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McDonald’s Happy Meal - Is It biodegradable?
Shows No Sign Of Decomposing After Six Months
By Daily Mail Reporter, 21st October 2010
Looking almost as fresh as the day it was bought, this McDonald’s Happy Meal is in fact a staggering six months old.
Photographed every day for the past half a year by Manhattan artist Sally Davies the kids meal of fries and burger is without a hint of mould or decay.
In a work entitled The Happy Meal Project, Mrs Davies, 54, has charted the seemingly indestructible fast food meals progress as it refuses to yield to the forces of nature.
Photographed every day for the past half a year by Manhattan artist Sally Davies the kids meal of fries and burger is without a hint of mould or decay.
In a work entitled The Happy Meal Project, Mrs Davies, 54, has charted the seemingly indestructible fast food meals progress as it refuses to yield to the forces of nature.
Expecting the food to begin moulding after a few days, Mrs Davies’ surprise turned to shock as the fries and burger still had not shown any signs of decomposition after two weeks.
‘It was then that I realised that something strange might be going on with this food that I had bought,’ she explains.
‘The fries shrivelled slightly as did the burger patty, but the overall appearance of the food did not change as the weeks turned to months.
‘And now, at six months old, the food is plastic to the touch and has an acrylic sheen to it.
‘The only change that I can see is that it has become hard as a rock.
‘It was then that I realised that something strange might be going on with this food that I had bought,’ she explains.
‘The fries shrivelled slightly as did the burger patty, but the overall appearance of the food did not change as the weeks turned to months.
‘And now, at six months old, the food is plastic to the touch and has an acrylic sheen to it.
‘The only change that I can see is that it has become hard as a rock.
Prabhupada: From an economic point of view, if one man has a cow and four acres of land he has no economic problem. That we want to start. He can independently live in any part of the world. Simply he must have one cow and four acres of land. So let the people be divided in four acres of land and a cow and there will be no economic question. All the factories will be closed. [everyone laughs]
[At this point, Allen and some of the New Vrindaban members discuss some of the problems of farming.]
Prabhupada: There is a proverb that agriculture is the noblest profession. Is it not?
Allen: Yes.
Prabhupada: And Krishna was a farmer, cowherd boy. Yes, and in Vedic literature you will find that the richest man is estimated by the possession of grains and cows. If he has sufficient quantity of grains, then he is rich. And actually that is a fact. Keep cows and have sufficient grains and the whole economic problem is solved. As for eating and sleeping ... you can take some wood and four pillows. Of course in your country it is cold, but in India all year they are lying under the sky.
Allen: Men lived this way for 20,000-30,000 years. Till the 19th Century.
Prabhupada: We have to think, "Plain living, high thinking." The necessities of this bodily existence should be minimized -- not unhealthy, but healthy to keep oneself fit. But the time should be utilized to develop Krishna Consciousness, spiritual life. Then his whole problem is solved.
(A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and poet Allen Ginsberg Conversations)
Even though she is a vegan, Mrs Davies’ experiment has brought her some fear.
Just like this Western civilization has created so may slaughterhouse for eating purposes. But wherefrom they are getting? From mahi, from the land. If there is no pasturing ground, grazing ground, wherefrom they will get the cows and the bulls? That is also... Because there is grass on the land and the cows and bulls eat them, therefore they grow. Then you cut their throat, civilized man, and eat, you rascal civilized man. But you are getting from the mahi, from the land. Without land, you cannot. Similarly, instead of cutting the throat of the cows, you can grow your food.
Why you are cutting the throat of the cows? After all, you have to get from the mahi, from the land. So as they are, the animal which you are eating, they are getting their eatables from the land. Why don't you get your eatables from the land? Therefore it is said, sarva-kama-dugha mahi. You can get all the necessities of your life from land. So dugha means produce. You can produce your food. Some land should be producing the foodstuff for the animals, and some land should be used for the production of your foodstuffs, grains, fruits, flowers, and take milk. Why should you kill these innocent animals? You take. You keep them muda, happy, and you get so much milk that it will moist, it will make wet the ground. This is civilization. This is civilization.
~ Srila Prabhupada
‘I would be frightened at seeing this if I was a meat eater. Why hasn’t even the bun become speckled with mould? It is odd.’
When asked if their food was not biodegradable, McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said: ‘This is nothing more than an outlandish claim and is completely false.’
It comes after Denver grandmother Joann Bruso left a Happy Meal to decay for a year to highlight the nutritional dangers of fast food.
Morgan Spurlock also made the film Super Size Me in 2004 charting the changes to his body eating just fast food for 28 days.
When asked if their food was not biodegradable, McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said: ‘This is nothing more than an outlandish claim and is completely false.’
It comes after Denver grandmother Joann Bruso left a Happy Meal to decay for a year to highlight the nutritional dangers of fast food.
Morgan Spurlock also made the film Super Size Me in 2004 charting the changes to his body eating just fast food for 28 days.
Richard Webster: Do you think it's worse now than it used to be? Can you say that it is worse, the condition of the world is worse now than it used to be or is it relatively the same or...?
Prabhupada: Oh, yes, yes. Worse now in these days because people cannot eat even. The facility which is given to the birds and beasts... They have no problem of eating. But you have created such a civilization that people are facing the problem so acutely that they have no means to eat. Do you think it is progress?
Richard Webster: Well, I would tend to doubt it very much.
Prabhupada: Yes, that is the problem.