This Is What A McDonald's Hamburger Looks Like After 5 Years
Marshall V. King, the managing editor of Indiana newspaper The Elkhart Truth, said he stashed the old burger in his desk on July 2, 2009.
"I'd seen someone with an aged hamburger at a Farm Bureau event and always wanted to do my own experiment," King wrote in a column Sunday.
About two years later, a couple of coworkers gave him a McDonald's Holiday Pie, and he added it to his collection.
"The patty shrank. The bun dried. But neither got moldy," he wrote. "Five years later, it looks about the same as it did a few weeks after I bought it: like an air hockey puck with a dried-out bun. With a faint smell of beef."
King shared photos of the years-old McDonald's meals with Business Insider. The Holiday Pie is described on McDonald's website as "creamy smooth, vanilla custard nestled in a flaky, buttery crust glazed with sugar and topped with rainbow sprinkles." Three years after it was purchased, it doesn't look more than a couple days old.
The burger looks shrunken and dry, but otherwise fine.
James Buck / The Elkhart TruthStories about McDonald's hamburgers that last years before rotting are frequently cited as evidence that fast food is loaded with preservatives.
McDonald's USA offers another explanation. Dr. Keith Warriner, the program director at the University of Guelph's Department of Food Science and Quality Assurance gives a lengthier explanation that you can read here.