Mom keeps “zombie cheeseburger” on kitchen counter to scare kids off McDonald’s
Artist and photographer Sally Davies takes a picture of her McDonald’s Happy Meal project at her apartment in New York. Davies let the Happy Meal sit on her coffee table for six months uncovered. She took pictures of it every day to track its deterioration, but allegedly the meal shows no signs of spoilage, decomposition, or mold growth. Canadian mother and nutritionist Melanie Hesketh is similarly keeping a McDonald’s cheeseburger on her counter.
A Canadian mom has taken an unusual step to deter her children from eating fast food.
Melanie Hesketh, a nutritionist and mother of two teenagers, bought a cheeseburger from McDonald's, unwrapped it, and set it on the kitchen counter.
A year later, the cheeseburger is still there, pretty much the same as when it came off the grill, Canada's Postmedia News reported. The meat patty has shrunk slightly, but otherwise it doesn't look much different, Hesketh said.
Mold, maggots, fungi, bacteria — all have avoided the tempting meal that sits in plain view.
Hesketh isn't the first to try this trick.
Sally Davies, an artist and photographer from New York, took photos of a McDonald's Happy Meal sitting on her coffee table every day for six months. Davies said the meal showed no signs of decomposition or mold growth.
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But Hesketh has a very different motivation — as a professional nutritionist in Windsor, Ontario, she wanted teach her children, ages 13 and 15, about making healthy food choices.
The "zombie cheeseburger" trick has "worked marvelously," Postmedia News reported.
Despite peer pressure to hang out at the cheap and fast burger chain outlets popular with young people, Ms. Hesketh said her oldest son has been back “maybe twice” to McDonald’s over the past year.
McDonald's didn't respond to this story, but says on the McDonald's Canada website, "Despite the myths out there, our meat is very real!"
"Our beef patties are made with only 100% pure Canadian beef and sprinkled with salt and pepper at the restaurant during cooking. That’s it. No additives, fillers or binding agents," the website said.
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