Fast Food Nation

Happy Meal Goes Six Months Without Mold

Artist photographs it every day.

Have McDonald’s chefs discovered the secret of immortality? Artist Sally Davies has photographed a Happy Meal every day for the past six months—and so far it hasn’t begun to decay or grown a speck of mold. “The first thing that struck me on day two of the experiment was that it no longer emitted any smell,” says Davies. “And then the second point of note was that on the second day, my dogs stopped circling the shelf it was sitting on trying to see what was up there.” Davies says the food has grown hard and plastic-like, but there’s still no mold. As Salon pointed out when Davies’ project was younger, there are other ancient McDonald’s burgers lying around: One woman has kept hers without mold for 12 years.