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- shoeblade, on 10/12/2007, -3/+72Mold does not grow on them because thy are mainly made up of hydrogenated oil (margarine).
This is both the oil that they contain and the oil that they are cooked in. This stuff is so unhealthy, yet it is found in almost all prepared food today. "In the 1940s, it was discovered that insects would not eat it, mold would not grow on it, and it would not support or sustain life."
http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.categories.ingredients.index.html#1
http://www.fmaware.org/patient/nutrition/applied%20_nutrition1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenated_oil - mavantix, on 10/12/2007, -5/+48Umm, Yes, it's quite simple. Sodium Chloride is an excellent preservative and salt contains a lot of it. McD's fries are covered in tons and tons of salt, so it's no wonder they didn't decompose. I'm sure that clip made it to the cutting room floor for that very reason, it wouldn't have made good in a documentary to make the documenter look like a moron because he didn't know salt kept those fries nice and preserved.
- nerdgoturd, on 10/12/2007, -4/+43What the hell is what up with those fries? There was no physical change at all throughout the entire test. Does somebody have some detailed explanation for this?
- thkfceblkhrt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+38Whoopee! Not only are McD's fries the best tasting they are also Unbreakable!!!
- ericcc, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35Will the revolution be available for download on iTunes.
- eggo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+33Dude, they changed the name to wii. Where have you been?
- bjsiders, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31I worked for McDonald's for years, and not as a lowly fry cook, but I did their bookwork for the Dow and managed inventory. I can assure you that food does not sit for "years" on their shelves. Fresh loads come in twice weekly on a truck at most stores, and the oldest stock is rotated to the front to be used next. Every box is checked for an expiration date in this process, and if the meat is too old, the box has been opened and it's frostburned, or anything else is suspicion, we throw the box away and note the quantity. I've personally seen thousands and thousands of dollars worth of quarter pounder patties thrown away in a single day because of things like this.
As for the fries, note that McDonald's originally got shipments of potatoes and cut and seasoned their own fries. Now they're pre-cut and pre-seasoned and shipped frozen.
The vegetable oil in the fry vats is drained every few days (we did it daily at our store), filtered, and the clean stuff is replaced into the vat and topped off.
A lot goes into making sure the food is safe. Healthy is another matter. :) And yes, for every store that is this anal retentive about food integrity, there's horror stories of the terrible things people do to food before sending it to the custom. Speaking only for myself, in about 2 years of working as a crew member and 1 as a manager, not once did I witness food with inappropriate content sent to a custom. I'm sure it happened, but I never saw it, not as a crewman, not as a manager. Once a guy had been waiting like 5 minutes for his special order and it was just coming off the grill. Somebody bumped the tray and spilled it and we had to start over (it was a no-salt burger or something that requird special cooking). I explained to the customer what happened, that his burger had been knocked to the floor so we were throwing it away and cooking up another fresh one, it'd be a few more minutes. The guy was irate and thought I was just making it up. "Like hell," he said. "First, that's just an excuse, I want my sandwich free and second I know damn well you just serve up anything that falls on the floor back there." Well, he was wrong, we didn't, and if he DID think that, why was he ordering food from us?
Random trivia: we had one of the worst-performing stores in our region, and during a typical weekday lunch rush (11:00 to 1:00), our store brought in about $7500. You have to subtract wages, power, taxes, inventory, etc from that to discover profit, and the profit from that $7500 was a lot narrower than you'd think, but it was still pretty decent. We kept hourly statistics for the Dow Jones, and during off-peak hours, we hemorraged money like schoolgirl on a shopping spree. - GopherGod, on 10/12/2007, -18/+46... and I am still in the majority that will still will eat the fries.
- ericcc, on 10/12/2007, -9/+36Or when you die. Sorry to be a pessimist.
- Wezlanator, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29We now know what will survive a nuclear storm.
Kieth Richards, a few cockroaches, and McDonald's french fries. - snak3st, on 10/12/2007, -6/+30Haha yeah, I remember watching this in the Special features on the DVD of Super Size Me.
Very creepy... - ericcc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23Agreed.
Who says American made products don't last. I prefer to think that McD's fries are more reliable. When was the last time you heard someone complain that their car or TV doesn't break down enough. - SPARTACVS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18@jimmy87lee,
A couple days? Go eat some All Bran or something... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Hydrogenated oil, youre making me hungry with that type of language.
I gots me a craving for some hydrogenated oil! - axox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16The fries create a hard outer shell that prevents growth from within, and the shell itself become inhospitable to life. They basically dry out. He could have put cereal in one of the bowls and gotten the same result from them as well. I think it's ok to eat cereal.
This test is interesting but proves little.
He needs to leave the products in inch high or so acid, and occasionally stir, to properly conclude anyway. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20when fast food stops being convenient, i'll stop eating it
- ThankTheCheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12@ bobothn & stevelucky
true. If you live on anything for 30 days, you're gonna have problems. However, McDonalds is still far worse for you than a regular burger. Did you know there is so much sugar in their buns that they are classed as confectionary?! - captnkurt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12---Yeah it depends on what you order but i'd take a sub with no meat over a tiny ass salad at Mc Donalds.---
OAK BROOK, IL - McDonald's Corporation (NYSE MCD) announced this morning that due to dismal 2Q sales, it would be discontinuing their line of Ass Salads. - ketsugi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13It should be noted, however, that leaving fries in open air for just a few minutes will render them soggy and even more unappetising, even if they're still edible.
- jimmy87lee, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Your does NOT decompose the food that you take into your body! It digests it!!
Also, the french fries you eat won't stay in your body for months!! You'll poop it out within a couple days!!
So don't worry and eat your damn fries..
Remember, moderation is the key! - sapo916, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15He put them in the microwave and ate them, good as new.
- DarkZen, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Though your statement may seem offensive it seems to be true, i stopped eating at mc'Ds before i saw super size me but after i saw that there was no way you were even going to get me in one of those places...
"They can go down in the revolution" Agreed...
The revolution will not be televised..... - neonic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Hrmm. I wonder if he wanted to claim that food does not digest well in your body why he didn't fill the jars with a little bit of Hydrochloric acid, you know the main ingredient in the compound that makes up stomach acid? Oh yeah, I remember. He just wanted to make more money. Ingenious!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Twinkies + McDonald's French Fries = Millennium Super Food McTwinkachip!
- Settra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9exactly why maccas uses them..they don't decompose, so they can last years in the fridge
- Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10"What the hell is what up with those fries?"
Salt.
You do know that in medieval times when there weren't fridges, they heavily salted fish etc instead to preserve them better?
This isn't really creepy or strange. - crash331, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Crappy experiment. This has little to do with what happens in your body. You don't ***** stuff after holding it in for 10 weeks. He should have put each item in some HCL.
- kronicoutkast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10every six months or so i clean out my car... needless to say i usually find at least enough fries to make up a large at McDonalds... However the fries always look just like they did when they came out of the frying thing... they do not smell, however they are rock hard. As to taste...well i dunno (thank god)
- shadgenki, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13I haven't eaten McDonald's in 7 years, and I couldn't be happier. It's the only fast food that makes me sick to my stomach.
- Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"So I guess the fries from the other restaurant contained no salt, eh? Yeah, that's really common in most restaurants... "
If anything is surprising here to me, it would be -- if competitors' fries were salted well, why did they decompose early? :-p Less salt in fries from competitors perhaps?
Anyway, NaCl *is* very efficient in preserving food, there's simply no doubt. It's been used since ancient times for this reason, to preserve food for rather long times. It chemically works by drawing out water from cells through osmosis, and that does very bad things to microorganisms trying to break down the organic matter. - mavantix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Uhhg, it's not the oil, it's not the lack of moisture, while those contribute some, maybe, it's all the damn salt all over the fries that preserved them. Doesn't anyone know chemistry?
- alexj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9i think the mcdonalds fries have gotten the reputation of the new twinkie
- nogami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I fail to see the point of this experiment. Food decomposes when left out (well, except for the salted fries, as others have noted). What's the point? The food all got nasty after a few weeks, store bought and McD's.
Does nobody remember: http://www.stinkymeat.net/
N. - anachronaut, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14So I guess the fries from the other restaurant contained no salt, eh? Yeah, that's really common in most restaurants... completely unsalted fries. While that's certainly possible, I wouldn't bet on it, as unsalted fries are fairly disgusting (not as disgusting as McDonald's food, though).
I'm just surprised that the meat from the sandwiches decomposed at all. McDonald's is well-known for loading up their meats with lots of salt and nitrates. - Insimbi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Dude, do you really need a McD's locater? They are every friggin 5 feet.
- MouseCircus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@Mavantix
I'd just like to point out to you that sodium chloride IS ordinary table salt. - lovelei, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8that was crazy.
i cant believe the fries were still lookin good.
i wonder if they gave off any kind of odor at all, or were the fries as hard as rock or something? - adrinantbf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6hah, imagine an ad campaign where the quality of food is measured by how fast it decomposes...
Choose Wendy's! "it decomposes faster than McDonald's and Burger King" (tm) - icabod540, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Actually it normally takes around 6 hours for food to pass through your system.
- silicon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7...at least they won't mold if you one gets dropped between a seat of your car?
- SAOSiN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Thats why they made the fries! It's all so clear now. Thanks Ronald!
- DucoNihilum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4100% irrelevant, unless he used the acids in the stomach in those jars and didn't tell us... Why should I care if it doesn't decompose naturally? That's a good thing, less chance of getting sick. Now if the same happened with acids...
- charlie55, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7honey lasts virtually forever, i guess it was sent to earth by satan, because everyone knows health value is determined by moldyness. that guy is a jackass. he does stupid things and pretends he has made a point about something. hey *****, we knew we are not supposed to eat junk food every damn day.
- Ikioi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well, 10,000 years from now, archaeologists will only be able to see a hamburger because of preserved pictures. But, they can still munch down on our fries! Yummy!
I wonder if they age well like wine. "My Charleston, these are good! 98's? No, no, wait, don't tell me. 97's that were packaged with... Chicken McNuggets. Oh, McNuggets, you devil you! Mmmm..."
Everyone is mentioning the salt. Two questions: Did the 3rd party fries not have salt? Did he order McD's fries without salt? I smell (well, no I actually don't want to smell) a fun YouTube follow up putting the question to the ultimate test. Home made unsalted fries versus unsalted McD's fries, and home made salted fries versus salted McD's fries. Just to mix it up, use different types of oils in multiple batches of home made fries.
BTW, this reminds me of something I heard about studies being done that preservatives in foods actually stop/slow dead bodies from decomposing naturally because of their build up in bodies. If anyone has a link (even if this is just urban legend), would be a nice addition as a comment to this story. - piratearggghhh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I'm thinking the McDonald's fries are freezedried and don't really have any real moisture in them besides the oil after they're cooked - and they're cooked to a crisp. Mold needs moisture to grow, that's why the fries look fresh. They're still the best tasting fries tho :)
- fluffyturtle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I loved that movie and this is great too, although I saw it coming heh. Ever clean out a car with McDonald fries in it? Those things will harden but they simply will not mold or otherwise decompose.
Try it with the cheese from taco bell too, that stuff gets on your floorboard and it will last forever. Yeah so I don't always keep my car clean... at least it doesn't have entire meals in it lol. - sjetha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Reminds me of the McRibwich episode of the Simpsons...
- VeryFineMale, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I can only image those people reading your other comment on the Nintendo story.
"What the hell does the McDonald's fries have to do with Nintendo??" - tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3On the other hand, Sony will never decompose!
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Besides... if you look for it you can always get semi-healthy fast food at a Quizno's or Subway...
Yeah it depends on what you order but i'd take a sub with no meat over a tiny ass salad at Mc Donalds. -
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