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McDonald's burgers built to last
Filed under: Nutrition: Health, Weird But True, Mealtime
Karen Hanrahan is a wellness educator who teaches a workshop titled Healthy Choices for Children. Her class is for parents and is intended to teach them about healthy alternatives to the processed food products so widely available today. To illustrate just how unhealthy some of our diet staples are, she carries with her a rather unusual prop: a 12-year-old McDonald's hamburger.
Before you start cringing in disgust, go have a look at her blog and the burger in question. The plain hamburger Hanrahan says she purchased back in 1996 looks exactly like one you would purchase today. It's not moldy, maggoty or otherwise decomposed. Hanrahan claims to have done nothing at all to preserve the burger other than to store it in a plastic sandwich container. She says that the burger's unchanging appearance over the years illustrates her point: McDonald's hamburgers are not real food.
She writes: "Ladies, Gentleman, and children alike - this is a chemical food. Not one ounce of food value. Or at least value for why we are eating in the first place."
Of course, Hanrahan gets beat up in the comments to her post, but most seem to accept her claim that the burger has survived basically unchanged for over a decade. We aren't big McDonald's eaters around here, but I know plenty of families who are. I wonder if this 12-year-old burger might impact the way they feel about their favorite fast-food stop. Does it give you pause?
Before you start cringing in disgust, go have a look at her blog and the burger in question. The plain hamburger Hanrahan says she purchased back in 1996 looks exactly like one you would purchase today. It's not moldy, maggoty or otherwise decomposed. Hanrahan claims to have done nothing at all to preserve the burger other than to store it in a plastic sandwich container. She says that the burger's unchanging appearance over the years illustrates her point: McDonald's hamburgers are not real food.
She writes: "Ladies, Gentleman, and children alike - this is a chemical food. Not one ounce of food value. Or at least value for why we are eating in the first place."
Of course, Hanrahan gets beat up in the comments to her post, but most seem to accept her claim that the burger has survived basically unchanged for over a decade. We aren't big McDonald's eaters around here, but I know plenty of families who are. I wonder if this 12-year-old burger might impact the way they feel about their favorite fast-food stop. Does it give you pause?










ReaderComments (Page 1 of 7)
9-26-2008 @ 2:17PM
ninainindia said...I don't believe this to be honest. First of all there is no proof whatsoever when she bought that burger. If she had it for 12 years wouldn't she have started taking some photos over the years?
I think it's all a joke to see how many people she can get to believe this.
Note: I have never eaten a McDonalds burger and only eat there sporadically.
Reply
9-26-2008 @ 9:11PM
Anita said...It is true. I have a friend who is a pediatrician and she gives a nutrition lecture at different grade schools around our area. She had been carrying around a burger and fries from a happy meal that was several months old and it looked like play food. She had never put it in the fridge or otherwise tried to preserve it. Not sure if she still has it, this was last year. Try it yourselves.
I have never taken my kids to McDonalds and never will although not just for that reason.
9-27-2008 @ 3:22PM
Brad said...I'm not sure but I dont think that McDonalds had I'm lovin it on the wrapper in 1996.... Hummmmmm
9-27-2008 @ 5:08PM
Anna said...To Brad's comment about the wrapper not being from 1996. If you read on in the article on the person's page, it says that the hamburger wrapper shown is a new wrapper, as it is just for show.
9-27-2008 @ 5:41PM
Tony said...Sadly, this is true. I used to eat at McDonalds a lot.
Watch the movie "Supersize Me"
He actually does an experiment where he ages the McDonalds fries against fries from a diner in NYC and from a british chip shop.
Sadly McDonalds does use chemicals to make sure their food does not age.
The film describes all of it. Since seeing that movie I went to McDonalds out of necessity on a thruway stop and felt guilty about it.
9-27-2008 @ 6:27PM
AllergictoSoy said...I have a tendancy to believe that it is true. I am allergic to all soy products and had to stop eating McDonalds and for that matter Burger King hamburgers as they contain soy. Alot of soy I might add. It is not a real beef product as if it was it would get moldy and really smell! As far as having it in a plastic bag....maybe it wasn't a ziploc but one of those that sucks all the air out of so nothing can irritate it. But still it is a soy product and not a beef product.
9-27-2008 @ 6:54PM
kris said...I've seen it before, not 12 years but 2... There's a Juice+ representative who brings a McDonalds happy meal and a lunchable that she's kept in a plastic container on top of her fridge for over 2 years to her seminars.
9-29-2008 @ 7:44AM
rhea said...McDonald's in fact did not adopt the i'm loving it theme unitl the fall of 2003. So yeah there would not have been an I'm loving it wraper from 1996!!
9-27-2008 @ 7:31PM
Natalie said...If you watch Super Size me special features the guy does the same experiement and the burgers age differently. However the fries don't age at all. So in a way that makes me question this or question the guy on Super Size Me.
9-27-2008 @ 7:44PM
E wulf said...THIS NOTHING BUT A LIE
9-27-2008 @ 8:07PM
Jon said...This is fake. The bun on the burger would be very moldy, even if in a plastic container, twelve years would definitely mold this.
9-28-2008 @ 12:32AM
Gene said...I've had soy burgers at a McDonalds in Thailand and they gave me the runs. The burgers here in the states are not full on soy burgers, contrary to what some are saying here, because I can eat them here in the states and Okinawa just fine. They arn't healthy by any means, but lets not make too many accusations if you don't know what your talking about.
9-30-2008 @ 2:23AM
al said...This is actually true.This was also done as an experiment in the film "Supersize Me".You can find the clip in the deleted scenes.Sterile food can't be good for us......
10-04-2008 @ 10:25PM
Alice Coker said...Believe she has a 10 year old McDonald's because I have one that was purchased in August 1999 and it is still with me although thoroughly dried out and crumbly. It was brought to me and, since I don't eat them, I just put it in my suitcase to bring home and find out how long it would last without getting mold or deteriorating. Still have it and if my camera worked I would send you a picture. Try it yourself. Just go buy a 99 cent hamburger and set it up on a shelf somewhere. Prove it. That is exactly why I recommend using the best supplements available backed by good science because you are sure not getting any in the food you purchase.
9-26-2008 @ 2:59PM
Karen said...Yeah -- I'm not really buying this. I've had a McDonalds burger sit in my car over a weekend (with mild weather) and I can tell you it didn't look good.
Reply
9-27-2008 @ 5:39PM
sononsj said...The burger the article refers to was kept in a container (with regular food, a container would slow down the decomposion proccess but not prevent it. With the burger, decomposion was non-existant). The burger in your car was kept out in your car -- it's not the same thing.
9-27-2008 @ 6:09PM
Ron Ross said...I do not believe a word of it. Like you, I have left a McDonald's hamburger sit, unforgotten, on the floor of my truck. After a few days, phew, and yes, there is that nasty gray stuff growing. McD french fries, as well as Hardee's, Burger King, and Arby's, all seem to be cut with the same type of machinery, fried in the same type of veg oil, and if left out in the open for a few days, are dry and brittle. Homemade french fries do the same thing. So, what is new and different?
When I am on the road, and I am in a hurry, it matters not which fast food I stop at, when hunger sets in. McDonald's, Wendy's, BurgerKing (wish they would dump the king) all beat out Arby's and their 'processed' roast beef loaf. But, if a White Castle in the area, no contest.
9-26-2008 @ 4:28PM
Paul Cyopick said...Hate to sound like a troll, but epic fail. Someone is craving their 15 minutes of internet fame, and seems to be getting it. I've seen the reference on this web site, as well as boingboing.net.
I'm sure there's no coincidence that she's a "wellness educator". I hope McDonalds sues her for liable.
Reply
10-21-2008 @ 11:01PM
Rayzlfrayda Gluzband said...The correct spelling: libel. `'Liable' is a different word. When people can't spell they usually have never taken a foreign language and/or can't think logically about words and their meanings.
9-30-2008 @ 3:17AM
Ron Worthington said...If you don't believe it,try it your self....if you are not afraid of the truth.I kept one for over a year,along with the fries,bag and reciept just to see if it was true.Ron