Some go by the five-second rule, McDonald's goes by the ten-minute rule – at least in theory.
Metroxpress made undercover visits to the country's busiest McDonald's branch at Copenhagen’s Central Station on ten occasions over two months and found on eight of the ten visits that the respective burger or breakfast muffin had been lying for longer than ten minutes.
The restaurant manager is reported to have regretted selling the outdated food. “It should not have happened. Shall we make a fresh one for you?” he asked the reporter.
An honest response from the staff
The response to Metroxpress’s call for comments from McDonald’s employees was overwhelming, though what they said was anything but.
Of 52 respondents, eight said they’d been specifically ordered to use old ingredients, and sometimes to even change the expiry date tags.
The reason, according to one anonymous employee, is “a hazardous focus on minimising food waste” that McDonald's Denmark has introduced over the past year.
