12-Year Old McDonald's Burger That Just Won't Rot

[MPS]

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/the-burger-lab-revisiting-the-myth-of-the-12-year-old-burger-testing-results.html?ref=nf

[Thrizzl3]

that's cool vlad now you can eat them

[MajesticBlueNTO]

For those that don't want to read the article, the author setup a set of controls in his test (including some homemade ground beef of the same size as a mcd's hamburger) and concluded that, because of the size of the mcdonald's hamburger, it dehydrates quickly so that there's no more moisture for mold to grow (note the homemade burger patty of the same size as the mcd's hamburger also did not have any mold growth).



Conclusion
So there we have it! Pretty strong evidence in favor of Theory 3: the burger doesn't rot because it's small size and relatively large surface area help it to lose moisture very fast. Without moisture, there's no mold or bacterial growth. Of course, that the meat is pretty much sterile to begin with due to the high cooking temperature helps things along as well. It's not really surprising. Humans have known about this phenomenon for thousands of years. After all, how do you think beef jerky is made?

Now don't get me wrong—I don't have a dog in this fight either way. I really couldn't care less whether or not the McDonald's burger rotted or didn't. I don't often eat their burgers, and will continue to not often eat their burgers. My problem is not with McDonald's. My problem is with bad science.

For all of you McDonald's haters out there: Don't worry. There are still plenty of reasons to dislike the company! But for now, I hope you'll have it my way and put aside your beef with their beef.

[PearlM3]

The one thing about McDonalds that I will say is....The American McDonalds, and Canadian ones are TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!! They both source all their products from different places. I hate people saying they don't eat the food there because of this and that. I worked there for 4 years when I was younger, and will still to this day eat their food, they are extremely clean, and sanitary. The hamburgers are all beef, you get the different texture simply because they are NOT grilled, they are fried which totally changes a burger(try it at home). Anyways, good on this guy for actually calling someone out on their stupid fact-less targeting of McD's

END RANT!!

[m_bisson]

the meat is NOT sterile because of the high cooking temperatures, it's sterile because beef is washed with amonia before it's sent out for human consumption. Delicious, eh? :D

[zoso]

I always called BS on these hamburger "studies".

i remember this as a kid with bread and other food, if left out in the open with nothing covering it, it gets stale and dry but if in a container or bag it will mold. This FINDING is something i knew as a kid looking at food, i'm surprised people didn't know this simple fact that food left out in the air will dry out eventually.