A story has been making its way around the Web the past couple of weeks regarding a nondecomposing McDonald’s Happy Meal.
Sally Davies, a New York-based photographer, and artist, bought a Happy Meal back in April 2010 and left it out on a plate in her kitchen ever since to see what would happen.
The upshot of this homegrown experiment?  Other than an acrylic sheen, plastic-like texture and becoming hard as a rock, no other discernible changes have occurred!
Davies’ science project has been photographed weekly and the results posted on Flickr for all to see and wonder about.   Should children really be given food that doesn’t decompose?
If bugs, mold, and bacteria don’t want this stuff, how could this be counted as any sort of nourishment for children other than just empty calories and toxic chemicals?
What may be even more surprising, however, is that the lack of decomposition of McDonald’s fast food is not unique in the processed foods industry.
Oh no, not by a long shot. Hold onto your hats, everyone!
How about adding supermarket cupcakes (and other baked goods) to the list of foods that neither bugs nor bacteria want anything to do with!
You know what I’m talking about – the supermarket birthday cake that is served at just about every kids’ birthday party you’ve ever attended.   How about that cake you ate at your cousin’s wedding last summer?   Yes, even those delightfully decorated Halloween cupcakes you saw the other day in the supermarket bakery that seemed just perfect for the Trick or Treat get together this coming weekend!
Yes, all of it.
This stuff doesn’t decompose either!  It doesn’t even get moldy!
Best of all, I’ve got pictures!!
You see, many years back when I first began eating real food, I met Dennis Stoltzfoos, a local grass-based farmer who had a curious box of cupcakes sitting in his kitchen.
He explained that these cupcakes were from a party back in December 1995.
The box with the 3 remaining cupcakes never got thrown out, so it just kind of stayed in his kitchen for weeks, then months, now over TWENTY YEARS later.
After seeing this story about the nondecomposing Happy Meal, I emailed Dennis and his wife Alicia to see if they still had this box of supermarket cupcakes. Â Â They did, and Alicia snapped these photos taken only last week of the now 20+ YEAR OLD cupcakes that now practically have artifact status!
Check it out!Â
In this photo, you can still just make out the “1996” on the cupcake box label which indicated the expiration date for the cupcakes (it originally said “January 1996”). The cupcakes were purchased in December 1995.
Kash n’ Karry, the supermarket where these cupcakes were purchased, no longer exists. Kash n’ Karry supermarkets are now called Sweetbay Supermarkets. Update: Sweetbay is now gone too! They were bought by Winn Dixie.
Alicia Stoltzfoos told me that the sticky, sweet, artificial smell of the cupcakes was still very much evident when she opened the box to take this picture!
My hope is that parents who see this blog are motivated to never again buy supermarket bakery goods and to take the time to make a wholesome, homemade birthday cake/cupcakes with REAL ingredients for their children.
If it’s not good enough for bugs, mold, and bacteria, it’s most certainly not good enough for your children!
Source
Many thanks to Dennis and Alicia Stoltzfoos of Full Circle Farm for the pictures and story behind this blog.  Dennis, Alicia, and their four healthy, beautiful children own a leading-edge, grass-based dairy farm in Live Oak, FL.  To contact them to find out more about nutrient-dense, healing foods, email them at [email protected].
So I wonder if anyone has taken pictures of these frankenfoods' REAL counterparts decomposing, for comparison? Just playing devil's advocate. I can imagine skeptics asking what our hamburgers and cupcakes look like after weeks and months. (Although normally, if they don't get eaten by people, animals and/or compost will get the treat pretty soon.)
Sarah, this was such a valuable post! I gathered my children around the monitor and read it to them aloud. I loved seeing their reaction, and hope it will help them to think twice before accepting the junk that is regularly offered to them when outside our home.
We have been battling ants in our kitchen for the past couple of weeks. After reading this article, my 9yo. son remarked "Hey, that's why the ants keep coming to our kitchen…they know there's REAL food there!" HA!
Wow… 15 years… I know when I leave my homemade soaked GF flatbread out of the fridge for more than 2 DAYS it gets moldy. Even bread from Publix that my hubby eats gets moldy within 2-3 days. These days I bake all the treats for my family. If I have to buy something for my gluten-eating family, I usually go to a local market or Whole Foods – at least I can pronounce all the ingredients on the label and they're baked with butter, not canola or soybean oil.
Magda
This would be hilarious if it wasn't such a serious topic. I can think of a lot of people that I need to send this to. I am addicted to label reading, my adult children roll their eyes at me all the time because I read the ingredients of the garbage they are getting ready to feed my grandchildren, but now and then I have a weak moment and think I'm going to give in and buy bakery goods at Publix. My label reading always saves me. The list of chemicals in the ingredients never fails to make me change my mind!
Had to share this one with hubby as we got our first taste of raw milk from Dennis when we bought a beef from him years ago. We were frustrated because we couldn't buy any milk from him due to a *situation* they were having at the time with padlocks. It was over a year later I finally discovered the Lutz co-op right in my own backyard.
That is nasty! And shocking, and unfortunately, not a surprise at all considering what food is made of these days. Thanks for sharing Sarah!
Dr. Laura
Very disturbing. I would like to see a experiment with a cupcake made the "real food" way. Just to compare.
Hi Sarah!
Excellent post. If this stuff doesn't make one think twice about commercially produced "food" I don't know what would!!!
This stuff is nasty. I can't help but think about the extra effort the body must put forth in order to digest plastic. And if digested, then what residues are left behind for the body to continue to deal with. Horrible to think that my very picky-eater of a son only liked McDonald's when he was 3 and 4. Thank God he now eats the healthy meals I prepare for him and all of us.
WOW! Too gross.
Gloria
The reason schools do this is because the store treats don't grow any mold or bacteria because they are chemical concoctions! Where's the logic in it's better to feed kids chemically synthesized treats that REAL treats because they are somehow "safer"?
I like your site, but I think we all know the reason why homemade goods can’t be brought to school. I think your explanation is a little out there. It’s really because of the lack of cleanliness in some people’s homes and the need to prevent food poisoning in kids. I wouldn’t want my kids eating things that other people made. I don’t know if they’re clean or if their cat was sitting on the counter next to their mixer. Food allergies also are a problem when you don’t know all of the ingredients in things. As a foster parent I’ve seem some houses that were so full of garbage and bugs that I can’t even imagine going into them, much less eating something they baked.
I think we are basically saying the same thing. Last year when the swine flu was going around, my kids’ school suspended all homemade foods (not just baked goods) from being brought to school for this reason. EVERYTHING for parties and such had to be bought at the store and be pre-packaged so as not to spread the flu.
If society would just eat whole foods and support our immune systems then we wouldn’t have to worry about so many communicable diseases. We live in such a germ phobia society because of the junk we eat. Since our family changed our diets in the last 2 years my kids and I have not been sick once! While the rest of the world deals with their flus, colds, strep, ear infections, sinus infections, etc.
The real frustration comes when you'd like to bake something yummy and maybe gluten and milk free for your child to take to school on their birthday and the teacher says you can only bring store bought treats. Seems like wherever you look today, there is a need for drastic change.
-Jessica
I wonder what they taste like!! :b