A McDonald’s customer shared a disturbing discovery about the restaurant’s food: Apparently it never goes bad or gets mold.
In a viral TikTok video with over 1 million views and thousands of likes, user Medical Herbalist (@tsofanye) showed off a meal she bought from the fast food chain that appears to have not decomposed even a little bit after months of sitting in her house.
“My #BigMac is 8 months old and my #McPlant 3 months old,” the text overlay on the video read. “No mold, no smell, no insects.”
In the clip, the TikToker showed off the burger and fries combo that had been sitting on her shelf since February 2, 2023. She referred to the meal as her “experiment” and noted that no part of it, not even the lettuce, looked like it had gone bad.
“As you can see, this is my Big Mac,” she said in the video. “It’s got the dust cause I just leave it on top of a bookshelf, I don’t touch it.”
She then pointed out a very peculiar fact about the old sandwich and fries sitting on the plate.
“No mold,” she said holding up the McDonald’s burger. “Just looking fabulous with the lettuce and everything.”
@tsofanye “🍔🍟 Unbelievable! My McDonald’s meal defies time! It’s still fresh after 8 months! 😱🕰️ #McDonaldsMagic #NoFoodWaste ♬ original sound – Tsofanye – Medical Herbalist
The woman’s McDonald’s experiment didn’t stop there. She also showed off a a vegetarian sandwich from the fast food chain that, she says, apparently never showed any signs of rot. The TikToker noted that although many customers believe the vegetarian option is “healthier,” the vegetarian meal from McDonald’s showed no signs of mold or any other type of decomposition.
“As you can see, there’s no insects on this or anything…” she concluded.
In the comments section, many expressed their concerns about the fact that the food did not decompose after months of being left out.
“We are eating plastic literally,” one commenter said.
“I run a bakery in Ghana, white bread is supposed to start going moldy around 5-7 days bcos we don’t use preservatives,” another user shared. “That bread is concerning.”
“Wait,” another stated, “I’m never eating it ever again.”
This is not the first time McDonald’s food has come under fire for not growing mold, as most foods would. In 2016, the Daily Dot reported on a woman named Jennifer Lovdahl who shared a photo of a 6-year-old Happy Meal from McDonald’s, which also did not show signs of rot.
However, a blogger on Serious Eats theorizes that food from McDonald’s, specifically the burgers, do not rot because they are too dry.
“If you think a McDonald’s burger that doesn’t rot is unnatural and gross, you should also count saltine crackers, beef jerky, hardtack, croutons, dried beans, or pretty much any nutrient-rich, shelf-stable food in your pantry as unnatural and gross,” author J. Kenji Lopez-Alt writes. “The reason a McDonald’s burger doesn’t rot has nothing to do with chemicals, lack of nutrition, or anything else you should be scared of. It all comes down to water activity.”
The Daily Dot reached out to McDonald’s via email, and to the Medical Herbalist by TikTok comment for further information.
