...doesn't...age. A fresh-looking burger lies stiffly next to a completely rotted apple core. The fries scattered in the backseat are hard and cold, to be sure, but there's not a spot of mold on them. And it's been weeks since the kids had those Happy Meals! What gives?
There's long been speculation that this food fountain of youth is due to a massive amount of preservatives. But McDonald's maintains that their burgers, at least, are completely preservative-free.
The answer may not be quite as sinister as suspected. Although McDonald's hasn't actually fessed up to whether preservatives lurk in anything other than its burgers, there are scientific explanations for what Salon calls this "shelf life of the undead," and while they're not exactly scary, they're not exactly healthy, either. Rather than huge levels of chemicals, we're talking hefty servings of fat and salt.
"Anything that is high in fat will be low in moisture," Barry Swanson, professor at the Washington State University department of food science, told Salon. The higher the fat content, the lower the moisture; the lower the moisture, the less opportunity for mold cultures. Swanson also pointed out that the signature thinness of the McDonald's French fry adds another advantage -- there's greater surface exposure to heat during cooking, drying (and sterilizing) each fry. Then there's the salt -- which not only imparts flavor but also has been used as a natural preservative for centuries.
Could it really be that simple? Keep it fatty and salty, and you'll keep your food around longer? Maybe. But...let's not try this at home.
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9-07-2010 @12:35PM Jack said... I wonder what we used to eat, I grew up in the days before McDonalds, burger King, KFC and so on. My mother did not work so cooked us a dinner every night. Fixed out lunches to take to school, when we had to walk all the way, sun, rain, snow. But no Big Mac, no fries.
It was great, now it is a part of most everyone life. No wonder there are too many fat people in this country, they eat that stuff too much of the time.
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9-07-2010 @12:22PM Jersey Joe said... I agree with Mike Schmidt . . .
I am also sick of everyone bashing McDonald's food . . . it is FAST food, not intended to be anyone's staple diet . . . Anyone can eat a little fat and salt now and then . . . if you don't like McDonald's . . . then don't go there
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9-07-2010 @12:29PM JosephDierkes said... I should add that I remember when McDonald's hamurgers were 19 cents . . . cheeseburgers were a whole 25 cents . . . *lol* . . .. I have therefore loved McD's for some forty-five years! As long as anyone is not LIVING on McD's on a 24/7 basis, there is little to worry about, people . . . :-)
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9-07-2010 @12:35PM JEB BUCKINGHAM said... Eating LOTS of McDonalds food now is like being embalmed while you're still alive. Hey, at least you'll be well-preserved AFTER you die!
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9-07-2010 @12:50PM TONY said... AT ANY RATE,NOW IM HUNGRY.
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9-07-2010 @1:36PM OhSuzannah said... If you DO go to McD's and want fresh fries, just say "no salt." Then salt them yourself.
BTW, margarine is one molecule shy of PLASTIC and ants won't eat it, b/c they don't recognize it as food! Set some out on a biscuit, watch the biscuit disappear under a pile of ants. The oleo will remain.
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9-07-2010 @1:59PM Nico Toscani said... It's just all the salt and a lack of moisture. It shouldn't take a food chemist to figure it out, just some common sense. Yet another McDonald's conspiracy debunked.
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9-07-2010 @2:03PM Barbara said... I hadn't eaten at Mc Donalds for a long time and decided to on my way home from a trip. The coffee was terrible and the Doubler burger was the worst I have ever had. I won't eat there again.
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9-07-2010 @2:43PM Nico Toscani said... It's also worth pointing out that the environment in which the food is left out probably plays a large part in how fast it "rots". A car interior ( a common place for fast food leftovers to be found) for example, is relatively hot and dry. Therefore the food dehydrates quickly and is preserved. If you left a burger out in a damp, musty basement, the results would probably be quite different.
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9-08-2010 @3:06PM Kili said... My husband worked for the company that makes all of the McDee's burgers east of the Missippippi. The only chemical they add is ammonium nitrite (nitrate cant remember which one) its like 1lb per 1000 lbs of beef. So its small amount. All the rest is beef fat and beef meat, that gets flashed frozen.
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