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].
Thanks for posting those pictures. I have forwarded the email to several people. My father-in-law once purchased some commercial blueberry bagels. They sat in the cupboard all summer and never molded. It was amazing. Bagels from the bagel shop in town will mold in a few days if not refrigerated.
Kind of sad to realize that the vast majority of Americans have never tasted real food. As a culture, we have no idea how impoverished we have become.
Have you seen the photos people have on the web of store bought ice cream that when left out, never melts? Initially some liquid comes off but when left out you end up with a spongey solid mass. At heavenlyhomemaker.com she shows what happened mext to her homemade ice cream.
Hi Mama Bean, my homemade birthday cake will get furry with mold in less than a week if I leave it out as a comparison with the chemical cake from the supermarket bakery.
hi sarah~
thanks so much for this post!! it was the instigation i needed to write the email that has been brewing in my head for awhile – regarding getting my children's preschool to change their policy on "approved" snacks. as it stands now, it is to be unopened and prepackaged!!! ack!! i attached you blog as evidence that the fake baked goods from the store are doing our kids more harm than good. now i'm going to get to be the one in charge of executing the change and educating the moms on nutrition…..eek. all this to say, thank you for your daily shining beam on help:-) ~*ginny
fleurmama3 at mac dot com
This is the cause of heart disease not the healthy saturated fats from pastured animals (or the coconut oil.)
Tina
Makes me think about all the landfills, or even compost piles that might have non decompsing food-like items in it….
Wow … I need to show this to my family. They seem to forget about nutrition when I'm gone for a day or two. Hubby's last hold out is waxy chocolate donuts .. yuck!
Margarine does the same thing. A friend of mine said someone threw a tub of the stuff on the cement outside her dorm in college and it splattered everywhere — and stayed there. Nothing touched it.
On the other hand, the sprouted bread I buy goes moldy in less than a week if I don't put it in the freezer. I have three apples sitting out, decomposing right now.
We've also noted that flies and gnats in our home seem most attracted to organic produce. When my husband opens a new jar of home-canned organic pears, they rush to it. Kombucha spills are also a favorite of bugs. Hmm…maybe we should take our cues from them?
Great post!Thank you again for showing what factory food is made of. This garbage is not food!
This shows how powerful propaganda is, that people would actually eat this stuff in complete ignorance that it is just chemical slop.