Life McDonald’s Happy Meal resists decomposition for six months - Page 4

BIG_DADDY · 10-13-2010, 02:03 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot...for-six-months
Tue Oct 12, 1:54 pm ET
McDonald’s Happy Meal resists decomposition for six months
By Brett Michael Dykes

Vladimir Lenin, King Tut and the McDonald's Happy Meal: What do they all have in common? A shocking resistance to Mother Nature's cycle of decomposition and biodegradability, apparently.

That's the disturbing point brought home by the latest project of New York City-based artist and photographer Sally Davies, who bought a McDonald's Happy Meal back in April and left it out in her kitchen to see how well it would hold up over time.

The results? "The only change that I can see is that it has become hard as a rock," Davies told the U.K. Daily Mail.

She proceeded to photograph the Happy Meal each week and posted the pictures to Flickr to record the results of her experiment. Now, just over six months later, the Happy Meal has yet to even grow mold. She told the Daily Mail that "the food is plastic to the touch and has an acrylic sheen to it."

Davies -- whose art has been featured in numerous films and television shows and is collected by several celebrities -- told The Upshot that she initiated the project to prove a friend wrong. He believed that any burger would mold or rot within two or three days of being left on a counter. Thus began what's become known as "The Happy Meal Art Project."

[DIY: Make happier meals for your kids at home -- just don't forget one key tip]

"I told my friend about a schoolteacher who's kept a McDonald's burger for 12 years that hasn't changed at all, and he didn't believe me when I told him about it," Davies told us. "He thought I was crazy and said I shouldn't believe everything that I read, so I decided to try it myself."

[Did you know? Before the Happy Meal, there was the Fun Meal]

Some observers of the photo series have noted that the burger's bun appears at different angles, and therefore aired suspicions that the Happy Meal may not in fact be as "untouched" as the project's groundrules stipulate. Davies says there's a simple explanation for the mobile-bun effect. "The meal is on a plate in my apartment on a shelf," she says, "and when I take it down to shoot it, the food slides around. It's hard as rock on a glass plate, so sure, the food is moving."

Photo courtesy of Sally Davies
Davies' friend was the person who should have done the additional research. Wellness and nutrition educator Karen Hanrahan has indeed kept a McDonald's hamburger since 1996 to show clients and students how resistant fast food can be to decomposition.

As for Davies, she said that she might just keep her burger and fries hanging around for a while as well.

"It's sitting on a bookshelf right now, so it's not really taking up any space, so why not?" she said. It ceased giving off any sort of odor after 24 hours, she said, adding: "You have to see this thing."

In response to Davies' project, McDonald's spokeswoman Theresa Riley emailed The Upshot a statement defending the quality of the chain's food. Riley's email also blasted Davies' "completely unsubstantiated" work as something out of "the realm of urban legends."

"McDonald's hamburger patties in the United States are made with 100% USDA-inspected ground beef," Riley wrote. "Our hamburgers are cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else -- no preservatives, no fillers. Our hamburger buns are baked locally, are made from North American-grown wheat flour and include common government-approved ingredients designed to assure food quality and safety. ... According to Dr. Michael Doyle, Director, Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, 'From a scientific perspective, I can safely say that the way McDonald's hamburgers are freshly processed, no hamburger would look like this after one year unless it was tampered with or held frozen.'"

Frosty · 10-13-2010, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

There's a difference between up in arms and informed. I think a lot of peole have no idea what they are eating.

I think most people know that fast food isn't good for you. To be honest, I don't think they care. This article isn't going to make anyone say "OMG! I'm never eating fast food again!"

By the way, FWIW, I would rather eat that McRib (sans bun, of course) than your bean burrito that is full of trans fats, pro-inflammatory omega-6 oils, gluten, sugar and legume lectins and phytochemicals.

Ingredients:

Quote:

McRib Pork Patty
Pork, water, salt, dextrose, BHA and BHT and propyl gallate and citric acid (preservatives).

versus

Quote:

Beans

Pinto Beans, Partially Hydrogenated Soy Bean Oil (With TBHQ And Citric Acid Added To Protect Flavor) , Salt.

Tortilla

Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following: Cottonseed Oil, Soybean Oil), with Mono- and Diglycerides, Sugar, Contains Less Than 2% Of The Following: Salt, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Fumaric Acid, Calcium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (used as preservatives), Dough Conditioners (DATEM, Mono and Diglycerides, Enzymes) CONTAINS WHEAT

To each their own, I guess.

Brock · 10-13-2010, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

There's a difference between up in arms and informed. I think a lot of peole have no idea what they are eating.

I think a lot of people don't give a shit. That's why they weigh 400 lbs.

MOhillbilly · 10-13-2010, 10:32 AM

God bless growing you own and knowing what you put into em and what your getin back.

**HemiEd** · 10-13-2010, 10:50 AM

McDonalds has deteriorated a lot, since the one I used to frequent had a sign "over a million served."

Then they put changeable numbers in the sign, as it got more popular and they added locations. "over 10 million served."

It was really pretty tasty stuff back then, the fries were cooked in the good stuff.

BIG_DADDY · 10-13-2010, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MOhillbilly

God bless growing you own and knowing what you put into em and what your getin back.

Yea the new place has a spot for growing our own next year. Pretty stoked about that.

Frosty · 10-13-2010, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HemiEd

It was really pretty tasty stuff back then, the fries were cooked in the good stuff.

Yeah, switching from tallow to transfats was stupid and unhealthful, not to mention much less tasty.

BIG_DADDY · 10-13-2010, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arc

I think most people know that fast food isn't good for you. To be honest, I don't think they care. This article isn't going to make anyone say "OMG! I'm never eating fast food again!"

By the way, FWIW, I would rather eat that McRib (sans bun, of course) than your bean burrito that is full of trans fats, pro-inflammatory omega-6 oils, gluten, sugar and legume lectins and phytochemicals.

Ingredients:

versus

To each their own, I guess.

Well I just ate my last bean burrito, thanks.

Frosty · 10-13-2010, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

Well I just ate my last bean burrito, thanks.

Sorry, man.

I used to eat those things back in college. I'm pretty sure they were a big part of the weight I put on during that time (long gone, thankfully).

Once in a blue moon probably doesn't do much damage (unless you can't have wheat, like me). Poison is dose dependent, obviously.

**HemiEd** · 10-13-2010, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arc

Yeah, switching from tallow to transfats was stupid and unhealthful, not to mention much less tasty.

Just for kicks, a couple months ago, the Mrs. bought a small can of Crisco. We made home made fries with it. OMG! Holy Crap! Those things tasted incredible!

Of course we threw it out afterwards, but it was sure a reminder of how the things used to taste.

Frosty · 10-13-2010, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Just for kicks, a couple months ago, the Mrs. bought a small can of Crisco. We made home made fries with it. OMG! Holy Crap! Those things tasted incredible!

Of course we threw it out afterwards, but it was sure a reminder of how the things used to taste.

McDonalds didn't use Crisco; they used beef tallow. Crisco is essentially what they switched to (though Crisco is now partly palm oil instead of 100% trans fats like it was).

**HemiEd** · 10-13-2010, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arc

McDonalds didn't use Crisco; they used beef tallow. Crisco is essentially what they switched to (though Crisco is now partly palm oil instead of 100% trans fats like it was).

Wow, didn't know that. I thought Crisco was just lard. Why did it taste so much better than the cardboard McDonalds is serving now?

Frosty · 10-13-2010, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Wow, didn't know that. I thought Crisco was just lard. Why did it taste so much better than the cardboard McDonalds is serving now?

Because McDonalds changed again a couple of years ago from partially-hydrogenated soybean oil (trans fat) to regular soybean oil because of pressure to reduce trans fats. Regular soybean oil doesn't brown as well and makes the fries kind of soggy. Crisco is a transfat, so it browns better (but is still unhealthful).

Lard wouldn't work very well because it isn't saturated enough. It would break down from the heat. Tallow works the best.

BIG_DADDY · 10-13-2010, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arc

Because McDonalds changed again a couple of years ago from partially-hydrogenated soybean oil (trans fat) to regular soybean oil because of pressure to reduce trans fats. Regular soybean oil doesn't brown as well and makes the fries kind of soggy. Crisco is a transfat, so it browns better (but is still unhealthful).

Lard wouldn't work very well because it isn't saturated enough. It would break down from the heat. Tallow works the best.

The Monsanto soy we produce in this country is horrific toxic dump all by itself.

MOhillbilly · 10-13-2010, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

Yea the new place has a spot for growing our own next year. Pretty stoked about that.

good experince for young minds.

BIG_DADDY · 10-13-2010, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MOhillbilly

good experince for young minds.

Gotta build a fence though. There are deer in the yard constantly.

10-13-2010, 02:03 AM
BIG_DADDY THE RED MENACE Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Texas Casino cash: $2558410	McDonald’s Happy Meal resists decomposition for six months http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot...for-six-months Tue Oct 12, 1:54 pm ET McDonald’s Happy Meal resists decomposition for six months By Brett Michael Dykes Vladimir Lenin, King Tut and the McDonald's Happy Meal: What do they all have in common? A shocking resistance to Mother Nature's cycle of decomposition and biodegradability, apparently. That's the disturbing point brought home by the latest project of New York City-based artist and photographer Sally Davies, who bought a McDonald's Happy Meal back in April and left it out in her kitchen to see how well it would hold up over time. The results? "The only change that I can see is that it has become hard as a rock," Davies told the U.K. Daily Mail. She proceeded to photograph the Happy Meal each week and posted the pictures to Flickr to record the results of her experiment. Now, just over six months later, the Happy Meal has yet to even grow mold. She told the Daily Mail that "the food is plastic to the touch and has an acrylic sheen to it." Davies -- whose art has been featured in numerous films and television shows and is collected by several celebrities -- told The Upshot that she initiated the project to prove a friend wrong. He believed that any burger would mold or rot within two or three days of being left on a counter. Thus began what's become known as "The Happy Meal Art Project." [DIY: Make happier meals for your kids at home -- just don't forget one key tip] "I told my friend about a schoolteacher who's kept a McDonald's burger for 12 years that hasn't changed at all, and he didn't believe me when I told him about it," Davies told us. "He thought I was crazy and said I shouldn't believe everything that I read, so I decided to try it myself." [Did you know? Before the Happy Meal, there was the Fun Meal] Some observers of the photo series have noted that the burger's bun appears at different angles, and therefore aired suspicions that the Happy Meal may not in fact be as "untouched" as the project's groundrules stipulate. Davies says there's a simple explanation for the mobile-bun effect. "The meal is on a plate in my apartment on a shelf," she says, "and when I take it down to shoot it, the food slides around. It's hard as rock on a glass plate, so sure, the food is moving." Photo courtesy of Sally Davies Davies' friend was the person who should have done the additional research. Wellness and nutrition educator Karen Hanrahan has indeed kept a McDonald's hamburger since 1996 to show clients and students how resistant fast food can be to decomposition. As for Davies, she said that she might just keep her burger and fries hanging around for a while as well. "It's sitting on a bookshelf right now, so it's not really taking up any space, so why not?" she said. It ceased giving off any sort of odor after 24 hours, she said, adding: "You have to see this thing." In response to Davies' project, McDonald's spokeswoman Theresa Riley emailed The Upshot a statement defending the quality of the chain's food. Riley's email also blasted Davies' "completely unsubstantiated" work as something out of "the realm of urban legends." "McDonald's hamburger patties in the United States are made with 100% USDA-inspected ground beef," Riley wrote. "Our hamburgers are cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else -- no preservatives, no fillers. Our hamburger buns are baked locally, are made from North American-grown wheat flour and include common government-approved ingredients designed to assure food quality and safety. ... According to Dr. Michael Doyle, Director, Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, 'From a scientific perspective, I can safely say that the way McDonald's hamburgers are freshly processed, no hamburger would look like this after one year unless it was tampered with or held frozen.'"
Posts: 32,522

10-13-2010, 10:32 AM	#48
MOhillbilly Mama Tried Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Missouri Casino cash: $9949903	God bless growing you own and knowing what you put into em and what your getin back. __________________ True Son of Liberty
Posts: 23,371

10-13-2010, 10:50 AM	#49
HemiEd Supporter Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ozarks Casino cash: $-509436	McDonalds has deteriorated a lot, since the one I used to frequent had a sign "over a million served." Then they put changeable numbers in the sign, as it got more popular and they added locations. "over 10 million served." It was really pretty tasty stuff back then, the fries were cooked in the good stuff.
Posts: 34,889