I seem to be fortunate enough to have something of an iron stomach - I very rarely get sick from food, and I can eat anything. I backpacked in India for a month, eating anything that looked good, without any care (I thought that if I was going to get sick, might as well get it over with), and didn't come down with anything during the whole trip.
One night our group ate at a rather questionable restaurant after which, the following morning, everybody was sick... except for me, and another guy who ALSO was completely careless about what he ate. All the people that were disinfecting their hands before meals, and being picky about their food got sick. Not to make light of another's missery, but...
I went on to order food at second-class train carriages (with all the others swearing I'd get sick from it), ordering tea made in milk at train stations, and even eating some street food. Never felt ill. Kudos to my immune system! I bet it was because of all the practice it had...
You should watch a documentary called "Super Size Me"... Here's a clip - I stopped eating at McDonalds and other fast-food chains after seeing that film two years ago. Nightmarish!
What, exactly is that video supposed to prove? That mould doesn't grow on chips? The salt added to the chips absorbs moisture, preventing the growth of bacteria and mould. You have, basically, just demonstrated that salt can be used to preserve food.
I always get a special feeling in my stomach after eating at McDonald's. That's the reason why I usually don't eat at McDonald's, or any other fast food chain, really. I prefer my food unamerican.
I haven't eaten McDonald's since the last time... which was years ago. Had the same reaction. I understand sometimes bacteria happens and at the end of the day I was fine, but their food is pretty much trash anyway.
You should watch a documentary called "Super Size Me"... Here's a clip - I stopped eating at McDonalds and other fast-food chains after seeing that film two years ago. Nightmarish!
That "documentary" was so flawed it's not funny. Of COURSE you are going to gain weight if you eat the amount of calories that dude ate - it doesn't matter if what you eat is McDonalds, or the healthiest health food ever; it's about the calories that you consume.
As for the experiment in the video, as mentioned by AlexMBrennan there, it's quite obvious what preserved the McDonalds fries - the salt! They put a lot of salt in the fries, and I bet that whatever fries were in the comparison jar didn't have half the salt.
Notice also how the food in the jar molded was relative to how foggy the glass got. Mold needs moisture to form, and if you've got a lot of moisture in the jar, then that food is going to become moldy faster.
The preservation of the Big Mac could simply have been achieved by having the burger be on the dry side when they put it in.
There have been many people claiming that McDonalds must use some weird preservatives as their food "doesn't get moldy" - people often do the experiment, which is all well and good, and think they've proven something when they leave a McDonalds burger out and it doesn't get moldy in months - they haven't, because they failed to do a control.
Scientific experiments need a control - it isn't enough to test the thing that you intend to test, but expose a control to the same conditions, to see how it compares to the item being tested.
So, to test a McDonalds burger to see whether it has some sort of weird preservatives that aren't being mentioned in the ingredient lists the company provides, you need to do the following:
Read what goes into, say, the Big Mac, buy those ingredients at a shop, and make your own burger using the same ingredients, in the exact amounts listed for the Big Mac. Then go buy a Big Mac.
Now put both the burgers next to each other, in the same conditions, and leave them out. If the McDonalds burger DOES have some secret preservative ingredients, then you should expect YOUR burger to get moldy, while the McDonalds burger stays "fresh".
I do remember hearing of just such a test, and as expected, the results were identical for the McDonalds burger, and the home made burger, made from the ingredients listed by the company.
What often happens when people are amazed that a McDonalds burger doesn't grow mold is that they have left it in a dry, ventilated area. When food is left out like that, it rarely develops mold (unless the food was very wet to begin with). In stead, it DRIES OUT. Mold cannot form without the water. This happens to all food, not just McDonalds food.
Now I'm no appologist for McDonalds - I do think that they tend to sell too big portions, and their burgers are too calorie rich. And I don't particularly like how a single multi-national chain takes over so much of the restaurant business everywhere - but that's an inevitable draw back of a free marketplace. But I see no credible evidence at all for the claims that their food contains something that home-made food doesn't.
If you arent' convinced, do a PROPER experiment, with a control, and see how it turns out. Also make sure that the control isn't more (or less) "juicy" than the McDonalds burger, and that you use the same amount of salt, and other ingredients.
Modifié par Swordfishtrombone, 21 janvier 2011 - 08:45 .
I've only personally witnessed the results of a "burger style bun" (not specific to McDonald's, only "American-style" as I recall) compared to regular bread: the latter is pretty much guaranteed to start going mouldy within the week, whereas the burger buns never went mouldy. I'm not claiming that the mould-resistance was because of some foul witchcraft (though I quite like the idea, so I've changed my mind: it was obviously foul witchcraft) but it really didn't seem at all appetising to witness mould and bacteria turning up their noses (mitochondria, whatever) at what was ostensibly edible food. So I didn't eat it either.
^ It's probably because of a higher salt content, though to know for certain, you'd have to look at the ingredients in both breads. That bacteria don't like something - like salt, which they generally don't - doesn't mean that the same amount of salt that would kill bacteria is detrimental to humans.
It MAY be, if you overdo eating stuff like that, but then again, that's the same for everything. Even things that are good for you, can be harmful in excess.
Of course, the witchraft theory IS appealing also.
Y'all are making the classic error of internet discussions. You're introducing logic, reason and facts. That never ends well. Best plan is to stick to witchcraft.
Eh, McDonalds isn't as huge here in SA as it is in the states. (That doesn't stop there being drive-ins at every corner, though) I've only tried it a few times, but it didn't make me feel like anything. It was kind of tasteless and small. I do like the chips though, mostly because I can't stand it when food places have the insides of chips half-raw, and McDonalds chips don't really have insides.
Last time I went into McDonalds was for a coffee and a McFlurry. Didn't even consider getting a burger.
There's a critical commentary on Supersize Me by EULE (European Institute for food and nutrition sciences) that is unfortunately only available using the wayback machine here.
The two main points are that the guy's initial cholesterol level was very low (i.e. most likely the result of cholesterol reducing drugs taken before the start of the experiment), and then returned to normal.
The other point is that the weight gain (0.4 kg/day, every day) is impossible without anabolic agents; this also explains another side effect he experienced
Y'all are making the classic error of internet discussions. You're introducing logic, reason and facts. That never ends well. Best plan is to stick to witchcraft.
Well it was either that or the few gallon of cider, five pickled eggs, three bags of pork scratchings and punch in the stomach my mate gave me for suggesting we'd had enough after the table was filled with pint pots for the second time.
Still after i'd prayed to the porcelain god I felt hungry again and murdered a kebab, that stayed down well enough though I found most of it hiding in my beard the next morning.
Last time I had a macdonalds it made me sick. Well it was either that or the few gallon of cider, five pickled eggs, three bags of pork scratchings and punch in the stomach my mate gave me for suggesting we'd had enough after the table was filled with pint pots for the second time. Still after i'd prayed to the porcelain god I felt hungry again and murdered a kebab, that stayed down well enough though I found most of it hiding in my beard the next morning.
I'm not surprised the McDonald's made you ill. I think they're sometimes contaminated with salad.
I bet it was because of all the practice it had... ![=]](https://lvlt.forum.bioware.com/public/style_emoticons/default/sideways.png)
Retour en haut
