What’s a McRib anyway? McDonald’s faces lawsuit over sandwich’s ingredients

They’re not lovin’ it.

Fast food mega-chain McDonald’s is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit focused on the authenticity of its McRib sandwich and what it’s made of.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Dec. 23, claims that McDonald’s deceptively markets the McRib to specifically contain meat from pork ribs through its name, branding, and appearance.

“The name ‘McRib’ is a deliberate sleight of hand,” the plaintiffs — four consumers from California, New York, Illinois, and the District of Columbia — said in the filing.

For those uninitiated, the McRib is sort of a big deal. It’s a fan favorite with “limited edition” status within McDonald’s. Its availability varies based on timing and location. It debuted on McDonald’s menus back in 1981, and when the chain announced its discontinuation in 2005, there was a lengthy “farewell tour.”

In the years since, the sandwich continues to make celebrated annual returns, heightened with the help of social media. There are dedicated unofficial McRib fan accounts and trackers.

“McDonald’s McRib is a sandwich of legend,” a 2009 Maxim article titled “The Cult of the McRib” said. “The heavenly blend of pork patty, barbecue sauce, and bun is, to devotees, so addictive that songs have been written about it, Internet shrines erected to it, and TV shows dedicated to it. … It is rarely seen, yet frequently sought and cultishly worshiped. It is the Holy Grail on a bun.”

And now, that famed sandwich’s integrity is being scrutinized.

Here’s what we know so far.

McDonald’s describes the McRib as seasoned boneless pork dipped in BBQ sauce and topped with onions and pickles on a toasted bun. The sandwich is 520 calories and 24 grams of protein according to the fast food chain’s website.

The McRib returned to some McDonald’s menus as part of its annual “farewell tour” in November 2025 and seems to still be available. But the sandwich is limited to certain McDonald’s locations, including in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, and St. Louis.

According to the fan-led McRib Tracker, there’s only a handful of states nationwide serving up McRibs right now. It ranges in price from about $4 to $8, depending on the region.

The proposed class action suit says the McRib’s name, pricing, and appearance — a rib-shaped patty on a bun — misleads consumers into believing they’re purchasing a premium pork rib product.

The complaint adds that the rib-shaped patty is made of “restructured” pork using lower-quality cuts of pork, including shoulder, heart, stomach, and tripe instead of rib meat. McDonald’s has denied those claims.

The plaintiffs say they believed the McRib to be made of rib meat before purchasing. They add that marketing the McRib as a “limited-time” item is a strategy to create a sense of urgency, discouraging consumers from investigating its ingredients closely.

All four plaintiffs say they wouldn’t have purchased the McRib, or paid as much as they did, if they knew the sandwich had no actual pork rib meat.

The proposed lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of U.S. consumers who bought the McRib in recent years and is seeking damages, restitution, and a remedy to prevent future “deceptive marketing.”

McDonald’s McRib features what the company calls a “McRib Pork Patty,” which is shaped like a rack of ribs.

According to its website, the boneless patty is made of pork, water, salt, dextrose, and rosemary extract.

Using the phrase boneless pork does a lot of quiet, legal work in the background, noted Quartz.

McRib supporters say the sandwich has always been marketed as a boneless, snackable take on ribs. And it’s not a secret. To this day, there are no rib bones involved, and McDonald’s doesn’t pretend there are.

“Contrary to what its name implies, there is very little actual rib meat in a McRib,” the 2009 Maxim article about the cultish sandwich said. “Primar­ily, it’s shoulder meat,” Rob Cannell, then-director of McDonald’s U.S. supply chain, told the outlet.

He added, “The pork meat is chopped up, then seasoned, then formed into that shape that looks like a rib back. Then we flash-freeze it. The whole process from fresh pork to frozen McRib takes about 45 minutes.”

In a statement sent to multiple outlets, McDonald’s said that the lawsuit “distorts the facts and many of the claims are inaccurate.”

The fast food chain says the McRib is made with 100% pork sourced from farmers and suppliers nationwide.

“We’ve always been transparent about our ingredients so guests can make the right choice for them,” the company said.

The statement did not go into detail regarding the plaintiffs’ claims that the McRib’s marketing as “limited edition” plays into its price point and distinction from other permanent menu items.

Over the years, there have been several instances of lawsuits and disputes surrounding how popular foods are marketed or made.

For instance, in 2023, a judge dismissed a lawsuit that claimed that Subway’s tuna sandwiches didn’t use real tuna or contained less tuna than advertised. Subway denied those claims. The plaintiff and Subway came to an undisclosed agreement.

Another Subway-related incident: Last year, consumers filed multiple class-action suits claiming that the amount of steak in the sandwich company’s cheesesteaks was falsely advertised.

And similar but different: In 2014, the pomegranate juice company Pom sued Coca-Cola over its Minute Maid pomegranate blueberry juice. Pom claimed the Minute Maid juice was mostly apple and grape juice despite its branding. A jury eventually ruled for Coca-Cola.

There was also a major case in 2014 where food production company Unilever sued vegan mayo company Hampton Creek for calling its spread “Just Mayo” despite it being plant-based and lacking eggs. The case led to new regulations throughout the vegan food scene regarding how foods can be branded and if terms like milk or mayo can be used without key animal byproducts.

In short, a court will need to determine if the lawsuit qualifies as a class action that represents U.S. consumers who purchased the McRib.

From there, McDonald’s could file a motion to dismiss the suit, or the parties could potentially settle along the way. If the case proceeds, a judge may have to decide the scope of a “reasonable consumer” and their expectations when it comes to rib-shaped pork sandwiches.