McDonald's Food Lasts for 180 Days, No Decay. I Think It's Cool.

 Food critics, soccer moms, health nuts, and the general public are going crazy over the experiment by Sally Davies from New York. She purchased a McDonald's Happy Meal and let it sit on her shelf in the above condition for 6 months. Everyone is making a huge deal about it, jumping to the conclusion that McDonald's uses some kind of industrial-strength toxic preservative in their food, or that it's composed of mostly chemicals, etc.

So what?

I love McDonald's. The food is delicious, cheap, and fast, plus I'm not dead yet. It is unhealthy, as 4 burgers a day will pretty much max out the 2,000 calorie daily recommendation, but that's why you practice moderation, just like with anything else. I don't care how long it lasts. It dissolves in my stomach and I move on. But for reliability's sake, let's take a look at some facts.

First of all, McDonald's says they don't use preservatives:

“McDonald’s hamburger patties in the U.S. are made with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef. They are cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else — no preservatives — no fillers,” said Todd R. Bacon, McDonald’s senior director of quality systems and supply-chain management.
“Our hamburger buns are made from North American-grown wheat flour,” Bacon continued. “Our world-famous French fries are made from potatoes and cooked in a canola-oil blend. These are the same foods that consumers buy every day in their local grocery stores — bread, meat and potatoes.” (msnbc.com)

Now while that is somewhat reassuring, it's important to not believe everything you read. After all, this burger did survive 180 days. But what most people are missing is that fast food is packed with salt and fat, which are both natural preservatives that have been used for hundreds of years worldwide.

The next point is that it's important to not solely blame this on McDonald's. Any fast food restaurant will have the same or worse results.

It's no news that fast food is caked with fat and salt, so there isn't really a point to this experiment. I just see it as a funny incident.