Day 13

Yes, I know that I skipped a couple of days, but I don't think that makes such a difference. Take a look for yourself at day 13's picture:



Yeah. Pretty exciting.

I'll tell you one thing about this experiment... it's made me take more pictures of other stuff because my camera is always out now. That's a plus, isn't it?

You can't tell from the picture, but I'm not smiling right now.

Day 11

Whoops. I'm unable to post day 11. Sorry. I took the pictures, but never uploaded it onto my computer to post. The picture's still in the camera and well, I don't have my camera here right now.

Rats.

I doubt the Happy Meal will look any different if I miss a day.

I'll be sure to post both Day 11 and Day 12 tomorrow.

Day 10

I read somewhere that since there's little humidity in this environment, then there probably won't be much change in the food.

I tell you, right now I'd welcome SOMETHING different than this:



Anybody have any ideas on whether the humidity theory is correct?

Day 9

Can anyone notice anything different about the Happy Meal?



I'll tell you this much... so far this experiment has made me wonder if these results are unique to McDonald's... but I'm not about to go and have a bunch of food sitting on my kitchen counter like this. If this is the result of ALL food sitting out for 9 days, then I guess I have nothing to wonder about regarding the quality of food at McD. I'll admit that I've never had food sit out on my kitchen counter for this long before, so I guess I can't answer that question.

But this Happy Meal IS something to marvel at. It hasn't changed at all! Incredible.

Who needs formaldehyde anymore?

Day 8

Ok, here we are at day 8 and it doesn't look any different yet AGAIN.



I seriously think I need to spice these pictures up. Maybe I should have some go-go dancers in the background or something...

There is NO smell at all to the food. I'm not even going to venture on how it would taste.

The bread is as hard as a rock. I think I could decapitate someone if I threw it hard enough.

The meat patty could be used as a hockey puck.

The fries? Blow darts for bushmen.

Day 7

It's day 7 and still, nothing has changed.



This is beginning to look like a broken record, isn't it?

What can we do to spice this up a bit? Maybe throw some hot sauce on it? Draw a happy face on the bun?

Do you think anything's going to change about this Happy Meal in 6 months? I'm beginning to think "no."

Day 6

Day 6 is upon us and there still doesn't seem to be any change in the Happy Meal.



Is this starting to worry anybody?

Doesn't the food still look good enough to eat?

Day 5

Day 5 of the Happy Meal Experiment brings little change... and when I say "little change," I mean little change.



I'm really beginning to wonder when the "point of no return" is for this experiment. I mean, wouldn't it make sense that if no mold or anything is to grow on it by a certain day, then that means that nothing will grow on it at all?

I'm not talking about decomposition, I'm talking about growth on the food itself.

Look at the burger and fries... it doesn't look much different than any of the previous 5 days. I seriously wonder what this says about the food. What kind of food doesn't attract microorganisms? Well, it seems that Happy Meal food doesn't.

At least not yet. And that terrifies me.

Your thoughts?

Day 4

It's day 4 of this monumental experiment! Here's what the Happy Meal looks like:



I can't say much has changed at all in the last 24 hours. The smell is really difficult to smell now, but that's just about it. I think the meat patty could cut through glass, but since I haven't tried that yet, I can't be 100% sure.

What boggles the mind is that when I compare this picture to day 1, there isn't that much of a difference. You'd think that SOMETHING would be different after 4 days of sitting out on a kitchen counter, but alas... nada.

Makes me want to try this on the regular meals I have.

Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the Happy Meal Experiment

WOO HOOOOO!!!!!  Just 177 more days to go!

Here's the pic of the platter:



I can't say much has changed with the food.  The hamburger buns are harder, the meat looks a bit more shriveled, and the fries are stiffer as well, but that's what I expected.

There is not much of a smell to the food.  I have to really get in close and take a huge sniff in order to smell even the slightest of odors.

As you can see from the photograph, there is no growth of any kind on the food itself.  I'm not too worried about bugs getting to it now, as I don't think it presents any interest now.

Day 2

Well we've made it to day TWO of this Happy Meal Experiment.

WOO HOOOOO!!!!!  Just 178 more days to go!

Here's the pic of the platter:



Not much has changed with the Happy Meal's appearance as you can see (click here for Day 1), but there's quite a bit to talk about.

 - The smell has drastically decreased.  Now I have to lean in pretty close in order to smell anything.
 - The bun is pretty hard, and when I mean pretty hard, I mean that if I flung it at your head, you would not want it to connect.
 - The meat patty is getting hard, but not to the point of the bun as of yet.  You wouldn't mind if it hit your head.
 - The fries are getting rubbery, but they have not stiffened yet.

I know that you're all so excited about this experiment... so excited that you're telling all of your friends to join in the fun.  There are a few details of how I'm keeping the Happy Meal that I thought I would jot down.

First off, I'm not covering it at all.  Yes, I'm a bit worried about ants/roaches, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.  I have a feeling that if the Happy Meal lasts a week without any insects, then none will show.  I was thinking about buying a net to cover it with, but I don't want anything to get in the way of the food and its surroundings.

Secondly, the plate is never in direct sunlight.

Lastly, the plate is kept in one of the cooler rooms of the house... there's a constant temperature between 73-78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ok, I think that's about it for now.  I should note that the only things done to the pictures posted are some adjustments with exposure and contrast.  These adjustments should not have much of an affect on whether decomposition shows up on film.

I'll try to take a picture at the same time each day, but I have a feeling I'll take them somewhere between 6-10pm.

If any of you scientists have suggestions on how to better this experiment, please let me know.  I had considered keeping a control piece of beef for comparison, but I didn't get around to picking one up, nor do I know exactly what's inside the McDonald's patty... so I figure the control wouldn't be much help at all.  If I'm wrong on this, please advise.

Thanks!

McDonald's Happy Meal Does Not Decompose After SIX Months + A Happy Meal Experiment: Day 1

Here's an interesting story...

According to Sally Davies, a New York city artist and photographer, a McDonald's Happy Meal did not decompose after six months of sitting on her shelf.  She bought the Happy Meal back in April 2010, and has since photographed it each week.

Take a look at what it looked like on Day 1:



Here's what it looked like on Day 180:



Wow.  That looks good enough to eat.

"The fries shrivelled slightly as did the burger patty, but the overall appearance of the food did not change as the weeks turned to months.  The only change that I can see is that it has become hard as a rock," Davies told TheDailyMail.co.uk.

What does McDonald's think of all this?

A McDonald's spokeswoman, Danya Proud, told the DailyMail.co.uk: "This is nothing more than an outlandish claim and is completely false."

Another spokeswoman, Theresa Riley, ridiculed Davies' "completely unsubstantiated" work as something out of "the realm of urban legends."  She goes on to explain:

"McDonald's hamburger patties in the United States are made with 100% USDA-inspected ground beef.  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.'" (TheUpshot, 2010)

So we here at TheFrontloader.com have decided to take on this experiment as well.  What I've done is bought myself a McDonald's Happy Meal (plain hamburger with fries, just like what appears to be in Davies' pictures) and I'm going to see just how long it takes this meal to decompose.

I'm going to take a picture of this once a day and post each picture here, along with any description of changes that occur.  The first goal is to reach the 6-month mark, just like Davies.  While Davies put her Happy Meal on a shelf and had to take it down for each photograph (thus moving the food around and creating controversy on whether the pictures are authentic), I'm going to keep mine right on my kitchen counter and take the picture from the same angle each time... or as close as I can get.

I'm doing this for no other reason than I'm extremely curious.  I'm not doing this to make McDonald's look bad, I'm just curious... I hope the food rots... that would make me feel a LOT better, actually.

So here we go, Day 1:



**** Update ****

I realized that the first picture was pretty far away from the food, so I took one that's a bit closer so you can see more food detail.  I'll do my best to keep this angle/distance for every shot from here on out.




I hope you'll stick around and see how this experiment goes!