BURGERS GONE BAD....OR NOT?

Was the name of my science project. On Friday, I participated in our school Science Fair consisting 4th & 5th graders. It was a lot of fun. I was awarded First Prize in the fourth grade category. 

Since a handful of people have asked about the details of the project, I am posting it below for those who are interested:

Question/Purpose:

There are dozens of rumors circulating the internet that claim McDonald’s burgers do not rot because they contain tons of preservatives.

The purpose of this experiment is to see if those claims are really true. And, to see if Wendy’s  and the all natural mom-made burger will have the same results as the McDonald’s burger.

Hypothesis:

I think that the McDonald’s burger will have the least mold, because it is made with a frozen patty instead of a fresh patty like the Wendy’s burger. Mold is more likely to grow in a warm climate than a cold climate.

The freshly made all natural burger will probably have the most mold. Because it has absolutely no preservatives, not even a speck of salt.

Procedure:

Buy 1 quarter pound plain burger from McDonald's.

Buy 1 quarter pound plain burger from Wendy's.

Buy a quarter pound of 100% all-natural beef from Giant and have mom cook a yummy burger.

Put the burgers in a large, air-tight plastic container in a cool, dry place in the basement.

Observe and take pictures and notes for 14 straight days.

Results Trial #1:

McDonald’s- least mold

Wendy’s- 2nd most mold

All Natural Homemade- most mold

After seeing the results of Trial 1, I thought I had done something wrong with the experiment, because the McDonald's burger was not supposed to have any mold. Yet, all 3 of the burgers had lots of mold. So, I decided to do a second trial. This time I put the burgers in separate open-air containers. 

Results Trial #2:

McDonald’s- no mold

Wendy’s- no mold

All Natural Homemade – a sprinkle of mold.

Conclusion:

My hypothesis is correct.

The McDonald’s burger has the least mold. The Wendy’s burger has the second most amount of mold. And the homemade burger 

has the most mold.

What I learned………

In Trial 1, the burgers were kept in an enclosed container in which condensation was formed, and the burgers stayed moist. Mold needs water to grow. That’s why there is so much mold present in Trial 1.

In Trial 2, the burgers were in an open-air environment, causing them to dry out more quickly. Hardly any mold grew on any of

the burgers, except for the small amount of mold on the homemade burger. Mold cannot grow because of the lack of water.

Preservatives also affect the mold growth. Even though both McDonalds and Wendy's claimed that their burgers are 100% beef and have no preservatives whatsoever, they do contain salt, except for the homemade burger. Salt is a common preservative since cave man time. All the burgers have mold in Trial 1, but the all-natural homemade burger has absolutely no preservatives, not even salt, so it has the most mold in Trial 1 and a little bit of mold in Trial 2. 

I also learned that there is nothing special about McDonald’s burgers, any burger under the same conditions would have the same outcome as shown in this experiment.

Me, making my presentation to one of several groups of judges.