McDonald’s has brought the much-loved McRib back to the UK after a decade away, much to the delight of long-time fans of the barbecue-style sandwich.
But rumors about what it’s actually made of, including stomach-churning ingredients like rectums, pig hearts and stomachs also circulate.
At first glance, the McRib burger is a rectangle of meat that, despite the name, contains no bones.
Served on a bun and spread with barbecue sauce, onion and pickles, it was first released in the United States and the United Kingdom in 1981.
But the sandwich only survived five years before being removed from both sides of the Atlantic.
McDonald’s has brought the much-loved McRib back to the UK after a decade away, much to the delight of long-time fans of the barbecue-style sandwich.
Since then it has had sporadic and limited returns; the last one in the UK, before the current launch, was about a decade ago.
Rumors about the McRib, how it’s made, and why it appears and disappears have circulated for years, usually resurfacing when the menu item returns.
One of the most enduring rumors is that the meat used to make the sandwich is actually pig’s anus.
Posting on social media site
Another user, Rogerabutcher, previously stated: ‘I once saw a McRib box opened at McDonald’s. It said inverted pig’s anus.
The rumor that McRib is made from the lower part of a pig’s lower intestine comes from a fake image of a box of ‘pork rectums’ with the McDonald’s logo photoshopped.
At first glance, the McRib burger is an ambiguously shaped rectangle of meat that, despite the name, contains no bones or any suggestion that it was ever attached to anything.
Internet sleuths eventually located the original image in Taipei, Taiwan, where the pig’s lower intestines form a dish called pork bung.
Other rumors suggest that it is a strange collection of remains or some other animal. The Simpsons parody this idea with their ‘Ribwich’ which was not made from a pig but from something ‘smaller and with more legs’.
These rumors have taken a sinister turn in recent years, with conspiracy theorists claiming that the McRib is made from homeless people.
One user, Walker Zumbley, wrote on X: ‘McRib is actually homeless organ meat. It appears once a year because it coincides with the time when cities clean their urban centers.
Another user, going by the name ‘space turtle terrestrial’, wrote: ‘Notice how there always seem to be fewer homeless people every time they bring out the McRib.’
There is no proof that these rumors are true.
One of the most enduring is that the meat used to make the sandwich is actually pig’s anus.
The rumor that the McRib is made from the lower part of a pig’s lower intestine comes from a fake image of a box of ‘pork rectum’ with a Photoshopped McDonald’s logo.
Rumors have taken a sinister turn in recent years, with conspiracy theorists claiming the McRib is made from homeless people.
There is no evidence that these rumors are true.
So what’s really in a McRib burger?
Pork is the undramatic truth. Specifically, 96 percent, which easily eclipses the minimum meat content of 67 percent for a pork burger in the United Kingdom.
McDonald’s themselves told MailOnline: “The McRib is made with RSPCA Assured ground pork, sourced from 100 per cent British Assured farms, which is shaped like the iconic McRib-shaped burger.”
This meat, through a combination of thickeners, stabilizers and anti-caking agents, which firmly positions the sandwich as an ultra-processed food (UPF) and is a testament to food science, is then transformed into the McRib.
McDonald’s UK ingredients list for the McRib burger includes two types of maltodextrin and dextrose which can be used as thickeners, fillers, preservatives and sweeteners.
Some studies have linked maltodextrin to health problems.
A 2015 study found that people who consumed maltodextrin had reduced numbers of good bacteria in their gut and increased numbers of bad bacteria, which could damage the intestines and increase the risk of inflammatory bowel diseases.
And another study linked maltodextrin to chronic inflammatory conditions and infections and inflammation of the digestive system.
It also includes ascorbic acid, gum arabic, silicon dioxide, and more mundane ingredients like onion, garlic, and seasonings.
UPFs have received increased attention in recent years due to studies linking consumption of this food category with serious health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and even dementia. Although some experts question it.
Unsurprisingly, the McRib is not a healthy option, even if UPF’s concerns are dismissed.
On its own, not counting any meals, the sandwich’s 9.1g of saturated fat represents nearly half of a woman’s recommended daily limit and a third of a man’s.
Too much saturated fat in the diet can increase the risk of bad cholesterol in the blood, which can increase the risk of heart disease or stroke.
The McRib is also high in salt and its 2.5g is almost half the 6g limit recommended for adults by the NHS.
As for why the £4.49, 500+ calorie sandwich comes and goes, it’s a little harder to pin down.
There are rumors that McDonald’s only recovers it when pork prices reach a certain threshold to make maximum profit, while others insist it has to do with creating artificial shortages.
The logic of the latter is that limiting the McRib to a short period creates a buzz where people are more likely to go to McDonald’s and buy not only the sandwich itself, but also other items such as drinks and sides, which which increases profits more generally.
Regardless, the McRib’s most recent reintroduction to Britain is once again a brief flirtation before it returns to the McDonald’s vaults and is only available while stocks last.