Ex-McDonald's chef reveals truth about how long it takes for burgers to go mouldy

A former McDonald's chef has lifted the lid on how long it actually takes for one of the fast-food giant's burgers to go mouldy.

Mike Haracz, who goes by @chefmikeharacz on TikTok, claims he previously worked at McDonald's corporate office and has been dishing out 'insider information' about the company on the social platform. The debate over the contents of McDonald's food and its shelf life was reignited after a video by YouTuber DebunkerSam titled 'The decomposition of McDonald's burgers and fries' resurfaced, having first been posted 13 years ago.

In his five-minute experiment, DebunkerSam places various McDonald's items into jars to observe their rate of decomposition. After a fortnight, the fries show little change, while the quarter pounder, chicken, and fish burgers begin to mould.

Yet, he notes that the Big Mac seems unaffected, remarking "it hasn't even started to mould yet". Three weeks in, only the lettuce in the burger starts to turn, with the rest looking unchanged.

By the fifth week, mould has overtaken the Big Mac, aligning it with the fate of the other burgers, but the fries still look fresh.

Ten weeks into the experiment, DebunkerSam is astounded by the fries' preservation, stating: "Look at that! What is wrong with that? there's not even one spore on there, it's not breaking down nothing. It looks like we bought them yesterday."

Haracz was quick to respond to the clip. In his video, he said: "In response to somebody saying McDonald's burgers never go mouldy or go bad, buns do mould, actually. I've worked at multiple fast-food places and seen multiple mould-ridden buns.

"They come into the store with mould sometimes. Well, that last part, that's not great. That means you're being shipped old buns or they have not been stored properly. But when anyone talks about the McDonald's burgers never going bad that is false. A lot of times, what is happened is that the bun or burgers are becoming dehydrated."

He went on to claim how McDonald's adds mould inhibitors to its food to prevent them from moulding for a week or two when stored in the correct environment. He added: "When everyone talks about them pulling out food from behind a seat that's been there for a year or whatever, it's a combination of dehydration and the fact McDonald's cooks their burgers and its meats well done so there's no raw protein.

"There's a lot less moist and fat in there. The fact they salt and season after it's cooked so that salt is dropping the water activity. Salt absorbs any free moisture and that free moisture is what microbes and things use to grow."

The topic sparked a debate in the comments with some users claiming to have never seen a mouldy McDonald's, while others say its food grows mould just like everything else.

One remark came from a user who said: "I worked for a car dealership that took a trashed car trade-in. Two years later we got around to cleaning it. Found a McDonald's cheeseburger that looked like it was just made. Zero rot. bugs didn't eat."

A further comment was added by another user: "Oh yeah, I've definitely seen mold on buns at my job we just threw them away."

A third user opined: "As someone who's worked for McDonald's for 10 years, I've never seen a moldy bun ever. People don't realise how much safety goes into their food."

McDonald's has been contacted for comment.