A Happy Meal 137 Days Later

By on September 10, 2010 in News 15

Artist Sally Davies runs the classic, terrifying “McDonald’s burger time-lapse” experiment. The goal of course is to see how long it takes food from McDonald’s to alter in appearance even the slightest bit. At 137 days and counting, this meal looks identical to how it did at the time of purchase. Via Refinery 29:

happy-meal-day-137

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  • http://www.boltcutternyc.com Dan

    It’s just the sodium. Which is a whole other issue, but yeah.

  • http://www.boltcutternyc.com Dan

    It’s just the sodium. Which is a whole other issue, but yeah.

  • Baritone

    What are the conditions of this experiment? The climate, I mean … is the food simply drying due to low humidity? Moreover, the fries appear to have shrunken … so the food _is_ changing

    For these results to mean anything, (a) we’d need to see an apple, a cookie and a bowl of pudding alongside the burger & fries; (b) another burger & fries would also need to be exposed in a wet, swampy environment

    Otherwise, this simply reminds me of Hipster Kitty: “Corporations are EVIL!” *sips $8 starbucks & types on MacBook*

  • aloha

    this is fake as hell, no bread mold???? lololol yaokay

  • aloha

    this is fake as hell, no bread mold???? lololol yaokay

  • Belcat

    If you follow the link, I believe Scadsobees has a good comment I agree with and I have copied below:

    If you leave a piece of bread out on the counter, it will NOT get moldy, unless you have extremely high humidity. Unless you have a high moisture food, like a tomato, it will DRY OUT just like this food did. Bread gets moldy when left IN THE BAG where it retains the moisture. On the counter it quickly becomes stale and dries out, eliminating the possibility of mold.

    Even an orange will frequently dry out into a dry husk without any indication of rot.

    Fries and burgers don’t have much moisture, and the thin patties will dry out very quickly.

    Just another parlor trick, just like a vacuum salesperson does when trying to get you to buy the high dollar vacuum.

    If this is how you decide what to eat, you will probably go hungry. Unless you want to eat tomatoes. They rot nicely on the counter.

    • Synapse

      As mentioned by DeepCough, see the super size me DVD extra where they left several burgers and fries from different restaurants in jars for months and McD’s burgers were STILL the only ones to not decompose and grow moldy. The worst that could be said about this news is that it’s quite old and has been done.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD-0-mIisLo

  • Belcat

    If you follow the link, I believe Scadsobees has a good comment I agree with and I have copied below:

    If you leave a piece of bread out on the counter, it will NOT get moldy, unless you have extremely high humidity. Unless you have a high moisture food, like a tomato, it will DRY OUT just like this food did. Bread gets moldy when left IN THE BAG where it retains the moisture. On the counter it quickly becomes stale and dries out, eliminating the possibility of mold.

    Even an orange will frequently dry out into a dry husk without any indication of rot.

    Fries and burgers don’t have much moisture, and the thin patties will dry out very quickly.

    Just another parlor trick, just like a vacuum salesperson does when trying to get you to buy the high dollar vacuum.

    If this is how you decide what to eat, you will probably go hungry. Unless you want to eat tomatoes. They rot nicely on the counter.

  • DeepCough

    Baritone: Morgan Spurlock did just that: on the “Super Size Me” DVD, there is an extra in the bonus features that makes a time-lapse comparison between McD’s burgers and fries along with the burgers and fries of other restaurants. I recommend the following link.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD-0-mIisLo

  • Synapse

    Another reason I’m happy I haven’t eaten at any fast food establishment in almost a decade.

  • Synapse

    Another reason I’m happy I haven’t eaten at any fast food establishment in almost a decade.

  • http://dmipr.com/ Donovan Moore

    Salt is the perfect preservative, yes.

  • http://spiritnewsdaily.com/ Donovan Moore

    Salt is the perfect preservative, yes.

  • Synapse

    As mentioned by DeepCough, see the super size me DVD extra where they left several burgers and fries from different restaurants in jars for months and McD’s burgers were STILL the only ones to not decompose and grow moldy. The worst that could be said about this news is that it’s quite old and has been done.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD-0-mIisLo

  • DeepCough

    Baritone: Morgan Spurlock did just that: on the “Super Size Me” DVD, there is an extra in the bonus features that makes a time-lapse comparison between McD’s burgers and fries along with the burgers and fries of other restaurants. I recommend the following link.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD-0-mIisLo