La descomposición en diferentes tipos de alimentos

Transcription

1 PROJECT N 30 La descomposición en diferentes tipos de alimentos Javier Iturbe-Ormaeche Hick, Hugo Trigo, Alejandro Lopez Gómez European School Alicante Av Locutor Vicente Hipólito, s/n, Alicante, España S5 ES Abstract In this series of experiments, we have tried to see if the fame that hamburgers and chips from fast food chains remain "intact" after several weeks, while the homemade ones get bad right away. We tried to find relationships between the degradation process and the amount of preservatives it contains, as well as the amount of salt and moisture. We will focus on the burgers and the chips. 1

2 1. Introduction There are plenty of videos on the internet, in which fast food hamburgers stand several weeks without suffering any changes. For example a current youtube video called "The Decomposition Of McDonald's Burgers And Fries". This experiment is intended to let us know if the ever-increasing fame of fast food burgers on additives is real or not and whether These hamburgers are that bad for your body. We know that the degradation of food is due to different factors, such as: Oxygen. Oxygen, essential for life, can have damaging effects on fats, dyes, vitamins and other food components. In general, oxygen can provide the conditions for microorganisms to grow or cause oxidation. Microorganisms. The main sources of microorganisms are air, soil, residual waters and animal waste. Enzymes. These accelerate chemical reactions between oxygen and food, leading to its decomposition. One of the most characteristic symptoms is the browning of vegetables. Humidity. The amount of water in a food influences the appearance, texture and taste. In fresh products, the water content can reach 70% or more of the total weight. Even dry foods, such as flour or cereals, contain a certain amount of water, an aspect that greatly affects the deterioration of food, if not preserved properly. Light. Almost all kinds of food are exposed to light from natural or artificial sources. This exposure can lead to changes in food color, taste or vitamin loss. In most solid products, light penetrates the outer layer, so deterioration occurs in this part. In liquids, however, penetration is usually higher. Temperature. When the temperature is not properly controlled, the risk of a food decomposing is greater. Maintaining a product between 5ºC and 65ºC for more than two hours is synonymous with proliferation of pathogens. At these temperatures, bacteria can double their number every 20 or 30 minutes. 2. Materials and methods For this experiment we have used, in addition to the materials, a web search for articles on the internet that have given us data about certain types of preservatives and additives contained, or not, in the hamburger. 2

3 Our materials have been; 6 hamburgers and 6 piles of chips of McDonald's, TGB and homemade. We have done two different experiments. Experiment A: Observation of degradation in hermetic containers, although not isolated from light. In this experiment we have controlled the following variables: humidity, temperature, carbon dioxide and visual appearance. Experiment B: Observation of degradation in open containers. Variables: visual aspect. Methods. It has been tried to respect the same hygienic conditions for all of them once cooked. 3. Results Search of information about the components of each hamburger and type of frie Experiment A: Visual Observation: Inicial photography Final Photography Mc Donalds hamburger 3

4 TGB hamburger Homemade hamburger 4

5 Mcdonalds chips TGB chips Homemade chips 5

6 Graphics: 6

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8 Same temperature in each one. Experiment B: Visual observation: Inicial photography Final Photography Macdonald s TheGoodBurguer Homemade 8

9 French fries Macdonald s TheGoodBurguer Homemade 4. Discussion of results What can we observe from the graphs and the photos: - Experiment A: CO2 emissions are higher for homemode and TGB and significantly lower for Macdonalds, in both potatoes and hamburgers. - Experiment A. Burgers: Worste appearance is the MacDonalds one although homemade looks doughy. - Experiment A. Potatoes: worste appearance is the homemade and with better MacDonalds appearance. 9

10 - Experiment B. Burgers. Worst TGB aspect and best Mac. - Experiment B. Potatoes. More or less the same. - The foods in Experiment A degrade more than those in B. - Constant temperature. - Humidity. Humidity is always higher in the homemade hamburger and in the homemade potatoes while it is the lowest in the mcdonalds burger and potatoes. Regarding the composition data we have searched / measured: - According to what we have looked for have more preservatives than MacDonald's burgers. - Quantity of salt: the greater it is, we do not have enough data. - Humidity: pending measurement but we have the data of the graphs. 5. Conclusions - Is it true that fast-food foods remain more intact? "From what we have been able to observe, the mcdonalds burger took longer to be degraded, while the homemade burger and the tgb burguer took very few days. - Are The Good Burger products better? They have a behavior more similar to the homemade ones, and for that reason we can correlate what we see / measure with preservatives (additives and salt). Yes, because mcdonald's burgers carry many more additives that cause it to take so long to degrade. 6. Special thanks We would like to thank for the help the laboratory coordinator, Luis Mareque, and our tutor and professor of chemistry, Jesús Santamaría. 7. References EroskiConsumer TheGoodBurguer Accesed 13/02/2017 McDonald s Accesed 13/02/