Bun of contention

St Dominic's pupils Esther Meachen, 5, and Sascha Oldehaver, 6, with the McDonald's cheeseburger.

Call it the happy-ever-after meal.

About 28 weeks ago, St Dominic's Catholic Primary School principal Daniel Pepper put a McDonald's cheeseburger on display, and he says it hasn't changed since.

Mr Pepper said there was no mould on the burger and it looked the same as the day it was bought, apart from the bun having gone hard.

"We did a big science fair here in term two so I just chucked it in the foyer as a bit of a science experiment that I was doing and it's just been sitting there.

"Now it's coming to the end of the year and nothing has changed on it. We've been watching as a whole school whether it was going to go mouldy, or smelly - it didn't even go smelly."

Mr Pepper said the school had been talking to pupils about healthy eating and preservatives used in food.

He said all visitors to the school could see the burger in the foyer.

"It's really just to highlight the fact that fast food is great occasionally, but do they actually understand what they put in their bodies?"

Pupil Esther Meachen, 5, said: "It looks just like normal, but it's really old."

School administration manager Jenn Narran said there had been a lot of interest in the burger, especially from older pupils, who would check on its progress daily.

McDonald's spokeswoman Kim Bartlett said the lack of mould was due to a lack of moisture. "There isn't enough moisture to support mould growth to break it down. Instead, it simply dries out."