An American man claims to have a 14-year old McDonald's Hamburger that shows no signs of rotting or mold except for the pickle, which has decomposed, reports Business Insider.
A Utah resident, David Whipple, decided to go public with his 14-year old McDonald's Hamburger, which looks almost the same since the day he bought it. He showed his burger on a television show "The Doctors" and shared his experience of preserving it for such a long period of time. Whipple said he did not intend to keep the burger for so long, in fact he planned on keeping it just for two weeks to demonstrate the high levels of preservatives in fast food.
Whipple said he bought the hamburger from a McDonald's outlet in 1999 and forgot that he had it in his coat pocket. Two years later when his wife found the burger in a pocket of his coat with a receipt of purchase they couldn't believe it as the burger looked exactly the same. The burger had remained unchanged with no sign of rotting, fungus, mold or even foul smell.
He said he wanted to show this as an example to his grandkids to encourage them to eat healthy food.
As the burger remained unchanged after two years, Whipple decided to keep it for long and see if it rots. But even after a decade he witnessed no change except for the pickle disintegrated.
McDonald's has an answer as to why the McDonald's burger does not rot, on its FAQ forum. With assistance of Dr. Keith Warriner, Program Director in the Department of Food Science and Quality Assurance, University of Guelph, McDonald's explained the reason behind why the burgers continue to remain unchanged even after a long period of time.
"There have been a lot of online videos and photos touting the fact that when left out for an extended period of time, a McDonald's hamburger does not rot and that this is because they are laden with chemicals," Dr. Warriner wrote. "The reality is that McDonald's hamburgers, french fries and chicken are like all foods, and do rot if kept under certain conditions."
He said McDonald's hamburger loses the water during the cooking process and the bun loses its moisture during the toasting. Hence when the burger is prepared it is "fairly dry."
Also when burgers are left in open space, like in a room, the hamburger loses further moisture due to the room temperature.
"So in the absence of moisture or high humidity, the hamburger simply dries out, rather than rot," he said.
