A new Burger King campaign to promote that its famous Whopper snack no longer has artificial preservatives, therefore it moldy. Is that all that?Photo: Pablo Merchán via Unsplash
It is not today that many companies like to inform their consumers that they are changing their operations so that they are less processed. Which is always valid, isn’t it?
The difference in this case of Burger King is the chosen way: the campaign uses the Whopper (the super famous snack of the network) that deteriorates in a period of 34 days (read: they made a time lapse of him molding).
So that we can comment on the campaign that has as to say “Truly food is hottidest”, it takes context.
The origin of the campaign
The promotional video released on Burger King networks in mid-September 2020 is not new, necessarily. He is part of a campaign that took place at the American branch in February 2019.
It’s the same video, just reissued. But they cut the part of food styling (from making the snack beautiful) and translated the text into Portuguese. So far, everything is normal. Isn’t that right? Almost. Almost fine.
For us, here in Brazil, there was a lack of a certain context as I have already mentioned. The action, I would say, was over-planned and calculated.
The video version I comment on and explain the factors that make a food spoil or not.
The snack that does not spoil
In the United States it is super common the rumor that fast food snacks, especially McDonald’s (directly beating of Burger King), do not spoil. In this case, do not mold.
There are several conspiracy theories as to why snack does not mold. If you pick up, you will find many people with pet snacks: they have the snack for years without donating.
So I said that the choice of this production was super punctual and a pint to its competitor. To show: Look, our spoils! We have no preservatives.
Here are two situations on opposite ends:
- One says it doesn’t mold
- And another says that mold
But what they both lack: that pinch of science and other explanations.
In time: I have no relationship or problems with any of the companies. My only affliction is with bad science or used in a wrong way.
Analysis of the video
Although the videos (American and Brazilian) are the same, in the national version it was decided to remove the beginning in which the snack is set up. And it’s in that look we call a beauty shot.
That is, the famous merely illustrative images that is a tool used for several reasons, one of them is to quickly inform the consumer what has in the snack. You’ve hit your eye and you know what components of it are.
The detail is that: to assemble these more beautiful versions, the conditions are not always the same as the restaurant in the sense of hygiene and handling of food.
They may have used the same items that go on the snack (commonly, this is how it happens). But we don’t know if it’s in the same quantity and quality. After all, it is to look beautiful and, no one will eat later.
Not to mention that the snack used in the video does not look at anything like what is sold in the restaurants of the chain. This is also another factor to influence the deterioration of food.
Here in the case, the video is implied that the snack spoiled due to the absence of preservatives. But it goes further.Right: image of the stylized video. Left: snack sold that I bought and tried to fix.
Seeing only the case of the video, we do not know:
- What are the conditions of the environment: temperature, humidity, light…
- What was the place? A kitchen, a studio, a laboratory? Was it a place to handle food and do a deterioration test?
- Were good handling practices followed in the sense of hygiene and cooking? Were the cooked items subjected to the correct temperatures?
- Was the snack exposed straight to the environment or was it inside a closed dome?
- What was the relative humidity of the snack and its water activity?
- From the video, it indicates that it was totally moldy after 34 days. What about the version with mofa preservative or not under the same conditions?
- Was there any analysis to state that the snack spoiled due to the absence of preservatives? And if yes, did it have a significance with a p-value of 0.05?
For the arts and information of the campaign, Whopper without foreign-name preservatives is only available in some restaurants in the chain in São Paulo.
I suppose when the piece was created out there, the marketing team probably didn’t talk to the research and development team (R&D). I prefer that. Since the points I raised are the basics, the basics in Food Science.
And I believe the R&D people would have commented on it. But there is a saying: he commands who can, obeys those who have tickets to pay.
When I learned that the campaign entered Brazil, I contacted the advisory with the issues that I raised here. Unfortunately, they did not respond to me in a timely manner until the text and video were completed. But I’m waiting for the answers.
Don’t we mofa?
How this question is whether or not the cheapest snack outside. Many people have also put them to the test to understand why.
The basic conclusion: not mold because it is too dry. That is, food has dehydrated, has a low humidity and this influences water activity as well.
The Kenji of Serious Eats put that rumor to test this rumor a few years ago. He tested with purchased snacks and that he did at home both did not mold.
Other important points: are cooked foods and during cooking is induced dehydration of them. Who has never done a steak, and it decreases in size? He lost water during.
Not to mention the high temperatures, this further decreases the microbiological load that food can have. This is worth enough for French fries: you fry by soaking in super hot oil (180oC) that practically leaves sterile and dehydrates the tuber (the bubbles you see coming out of the potato are water vapor).
One more factor: where the food was kept. If it is a dry place without ambient humidity, it dehydrates even faster. The tendency of food is to balance with the environment (mainly, water activity).
Support the PlateFund
You help keep the site and videos on the air and we have very cool rewards, come to know how!
Theor of Humor
Moisment is an idea that is easier to understand and visualize on a daily basis. It is literally the amount of water that food has.
For those who have already made Asian style cucumber salad that leaves him rested with salt and sugar, or cabbage. And after a while, there’s that puddle of water in the bowl. Humicity!
A super common food too: milk. Milk in about 87% humidity. That is, for every 100g of milk, 87g is water and 13g of the other ingredients (sugars, fats, proteins)
The amount of water in the food influences how it will spoil or not. Foods with more water usually spoiled faster than a dry food.
Who first spoils a bag of dried rice or a fresh apple placed under the same conditions? You know that?
However, it is not enough to have more water… it must be available for use. And here we enter the concept of Water Activity.
Activity of Water (a W)
I believe that few people have heard of Water Activity, but it is a super important and common data in various branches of industry.
It is information that helps to understand how water relates to food (or cosmetic, medicine). It has as maximum value 1 (which is that of the water itself) and without unity.
In the past, the definition or explanation was given as the free water that was available to be used either in the chemical reactions of the food itself as for the microorganisms.
However, in recent years with studies by a food scientist named Theodore Labuza says: that he does not have this concept of free water in food. The water will be on, however, the intensity of this connection may be strong or weak. The weaker, the easier the water comes out of this connection.
The total explanation of the concept enters into thermodynamics and leakage of water, but we will not enter this point…
Simply put, the greater the water activity the easier the food presents microbiological growth, if the conditions are favorable.
This variable on the influence of temperature, so it is always checked in constant temperature conditions and in closed system.
It has a certain connection with humidity, but it is not that direct. It is possible to have foods with low humidity, but with a high water activity. That is, despite having little water in itself, food can easily lose it.
An example I said in the video: honey. It is considered the food that never spoils (which is true in parts), and has no artificial preservative.
Honey has about 20% humidity (maximum allowed by the MAPA legislation) and has an aw of 0.6 that already hinders the growth of microorganisms.
Despite having moisture, the interaction of water with the other components of honey is intense. After all, honey is basically sucrose and fructose (carbohydrates) that like water a lot.
It is not a rule, but generally wetter food, can have a larger water activity.
Marketing of Fear
The question as much is the use of fear marketing. Instead of trying to explain and educate in a clear way, it was ugly to choose fear, to create the fear around chemicals, here, preservatives.
In time: everything is chemistry.
It is a tactic used in several areas of consumption, we see a lot in food and in recent times in beauty (cosmetics and makeup).
I believe that creating fear is never the way out. And that most of the time there is a lack of knowledge. If a person does not know and does not understand, to be afraid is easier. (See the situation of 2020)
This bias can be seen even more in the arts of the campaign with the text: or another strange name of preservative. And keep an eye out for the words used: of artificial origin.
For our body, the origin of the molecule does not matter. Whether it was created in a laboratory or made by nature. If the structure is the same (and is), the action will be the same. And nowadays with the advance of biotechnology (use of microorganisms for substance production), it was produced in the laboratory. But by living things, is it natural or synthetic? Stay there, the question.
Again, changes to leave less processed and the like is always welcome. But did you need to create a story (read: story for ox sleeping) that does not inform right?
Another question is: if your concern is in the amount of preservatives a fast food snack has, I believe that hole is deeper. After all, snacks in general this is not something we should always consume.
So, once in a while, why not? But if you always consume… a review in your relationship with food would be interesting, maybe.
References
- BARBOSA-CÁNOVAS, G.V. et al. Water Activity in Foods: Fundamentals and Applications Institute of Food Technologists Series, John Wiley & Sons, 2020.
- BRAGA, A. V. U.. Characterization of water activity and kinetic water desorption in food, Unicamp, 2015.
- FENNEMA, Owen R. Food chemistry. 3rd ed. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1996.
- Figure, L.; TEIXEIRA, A. A. Food Physics: Physical Properties Measurement and Applications, Springer, 2007.
- Gurtler, J.B. et al. The Microbiological Safety of Low Water Activity Foods and Spices Food Microbiology and Food Safety Practical Approaches, Springer, 2014.
- RAHMAN, Rahman, M.S. H and book of Food Preservation. Food Science and Technology, CRC Press, 1999.
- Rockland, L.B. Water Activity: Theory and Applications to Food. Routledge, 2017.
- – SOUZA, S. J. J. F. de. Study of water activity in co-products of the juice industry: passion fruit seeds, orange peel and mango peels, São José do Rio Preto, 2015.
- TROLLER, J. Water Activity and Food Science and Technology, Elsevier, 2012.
- L’pez-ALT, J. K. K. The Food Lab: Here’s Why McDonald’s Burgers Don’t Rot.
- FDA. Water Activity (aw) in Foods.
- What is the difference between water and moisture activity?
- Influence of Temperature in the Parameter Water Activity (aw)
