| HappySqurriel said: Where I live it is so dry that most foods left on the counter wouldn't decompose in the way people from other parts of the world would expect. If you notice, the burger doesn't have any condiments or toppings on it; and with how thin the burger and bun are it would probably dry out within a couple of days in most non-humid environments. Once dried out decomposition (effectively) stops and food can (for all practically purposes) last "forever" once dehydrated. On top of that many "normal" foods (like Honey or Christmas Cake) have qualities that make them resistant to mold and bacterial growth, and will last decades before going bad. The fact that this burger lasts so long is not (necessarily) an indicator that it is bad for you. |
If you lived in an arid desert, then any food that didn't spoil due to high heat and began with low amounts of moisture in it would probably preserve quite nicely.
The "meat and bun" special order burger definitely played a key part in the preservation process.
McDonald's burgers (the regular paddies) are so thin and salted that they dry out like jerky. I would guess that if it had all the regular stuff (ketchup, mustard, onions, pickles) it would likely be a decomposing mess by the end of the week unless the conditions were just right to allow everything to dry out before any fungus, mold, or bacteria had the opportunity to cultivate.
My McDonald's burger may not fare as well since I live in a metro city on the coast (San Francisco) where it's rarely arid dry and I've noticed that mold tends to grow relatively fast in the bathroom due to the native conditions. I think the fries will turn into potato chips though. Thin cut, saturated with grease and heavily salted. The burger paddy is probably the only thing that could mold if it doesn't dry out fast enough.
Honey is actually pretty interesting; it's supposedly the one food stuff that stored properly, will last virtually forever.
I think pound cake is another foodstuff that will resist mold and bacterial growth due to the high amounts of sugar and low amount of moisture.
