This is What a 14-Year-Old McDonald’s Hamburger Looks Like

Here is a more interesting look at this: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/the-burger-lab-r...

It is basically just a mummy-burger. Drying foods to preserve them is a technique almost as old as humans themselves. Notice how every time you see someone talking about this experiment, they used a burger with no condiments? The condiments are too moist, they would provide a foothold for decay.

Mist that burger down every day with a spray bottle and I'd put a great deal of money on it decaying just as fast as you would normally expect food to decay.

Two years ago, this was a 12 year old hamburger, and the mechanics at play were pretty thoroughly described here:

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/the-burger-lab-r...

Spoiler: the author makes a completely homemade burger and has it dry out in the same way as the McDonald's burger, thus debunking the theory that the longevity of the burger is evidence of foul play.

Same story, submitted yesterday:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5599919

In addition, here is the same story, but with a happy meal, not a single hamburger:

http://searchyc.com/submissions/happy+meal?sort=by_date

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1307783

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1647759

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1656044

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1798846

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1799236

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1256516 <- This one, although dead, has the most comments.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1835272

Any properly cooked hamburger will have the same result.

that actually looks barely edible.