Why McDonald's Happy Meal hamburgers won't decompose

[98valk]

 

[Bobbo]

The writer of the article in your link, and apparently, you, weren’t paying attention in your freshman high school biology 101 class.  I’m guessing you are associated with this “natural news” website since you link to it continuously.

If you had a beginner’s course on biology, you would learn that all life on Earth requires liquid water to survive.  It also requires a proper balance of electrolytes.  I’m certainly no fan of McDonald’s food, but anyone with entry-level knowledge of food science would recognize why some foods don’t quickly decompose.  When these foods are prepared and deep fried, virtually all of the water is driven out and replaced with food grade oil.  This oil does not decompose by bacteria because bacteria and mold need a proper balance of water and electrolytes to use it as food.  Since we have plenty of water and proper electrolytes in our bodies, we can easily utilize it as food.

There are many foods that are not subject to bacterial decomposition.  Honey is one of them.  Are you willing to suggest that natural honey is a chemical laden poison, simply because it will not rot?

[Serk]

Dangit Bobbo, stop it! That's two threads now where I hafta agree with you!

I'm waiting for Jeff K to pipe in on this thread, since I believe he works in the plant that makes McDonalds buns...

[Karen]

Guess that means I'm going to be well preserved for a long time, dead or alive...

[Bobbo]

I can only guess that you are intentionally misunderstanding my comments.  If you reread my post with meticulous attention, you will see that my reference to electrolytes was in the context if survival.  If any elements to survival are out of proportion, bacterial growth (and all other life) will be impeded.   This includes water, food, and environmental conditions that include electrolytes (acids, bases, salts, etc…)

That salty dried-out French fry will not rot simply because the water level and electrolyte level are not conducive to bacteria.  You could still eat it (I wouldn’t) and use it as food because you have plenty of water in your body, and the small amount of additional salt wouldn’t disturb your electrolyte levels.

How about another example?  Dried meats like jerky.  Take fresh meat, dehydrate it and add salt, and POOF!  It won’t rot either.  Without water and proper electrolyte levels (dehydration + salt) the bacteria can’t grow on it.  Is that also poisonous?

[bigvalkriefan]

Now kids play nice, don't make me stop this car and come back there!   

[Jeff K]

Dangit Bobbo, stop it! That's two threads now where I hafta agree with you!

I'm waiting for Jeff K to pipe in on this thread, since I believe he works in the plant that makes McDonalds buns...

The first thing out of my mouth was "damn there is one thing that Bobbo is right about"
Because of the sugar content of most quality buns they are not prone to molding. The sugar binds with the free water and leaves little moisture for mold growth. Low sugar products tend to mold very fast because they have a lot of "free water". And if the bun is toasted it helps even more by killing the mold spore and further drying of the product.

The perfect example of this is croutons, they don't need refrigeration because they are too dry to mold.

I've been in the baking industry my whole career, any bread can get hard as a rock and never mold as long as there is no moisture, and it wasn't exposed to mold spores when it did have moisture. This is common with all baked goods not just McDonalds. I assure you that MD is the most quality conscious customer  I have ever worked with. As far as all the insults about the healthy aspects of their products... they are the #1 fast food company for a reason, people like it better. If they made exclusively healthy food, they would go broke. And yes, they are in this for the money, as am I.
I can't speak for the beef.

[fstsix]

Good come back Jeff! LOL..why is it everything that taste good feels good ain't no good for us!  well all this talk is making me Hungary...huuummm that chocolate cake sitting for a week on the counter looks good still, excuse me folks   

[fstsix]

Guess that means I'm going to be well preserved for a long time, dead or alive...

Karen!! You are tooooo friggin funny  that sandwich you been holding in your hand there is proof 

[alph]

I agree with bobbo and jeff k on both these points, i was going to write what bobbo had written when I was reading CA's original post!! 

Now, had that lady placed the sandwich and fries in a zipp loc baggie that would be a totally different story!!  It would surely mold, and it would stink!!  The fries on the other hand might need some help.  I don't think they would mold.....

Here’s another good one, take a piece of raw meat, put it in an air tight sealed jar, and watch the maggots appear!!  The larvae are in almost every piece of flesh out there!

[x]

What's the point of bashing McDonald's anyway?  I see it all the time.  Why not Burger King?  Or Sonic Burger, or Wendy's?
 
What's the point?

[boppa]

What is the point of all this nonsense? What ever happened to motorcycles?

[Gator John]

Maybe we should turn the McDonald's research department loose on the development of a motorcycle tire that will last more that 10K miles.

[fuzzy2bucks]

Agree that all burgers are bad boys, not justs Mc Donalds.

[Jeff K]

Agree that all burgers are bad boys, not justs Mc Donalds.

That's like saying "all cake is bad"

[Oss]

ok


Q


If I take a Big Mac and a Whopper sandwich and put it on the trunk of the Valk will it be moldy after a week


A

I have no friggin idea because it will have fallen off either riding to work, riding home, riding because I feel like it or because I ate it

 

and birthday cake must be good for you because the older you are the more cake you have probably eaten

[alph]

we had a dog that would eat anything, even happy meals!!  ever notice that if you put a dog in a car were there's a childs car seat, it's the best way to clean the fries out of the cracks of the seats!! 

here's a simple test, take a regular slice of bread, don't care what type, or even if it's completely organic whole grain.  set it out on the counter, guess what, it doesn't mold!!  the only way to get bread to mold is to have it in the plastic bag were the moisture is kept in.

as for the meat, my father use to cure ham in our basement.  he would cake it with salt, and just hang it there for six months before slicing it up!!  some of you know it as bacon!!  hangs around for six months, covered in salt, and people eat it!!

it's a complete joke.  mold likes to grow in moist conditions, something that lady didn't allow in her expiement, then she says it's the food!! 

[sugerbear]

or, better yet.  ca coatings, i have homework for you.   go buy a mc d burger (your choice of which one)

take it to the park.  feed it to the birds, squirrels, dogs, whatever.  report your findings.

we ALL will wait for your report.   

and your retraction............like thats gonna happen.

[Valkahuna]

What is the point of all this nonsense? What ever happened to motorcycles?

+1

Answer: I firmly believe that at least half of the things posted here are to stir up controversy. Sad really! 

[hotglue #43]

I'll bring this back to motorcycles!!!!!!!
When yer on a road trip...... and really need to go.......McDonalds has clean rest rooms for the most part.......I will usually buy a coke or a cup of coffee to help pay for the priviledge!!!!!!  They have food there too????????

[tagalong]

Hotglue,

I'll agree with the coffee and clean restrooms...But that glass of Coke just helps dissolve that happy meal  doesn't it....      Just kidding....


John S
Bounty Hunter
(the wife stays logged in on this board)

[sugerbear]

i did not attack you................just gave you some homework.    he he he

is it done yet??

[x]

i did not attack you................just gave you some homework.    he he he

is it done yet??

Someone has to fill in the back end of the bell curve.

[alph]

I'll bring this back to motorcycles!!!!!!!
When yer on a road trip...... and really need to go.......McDonalds has clean rest rooms for the most part.......I will usually buy a coke or a cup of coffee to help pay for the priviledge!!!!!!  They have food there too????????

i find that eating mcdonalds helps my digestive system clean out all that hard steak i ate the night before.  one number 4 combo gets me going like no body's business!!  usually when i'm on the cycle i like to eat a good meal, just to treat myself, and a good prime rib, med rare, with suite mushrooms, baked potato, gets me all bound up.  mc D's is just a good laxitive for being on the road. (that should make it cycle related, doesn't it?)

[fudgie]

Not sure about decomposing but it digests just fine. 

We hit McD's when we travel west. We both can eat for $6.

Cant tell you how many times we have been away from home and stopped and slept in their seats for a few hours, or out in the grass, cause we were way to hung over to continue riding home at the moment.  I woke up once in our McD's covered in french fries and a big ol trash can in my booth. My friends are dix. 

[Bobbo]

just food for thought, opinions and knowledge.


its amazing about the personal attacks though.     must of hit a nerve.


and one last time  bacteria use enzymes not electrolytes to biodegrade.

http://www.theallineed.com/biology/07091980.htm

the main point was no enzymes no digestion of the food. This means your body has to produce and over work the pancreas to produce the enzymes. over time the body cannot keep up and the food does not get digested which leads to various health problems. one is Pancreatitis which leads to pancreatic cancer. this is basic human physiologally.
enjoy.

You are clinging to your misunderstanding of my comment.  Your latest comment doesn’t even make sense.  What point are you trying to make?

Your link even mentions what I was talking about--  The pH levels in the food (determined by electrolyte levels) will hinder or promote bacterial growth.  At least read and understand the information you link to!

[Jeff K]

We just got back from a $200/seat McDonald's fund raiser for Ronald McDonald House. Packed house. All you could eat Main Lobster severed at the Sea world Pavilion. There were long lines of people standing, waiting, to donate to sponsor a month or even a week at a Ronald McDonald house for familys that couldn't afford the $15 per night stay. They ask family's that can afford to pay to donate $15 per night, but if you can't pay that's fine too.

You really gotta hate those big corporate bastards!
All they want to do is poison children!!!
And then of course they will pay for their parents to stay near the hospital to be close to their child... THOSE EVIL BASTARDS!!

[Stanley Steamer]

Not sure about decomposing but it digests just fine. 

We hit McD's when we travel west. We both can eat for $6.

Cant tell you how many times we have been away from home and stopped and slept in their seats for a few hours, or out in the grass, cause we were way to hung over to continue riding home at the moment.  I woke up once in our McD's covered in french fries and a big ol trash can in my booth. My friends are dix. 

Darn Fudgie....sounds like you need a better Class of friends???!!!......

[Chrisj CMA]

What is the point of all this nonsense? What ever happened to motorcycles?

+1

Answer: I firmly believe that at least half of the things posted here are to stir up controversy. Sad really! 

What makes me mad is this: 

You say half the posts are to stirr up controversy.......well whats worse the stirring or the unending supply of controversy......I SAY THE UNENDING SUPPLY OF CONTOVERSIAL BANTER THAT GETS PERSONAL AND UGLY IS WORSE THAN THE STIRRING. 

I have participated in political and religious posts where I have been drawn into heated dabate and crossed the line myself.....Im sorry for that.  Lately I have learned that you can voice an opinion or even disagree with someone without degrading the other person or their opinion.  If more would refrain form personal attacking then the pot stirrers woulnt have much to stir

[Jeff K]

Ta! DA!!!!

It seems even a home made burger won't rot. Who woulda thought? 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/05/mcdonalds-happy-meal-photos-6-months_n_761364.html#s155972

[Tropic traveler]

Kim & I rode up to Valdosta GA. for lunch one summer day a couple of years ago. It was about a 280 mile round trip.



Guess where we ended up eating??
Yup, at McDonalds!
If I remember correctly the food we ate decomposed quite nicely.

That's my Valk related reply to the post.... complete with pics.
So there!

[BF]

I just flushed a #1 combo meal.  Decomposed nicely.   

[Jeff K]

Ta! DA!!!!

It seems even a home made burger won't rot. Who woulda thought?  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/05/mcdonalds-happy-meal-photos-6-months_n_761364.html#s155972

now take an uncooked burger patty and let it sit for 6 months. what happens?

canola oil for the fries, another oil with chemical residues. research how that oil is made and were it comes from and how it got its name.

enjoy!

Really, YOU should do some research.

There is nothing wrong with Canola oil. You should stop believing EVERYTHING that shows up in your inbox.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/canola-oil/AN01281

[bigdog99]

i guess this would be a bad time to say i REALLY like a good HOT DOG. 

[Jeff K]

Do u know?

"Canola is not the name of a natural plant but a made-up word, from the words "Canada" and "oil". Canola is a genetically engineered plant (GMO) developed in Canada from the Rapeseed Plant, which is part of the mustard family of plants.

According to Agri-Alternatives, The Online Innovation, and Technology Magazine for Farmers, "By nature, these rapeseed oils, which have long been used to produce oils for industrial purposes, are... toxic to humans and other animals". (This, by the way, is one of the websites singing the praises of the new canola industry.)

Rapeseed oil is poisonous to living things and is an excellent insect repellent. I have been using it (in very diluted form, as per instructions) to kill the aphids on my roses for the last two years.
It works very well; it suffocates them. Ask for it at your nursery. Rape is an oil that is used as a lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base and as a illuminate for color pages in magazines. It is an industrial oil. It is not a food. Rape oil, it seems, causes emphysema, respiratory distress, anemia, constipation, irritability, and blindness in animals and humans. Rape oil was widely used in animal feeds in England and Europe between 1986 and 1991, when it was thrown out.

Remember  the "Mad Cow disease" scare, when millions of cattle in the UKwere slaughtered in case of infecting humans? Cattle were being fed on a mixture containing material from dead sheep, and sheep suffer from a disease called "scrapie". . It was thought this was how "Mad Cow" began and started to infiltrate the  human chain. What is interesting is that when rape oil was removed from animal feed, 'scrapie' disappeared. We also haven't seen any further reports of "Mad Cow" since rape oil was removed from the feed. Perhaps not scientifically proven, but interesting all the same."

"You'll find it in an alarming number of processed foods. There's more, but to conclude: rape oil was the source of the chemical warfare agent mustard  gas, which was banned after blistering the lungs and skins of hundred of thousands of soldiers and civilians during W.W.I.  Recent French reports indicate that it was again in use during the Gulf War.  Check products for ingredients.  If the label says, "may contain the following" and lists canola oil, you know it contains canola oil because it is the cheapest oil and the Canadian government subsidizes it to industries involved in food processing."


http://www.bhawkindustries.com/blank?pageid=41&catstart=0&prodstart=0

plenty of other sites with same and additional info.

Enjoy.

Quoting the myth doesn't make it true. But it does remove any shred of credibility you had left.

[98valk]

Lets see here, the amercian people wouldn't be lied to for profits would they? are they lying about canola also?

Let’s start with some history. The time period is the mid-1980s and the food industry has a problem. In collusion with the American Heart Association, numerous government agencies and departments of nutrition at major universities, the industry had been promoting polyunsaturated oils as a heart-healthy alternative to "artery-clogging" saturated fats.

Unfortunately, it had become increasingly clear that polyunsaturated oils, particularly corn oil and soybean oil, cause numerous health problems, including and especially cancer.1

The industry was in a bind. It could not continue using large amounts of liquid polyunsaturated oils and make health claims about them in the face of mounting evidence of their dangers. Nor could manufacturers return to using traditional healthy saturates -- butter, lard, tallow, palm oil and coconut oil -- without causing an uproar. Besides, these fats cost too much for the cut-throat profit margins in the industry.
(and here comes canola)

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/14/con-ola1.aspx

like hexane with your oil?

The oil is removed by a combination of high temperature mechanical pressing and solvent extraction. Traces of the solvent (usually hexane) remain in the oil, even after considerable refining. Like all modern vegetable oils, canola oil goes through the process of caustic refining, bleaching and degumming -- all of which involve high temperatures or chemicals of questionable safety.

(Trans fatty acids, is not this in the news to avoid at all cost?)

And because canola oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which easily become rancid and foul-smelling when subjected to oxygen and high temperatures, it must be deodorized. The standard deodorization process removes a large portion of the omega-3 fatty acids by turning them into trans fatty acids. Although the Canadian government lists the trans content of canola at a minimal 0.2 percent, research at the University of Florida at Gainesville, found trans levels as high as 4.6 percent in commercial liquid oil.24 The consumer has no clue about the presence of trans fatty acids in canola oil because they are not listed on the label.

But most of the omega-3s in canola oil are transformed into trans fats during the deodorization process; and research continues to prove that the saturates are necessary and highly protective.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/17/con-ola2.aspx

[GreenLantern57]

How about Brats?
Summer Sausage?
Italian Sausage?
German Sausage?
Pork Sausage?
Hot Links?
Kebalsa?
Pepperoni?

Dammit, now I'm hungry!  Gotta get the sausages out of the freezer to thaw and grill by Sunday!  Ta ta for now!

[Jeff K]

Lets see here, the amercian people wouldn't be lied to for profits would they? are they lying about canola also?

Let’s start with some history. The time period is the mid-1980s and the food industry has a problem. In collusion with the American Heart Association, numerous government agencies and departments of nutrition at major universities, the industry had been promoting polyunsaturated oils as a heart-healthy alternative to "artery-clogging" saturated fats.

Unfortunately, it had become increasingly clear that polyunsaturated oils, particularly corn oil and soybean oil, cause numerous health problems, including and especially cancer.1

The industry was in a bind. It could not continue using large amounts of liquid polyunsaturated oils and make health claims about them in the face of mounting evidence of their dangers. Nor could manufacturers return to using traditional healthy saturates -- butter, lard, tallow, palm oil and coconut oil -- without causing an uproar. Besides, these fats cost too much for the cut-throat profit margins in the industry.
(and here comes canola)

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/14/con-ola1.aspx

like hexane with your oil?

The oil is removed by a combination of high temperature mechanical pressing and solvent extraction. Traces of the solvent (usually hexane) remain in the oil, even after considerable refining. Like all modern vegetable oils, canola oil goes through the process of caustic refining, bleaching and degumming -- all of which involve high temperatures or chemicals of questionable safety.

(Trans fatty acids, is not this in the news to avoid at all cost?)

And because canola oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which easily become rancid and foul-smelling when subjected to oxygen and high temperatures, it must be deodorized. The standard deodorization process removes a large portion of the omega-3 fatty acids by turning them into trans fatty acids. Although the Canadian government lists the trans content of canola at a minimal 0.2 percent, research at the University of Florida at Gainesville, found trans levels as high as 4.6 percent in commercial liquid oil.24 The consumer has no clue about the presence of trans fatty acids in canola oil because they are not listed on the label.

But most of the omega-3s in canola oil are transformed into trans fats during the deodorization process; and research continues to prove that the saturates are necessary and highly protective.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/17/con-ola2.aspx

I give up.
Stick to your bean sprouts.
And cower in your corner.
Surely the world is out to get you.
 

[czuch]

They (?) Took the Happy meal outta San Freakshow.
 Fortunatly they still have the folsom street fair.
Google that one away from work, or anyplace you have class, decorum and dignity.
Just a little too "diversified" for me.

[fudgie]

They (?) Took the Happy meal outta San Freakshow.
 Fortunatly they still have the folsom street fair.
Google that one away from work, or anyplace you have class, decorum and dignity.
Just a little too "diversified" for me.

Did it from work. 
Blows our Street Fair outta the water! 

We once partied in a small lesbien bar in Columbus Oh. 5 of us guys and 1 woman were there for 7 hours. Best night of our lives. Folks were great. Learned alot about the people there and the charity the bar collects for. We even became part of the 'show'.  Formed a relationship with a few and we kinda lost touch over the years. I'd do it all over again. We all would.