The McDonald's Project

To decompose or not to decompose, that is the question. The Internet is loaded with stories about decade old twinkies that stay perfectly preserved inside their cellophane wrappers. A recent post on Yahoo.com highlighted a McDonald’s Hamburger which did no decompose at all over 180 days. McDonald’s of course said this was ridiculous and the project must have been tampered with. Curious as I am, I decided to test this for myself: do McDonald’s hamburgers and fries decompose?

Some Background

My project was inspired by artist Sally Davies’ experiment photographing a Happy Meal for 180 days in order to document its breakdown (or lack thereof) (The Happy Meal Art Project). Davies kept the food on a plate and reported that after 180 days the “food” became hard and did not develop mold or even smell after the first 24 hours. McDonald’s said that their food is made with real ingredients and even provided a scientist to affirm the fact it is real food and thus, would break down just like food should. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101012/bs_yblog_upshot/mcdonalds-happy-meal-resists-decomposition-for-six-months

I had read at an earlier point in time about Karen Hanrahan’s McD’s hamburger from 1996. Hanrahan, a wellness/nutrition counselor, kept the hamburger in a plastic container. According to her website, it looks just the same as when she purchased it and the bun has begun to break apart. Unlike Davies’ burger, Karen reports hers has a funny smell. http://bestofmotherearth.com/2008/09/24/1996-mcdonalds-hamburger.html

My Hypothesis

So who is right, McDonald’s and their scientist or these two ladies with their experiments? I have a hard time trusting what is written or published on the web unless the source has been vetted. Likewise, I have a difficult time trusting fast food companies whose very existence depends on the validation of their product—of course their going to defend their product.

After consultation with a friend who is a scientist, I decided to try the experiment. It was recommended that a homemade burger and fries should be left out with the McDonald’s version in order to provide comparison. This is an excellent idea but one that I am unable to perform at this time (perhaps at a later juncture). At this point I am going to test a McDonald’s Happy Meal, just like Davies. No pickles, mayo, ketchup, or mustard, just the hamburger, bun, and fries. I will house the project in the kitchen (much to my mother’s chagrin) and take pictures of it everyday in the morning for 2 weeks. My hypothesis: If I leave the food out on a plate for 2 weeks, then it should develop mold, smell, and/or show further signs of decomposition. In other words, it will behave just like McDonald’s says it should.

Each day I will blog the results; I’m not sure how to time stamp the pictures but I will provide that as well so it can be verified. I will have a house full of witnesses to validate what I am doing.
At the end of the 2 weeks, I will evaluate and report the final results, drawing my conclusions. Who said science is boring?

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_scientific_method.shtml