I'm lovin it (as long as it is withing 2 hrs)

So I got some breakfast burritos from McDonalds (a guilty pleasure of mine every blue moon) and noticed that they were sealed with a wrapper that said

"Must be consumed by 10:32 A.M." I bought them at 8:32. Anyone know of a reason for this disclaimer or ideas at how they arrived at the seemingly arbitrary number of 2 hrs?

Sounds like the safe limits of warm food (without too many preservatives) staying out (or in a wrapper) without being banished to a refrigerated state. For safety's sake, right? I, for one, would prefer a discounted price: breakfast burritos only feel guilty because I wish I paid less than a dollar for them (including tax)! But seriously, I enjoy them, too (and I still wish they cost less).

I totally agree that they should be cheaper. I just do not recall seeing the warning before. I was just curious if there was some lawsuit or stiffer penalty for violating the regulation or graphic courtroom photos like the coffee spill lawsuit or something similar that was a trigger.

fastfoodsnob wrote:Sounds like the safe limits of warm food (without too many preservatives) staying out (or in a wrapper) without being banished to a refrigerated state. For safety's sake, right? I, for one, would prefer a discounted price:

It may be that the food deteriorates in quality after two hours. Maybe the "wrap" gets soggy or something like that. I don't actually think the food would "go bad" from a safety standpoint within that time frame.

Hammond

Pizza Hut drive-throughs do the same thing on the individual pizzas. I guess it's quality control... prevents a pizza from sitting on a warming tray for 3 hours. I don't k now if it actually does keep the quality from dropping.. there's not much room for it to fall further.

i should note that the pizza hut pizzas say they must be sold by that time, not consumed. maybe the staff gets the leftovers.
-ed

David Hammond wrote:It may be that the food deteriorates in quality after two hours. Maybe the "wrap" gets soggy or something like that. I don't actually think the food would "go bad" from a safety standpoint within that time frame.

You do have a point there. (Why didn't I think of that?) I must say that different times and locations have produced varying levels of burrito bliss, and I suppose that the time left 'til the expiration "date" may have had a lot to do with it. (Of course, there's nothing a good nuking won't fix.)

Back in the day( 1974-1975 ) when I was a sixteen year-old working at McDonald's, all burgers had a warming bin "life" of 10 minutes--- Yes, if a burger was not sold after sitting for that time, it was thrown out.

It's funny---When McDonald's utilized warming bins, the food was always hot. Now, that they have taken the "freshness" approach, the food is perpetually lukewarm.

Keep in mind, regarding safety, that the safe zone ends at 140F. If in 2 hours all the yummy proteins in that breafast burrito are likely to fall below 140F (and stay above 40F, the other end of the danger zone), it may indeed be a better idea to think about eating something else.