McDonald’s limited-time McRib sandwich is a cultural icon. And like every merchandise of its ilk, it’s divisive. On the one hand, the saucy, vaguely rib-esque boneless pork sandwich has a fan base so devoted that it’s impressed its personal Reddit megathread, merch, and an internet site known as the McRib Locator.
However on the opposite, the McRib has long been critiqued for its off-putting kind issue and doubtful substances. Now, a brand new class motion lawsuit is asking the query that’s at all times plagued the sandwich: Is the McRib really rib?
The lawsuit, which was filed on December 23, 2025, within the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that McDonald’s has purposefully been deceptive prospects with the title and form of the McRib. The 4 plaintiffs who collectively filed the go well with declare that the sandwich is marketed to resemble a rack of pork ribs, which McDonald’s does “regardless of understanding that the sandwich in truth doesn’t comprise any significant amount of precise pork rib meat—certainly, none in any respect.”
Finally, this lawsuit is all about marketing—and how we define deceptive marketing practices. Does a rib-shaped “seasoned boneless pork patty,” as McDonald’s describes it, a rib make? Or is the McRib a mere imitation of a real rib sandwich, masquerading as the true factor to permit McDonald’s to jack up its costs?
Whereas most People most likely have their very own knee-jerk response to those questions, the official reply might be left as much as the courtroom. For now, listed here are the info.
“The title McRib is a deliberate sleight of hand”
The crux of the brand new lawsuit rests on proving whether or not the McRib can definitionally be known as “rib”—and, because it seems, that’s simpler stated than achieved.
In keeping with the submitting, McDonald’s has cultivated a shortage mindset across the McRib by solely releasing it for a short time every year since its 1981 debut, utilizing annual anticipation to drive gross sales. Its authors counsel that the time period “rib” refers to a extra “premium” reduce of meat—producing an expectation of high quality that enables McDonald’s to cost the sandwich at as much as $7.89 in some areas, making it “among the many most costly single-item choices on the menu.”
Additional, they argue, McDonald’s purposefully misleads prospects by calling the sandwich a “McRib” and shaping it to resemble “a rack of pork ribs.” This mislabeling rests on the core of their declare that the McRib’s standing as a fleeting hero of McDonald’s menus nationwide rests on an inherently misleading premise.
“The title ‘McRib’ is a deliberate sleight of hand,” the go well with reads. “By together with the phrase ‘Rib’ within the title of the sandwich, McDonald’s knowingly markets the sandwich in a approach that deceives affordable customers, who fairly (however mistakenly) imagine {that a} product named the ‘McRib’ will embrace at the least some significant amount of precise pork rib meat, which instructions a premium worth available on the market.” As a substitute, it provides, they’re really consuming a “reconstructed meat product.”
Yikes.
To rib, or to not rib?
To know the distinction between a pork rib and a “reconstructed meat product,” the submitting dives into its definition of “precise pork rib meat.” It says pork rib meat refers both to spare ribs, a reduce on the backside of the rib cage, or child again ribs, positioned on the high of the rib cage. Each cuts, it explains, are persistently priced increased than lower-quality cuts like “loin” or “butt.”
Examine that definition to the McRib’s contents, and issues get slightly dicey. Per the submitting, the McRib’s meat patty is constructed utilizing ground-up parts of lower-grade pork merchandise, reminiscent of “pork shoulder, coronary heart, tripe, and scalded abdomen.”
In an e mail to Quick Firm, McDonald’s wrote that the lawsuit “distorts the info” with “meritless claims,” including, “Our fan-favorite McRib sandwich is made with 100% pork sourced from farmers and suppliers throughout the U.S.—there are not any hearts, tripe or scalded abdomen used within the McRib patty as falsely alleged on this lawsuit. We’ve at all times been clear about our substances so company could make the fitting alternative for them.”
Already, a military of McRib followers are rising to defend the sandwich’s honor on Reddit. “Do individuals don’t have anything higher to do or haven’t any disgrace?” one commenter wrote. “Who actually actually thought the McRib was meat from ribs?”
One other added, “Dumb. . . . Think about all of the ‘there was a bone in my McRib’ put up if it was really ribs.”
Whether or not you believed McDonald’s nebulous meat slab was product of actual ribs or not, it stays to be seen whether or not this case will impression the McRib’s future. Regardless, it’s a very good day to be a vegetarian.
