Quote Originally Posted by sanjuro_ronin View Post
McD's has the answers:
http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/

example:
HOw is it that your burgers don't rot?

Answer:
Hi Laura. This is a great question. The short answer is that our burgers do rot under the right conditions, but we can see why there's some confusion out there. To clear things up, we reached out to one of Canada's foremost food scientists, Dr. Keith Warriner. He's the Program Director at the University of Guelph's Department of Food Science and Quality Assurance. Here’s what he had to say:

“There have been a lot of online videos and photos touting the fact that when left out for an extended period of time, a McDonald’s hamburger does not rot and that this is because they are laden with chemicals. The reality is that McDonald’s hamburgers, french fries and chicken are like all foods, and do rot if kept under certain conditions.

Essentially, the microbes that cause rotting are a lot like ourselves, in that they need water, nutrients, warmth and time to grow. If we take one or more of these elements away, then microbes cannot grow or spoil food.

In the example of a McDonald’s hamburger, the patty loses water in the form of steam during the cooking process. The bun, of course, is made out of bread. Toasting it reduces the amount of moisture. This means that after preparation, the hamburger is fairly dry. When left out open in the room, there is further water loss as the humidity within most buildings is around 40%. So in the absence of moisture or high humidity, the hamburger simply dries out, rather than rot.

With moisture loss, we take away an element required by microbes to grow and cause spoilage. So to spoil a McDonald’s hamburger, we simply need to prevent the moisture loss. This can be done through wrapping it in cling film to prevent moisture from escaping, or storing it within a high humidity environment, such as a bathroom (notice black mould on your bathroom windows but not in your bedroom). If you try doing the same experiment with a homemade burger with similar moisture content as a McDonald’s hamburger and under similar conditions, you’ll probably get the same results.”

We hope this answers your question, Laura.
Yeah. Anyone with a half a brain and google and tear that apart. Spin, spin, spin and more spin. There are anti moisture factors that go beyond heating patties and buns. He gave described apples when we really wanna know about oranges. Notice how he said a homemade burger would do the same thing? Oh wait, that's not what he said! He said "If you try doing the same experiment with a homemade burger with similar moisture content as a McDonald’s hamburger and under similar conditions, you’ll probably get the same results." Notice how they never actually explain why a McDonalds burger has less moisture other than a few obvious suggestions that they never actually say are the only factors. This is a classic example of how science is abused in marketing.

Ahem, bullshit!