It’s made of…WHAT! The truth about the disturbing McRib ingredient rumors as McDonald’s relaunches the cult sandwich

McDonald’s has returned the much-loved McRib to Britain after a decade-long absence, much to the delight of long-time fans of the barbecue-style sandwich.

But rumors about what it’s actually made of include stomach-churning ingredients like pig rectums, hearts and stomachs also circulate.

At first glance, the McRib patty is a rectangle of meat that, despite the name, contains no bones.

Served in a bun and slathered in barbecue sauce, with onions and pickles, it was first launched in the US and Britain in 1981.

But the sandwich only survived for five years before being retired on both sides of the Atlantic.

It has made sporadic and limited returns since the last UK one, before the current rollout, about a decade ago.

Rumors about the McRib, how it’s made and why it comes and goes, have circulated for years and typically resurface when the menu item returns.

One of the longest-standing rumors is that the meat used to make the sandwich is in fact pig anus.

A user named Roger D.Trepte wrote on the social media site

Another user, Rogerabutcher, previously claimed: ‘I once saw a box of McRib opened at McDonald’s. It said pig anus inverted.”

The rumor that McRib is made from the lower part of a pig’s lower intestine comes from here a doctored image of a box of ‘pig rectums’ with a McDonald’s logo photoshopped onto it.

Internet sleuths eventually tracked down the original image in Taipei, Taiwan, where the pig’s lower intestines form a dish called pork dung.

Other rumors suggest it is a bizarre collection of offal or made from some other animal, with The Simpsons parodying this idea with their ‘Ribwich’, which is not made from a pig, but something ‘smaller with more legs’.

These rumors have taken a sinister turn in recent years, with conspiracy theorists claiming that the McRib was made from homeless people.

A user Walker Zombley wrote on X: ‘McRib is basically organ meat from homeless people. It happens once a year, because it coincides with the time when cities evacuate their inner cities.’

Another user, who went by the name “space turtle earther,” wrote, “Notice how there always seem to be fewer homeless people around when they bring back the McRib.”

There is no evidence that these rumors are true.

What’s actually in a McRib patty?

Pork is the undramatic truth. Notably, 96 percent easily exceeds the minimum meat content of 67 percent for a pork patty in Britain.

McDonald’s itself told MailOnline: ‘The McRib is made from ground RSPCA Assured pork, sourced from 100 per cent British Assured farms, which is formed into the iconic McRib shaped patty.’

This meat is then processed into the McRib through a combination of thickeners, stabilizers and anti-caking agents, which firmly position the sandwich as an ultra-processed food (UPF) and are a testament to nutritional science.

McDonald’s UK ingredient list for the McRib patty 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 gut and increase the risk of inflammatory bowel disease.

And another study linked maltodextrin to chronic inflammatory conditions and infection and inflammation of the digestive system.

It also contains ascorbic acid, gum arabic, silicon dioxide and more mundane ingredients such as onion, garlic and spices.

UPFs have come under increasing attention in recent years due to studies linking consumption of this category of food to serious health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and even dementia. Although these are disputed by some experts.

Unsurprisingly, the McRib is not a healthy option, even if you ignore UPF concerns.

By itself, not counting the meal, the sandwich’s 9.1 grams of saturated fat accounts for almost half of the recommended daily limit for women and a third of that for men.

Too much saturated fat in a 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 at 2.5 grams is almost half the NHS recommended limit of 6 grams for adults.

Why the £4.49 sandwich, over 500 calories, comes and goes is a little harder to pin down.

There are rumors that McDonald’s will only bring it back when pork prices reach a certain threshold for maximum profit, while others insist it has to do with creating artificial scarcity.

The latter’s logic is that by limiting the McRib to a short period of time, it creates a buzz where people are more likely to go to McDonald’s and buy not just the sandwich itself, but other items like drinks and side dishes, boosting profits overall go.

Anyway, the latest reintroduction of the McRib in Britain is once again a short discussion before returning to the vaults of McDonald’s, where it will only be available while supplies last.