McDonald's Responds After Facebook Post Claiming to Show Years-Old Happy Meal Goes Viral

A woman posted photos to Facebook showing what she said was a McDonald’s Happy Meal she bought six years ago. The images showed the food never molded and was virtually unchanged

McDonald’s is fighting back after a woman’s post claiming to show a Happy Meal six years after she bought it went viral.

Jennifer Lovdahl last week posted two photos to Facebook showing the McDonald’s Happy Meal she said she bought six years ago. The images, which included a receipt from the day the meal was purchased, showed the food never molded and was virtually unchanged.

“It's been sitting at our office this whole time and has not rotted, molded, or decomposed at all!!!” the post reads. “It smells only of cardboard.”

 
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

It's been 6 years since I bought this "Happy Meal" at McDonald's. It's been sitting at our office this whole time and...

Posted by Jennifer Lovdahl on Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Lovdahl, whose Facebook page indicates she works at Balanced Health Chiropractic in Anchorage, Alaska, said she used the meal as an experiment “to show our patients how unhealthy this ‘food’ is.”

The post has since been shared more than 287,900 times.

But McDonald’s has argued that the photos do not accurately depict what happened.

“While not knowing the conditions in which the food was kept in this specific claim, what is scientifically known is that decomposition of food happens under certain conditions,” the Oak Brook-based company said in a statement. “Without sufficient moisture – either in the food itself or the environment in which it is held – decomposition is unlikely. This is not unique to McDonald’s food. Any food – whether homemade, store bought or from a restaurant - can dehydrate in a dry environment, therefore not decompose.”

The company also said its food is “freshly prepared in our restaurants.”

“McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets in the U.S. are made with white meat chicken cut from the tenderloin, breast and rib,” the statement read. “They are cooked and placed in packaging that allows moisture to escape, to retain their crispiness.”

Contact Us