Iceland is one of the few countries in the world where McDonald’s
doesn’t operate in. The fast food giant closed its last restaurant in
the Northern-European country a decade ago, but the last burger they
ever sold has been carefully preserved and it still looks surprisingly
edible.
On October 31st, 2009, Hjortur Smarason had the honor of purchasing
the last McDonald’s burger sold in Iceland, just before the restaurant’s
final closing time. Like many of us, he had heard rumors that
McDonald’s food doesn’t decay, and preserving the last burger sold in
his home country gave him an extra reason to see if the rumors were true
or not. He put the burger and the small order of french fries in a
plastic bag and left it untouched for three years.
“I decided to buy a last meal for its historical value since McDonald’s were closing down,” Smarason told AFP. “I had heard that McDonald’s never decomposed so I just wanted to see if it was true or not.”
After keeping the sealed bag in his garage for three years and seeing
that the food still looked edible, Hjortur Smarason lent it to the
National Museum of Iceland for a few years. Then the last McDonald’s
order in Iceland was moved to the Reykjavík Bus Hostel for a while,
before being moved to Snotra House, a hostel in Thykkvibaer in southern
Iceland, where it is on display like a work of art inside a glass case.
You would think people wouldn’t care too much for a decade-old
McDonald’s burger and some fries, but you’d be wrong. Sigurdur Gylfason,
the owner of Snotra House, claims that people from all over the world
visit his establishment just to see the last McDonald’s order in
Iceland. It’s become so popular that there’s a live feed web cam on it
at all times, and people actually log on to check on it. The Icelandic
hotel claims it receives up to 400,000 hits daily.
While the 10-year-old burger and fries order has been a boon for
Snotra House in recent years, it hasn’t exactly been a marketing success
for McDonald’s. With people asking if the restaurant’s food was immune
to decay, it had to come up with an official statement, explaining that
“in the right environment, our burgers, like most other foods, could
decompose,” and the “specifically moisture” was necessary for that to
happen.
“In order for decomposition to occur, you need certain conditions —
specifically moisture. Without sufficient moisture — either in the food
itself or the environment — bacteria and mold may not grow, and
therefore decomposition is unlikely,” the fast food giant stated.
A Snotra House spokesperson reportedly confirmed that apart from the burger bun hardening, the food hasn’t decomposed at all.
