--- title: Man Sells 6-year-old cheeseburger on ebay description: A man is selling a six-year-old cheeseburger on eBay and he has learned a lot about the experience. canonical: https://time.com/5331777/old-mcdonalds-cheeseburger/ author: Gabby Raymond article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-06T18:13:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:16.758Z og:title: Man Is Selling 6-Year-Old McDonald's Burger on eBay og:description: A local farmer decided to test the urban legend that fast food doesn't rot og:url: https://time.com/5331777/old-mcdonalds-cheeseburger/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e371ff4a12416c7/69892f98db29870c9525f964/gettyimages-89764428.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4256 og:image:height: 2394 og:image:alt: A McDonald's Big Mac and French Fries ar og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Man Is Selling 6-Year-Old McDonald's Burger on eBay twitter:description: A local farmer decided to test the urban legend that fast food doesn't rot twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e371ff4a12416c7/69892f98db29870c9525f964/gettyimages-89764428.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Nature Refused to Take This Burger.' 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Gabby Raymond](https://time.com/author/gabby-raymond/) ## Gabby Raymond Jul 6, 2018 6:13 PM UTC  A McDonald's Big Mac and French Fries A McDonald's Big Mac and French Fries PAUL J. RICHARDS—AFP/Getty Images by [Gabby Raymond](https://time.com/author/gabby-raymond/) ## Gabby Raymond Jul 6, 2018 6:13 PM UTC On June 7, 2012 a local farmer in Ontario, Canada, started the ultimate fast food experiment to test the age old rumors that McDonald’s products don’t rot. Now, six years later, he’s selling his [experiment on eBay](https://www.ebay.ca/itm/6-YEAR-OLD-McDonalds-Cheeseburger-and-Fries-Mickey-Ds-Cheese-Burger-Fries/202361307718) for $29.99. Dave Alexander told TIME he didn’t believe the urban legend that cheeseburgers wouldn’t go bad — so he sent his daughter out to buy a McDonald’s Cheeseburger and fries. He lists the item as an “ORIGINAL, plain McDonald’s Cheeseburger and Fries MADE & PURCHASED JUNE 7, 2012.” While the burger lost all of its moisture, and the cheese turned more of a light brown color, Alexander says from four feet away you would think he bought the meal that morning, especially because the fries look almost exactly the same. And then it was time to plan a move. “I’m not taking this cheeseburger with me,” he said, and decided to put it up on eBay. Alexander said he didn’t touch the burger once in all the years it sat in his office, though he did “Swiffer off” the dust for the sale. Alexander felt the surprisingly good looking appearance of the burger and some advertisement on Twitter would grab some interest soon enough. > [](https://twitter.com/RWTFarm/status/1014945183446786050) A year after buying the cheeseburger, a friend challenged Alexander decided to add a controlled variable to his experiment and he cooked a homemade cheeseburger and fries for comparison. The five-year-old organic product has fared much worse. “The homemade fries just look like little bits of stone,” he said. “And the McDonald’s are perfect looking.”  McDonald's meal Popartic/Getty Images While the McDonalds burger is in no way safe to eat, it has basically petrified and preserved its hot off the grill looks. Alexander assured his possible buyers that this listing was no joke, and encouraged them to be part of the scientific research stating that “nature has refused to take this burger.” With the bid at $58 as of Friday afternoon, and six days left on the auction, the profits from selling the vintage fast food will be sure to help Alexander mourn any loss of the six-year companion. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5331777/old-mcdonalds-cheeseburger/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5331777/old-mcdonalds-cheeseburger/"},"headline":"'Nature Refused to Take This Burger.' 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