McRib Myth Busting
From How Stuff Works
What exactly
is the McRib? McDonald's describes the contents of the famed sandwich as "seasoned, boneless pork slathered in smoky, tangy barbecue sauce, topped with slivered onions and tart pickles," but that's just marketing. We do know one thing: It's
not pork rib meat. It's mostly meat from the pork shoulder.
It's called
restructured meat, and the food processing technique was created by the U.S. Army in the 1960s to lower its food costs. These new meats were added to MREs for troops. So essentially, the McRib is made of pig parts (including boneless pork picnic shoulder) pressed into the iconic McRib shape with some barbecue sauce added for flavor.
McDonald's did allow the late Grant Imahara, former co-host of "MythBusters," behind the scenes in 2014 with Virginia teacher Wes Bellamy. Bellamy's tweet about how unappetizing the meat looked caught McDonald's attention.
The two watched as the pork meat was processed and pressed into shape, and then flash-frozen to be shipped to restaurants. In the video, Kevin Nanke, vice president of McDonald's U.S. pork supplier Lopez Foods, says the only ingredients in a McRib are pork, water, dextrose and preservatives to "lock in the flavor."
Linda VanGosen, McDonald's vice president of menu innovation, said in a
press statement: "There's nothing quite like the taste of the McRib."
