McDonald's Defends McRib Process Step-By-Step, From Pork To Frozen Patty

Ever since the infamous McRib made its debut in 1981, manufactured and produced by McDonald’s, it has remained a mystery meat among the many fast food items on the menu. Thanks to a 2010 health care legislation that requires every restaurant chain in the United States to list their calories and ingredients, we can find out exactly what the McRib is made of.

The quality of the seasonal sandwich, which is only sold in short intervals each year, wasn’t publicly questioned until a picture of the uncooked slab of raw meat went viral and immediately caused an uproar. The photo first appeared on Reddit anonymously, featuring a bare hand holding the icy frozen rectangle.

When high school teacher Wes Ballamy saw the photo, he took to Twitter to warn people not to eat the inedible-looking patties. McDonald’s reached out and invited him to visit its Oklahoma factory and see how the McRib is actually made. Grant Imahara, a professional mythbuster, brought Ballamy on a tour to McDonald’s pork supplier Lopez Foods, where they donned white lab coats, masks, gloves, and hard helmets.

A “pork picnic” mixture of boneless meat is ground up, and spices and preservatives are tossed in to give it a longer shelf life. After its cooking cutter is pressed into the shape you see in between the bun of the finished product, which has an alarmingly long list of ingredients itself, it’s then flash frozen. When it rolls down the factory belt, Ballamy picks up a frozen rib with his gloved hand and, low and behold, it looks identical to the original viral photo.

There’s something eerily calculated about how set up the video released from McDonald’s YouTube channel appeared. The gentlemen walk through the quiet factory and inspect each process step, which is awaiting their arrival. Ballamy and Imahara actually end the video by eating the sandwich. After the two men finish eating, they endearingly call each other McRib buddies with a forced laugh as they walk off into the sunset of the pork factory parking lot. Imahara even invites viewers to send in more questions about McDonald’s food, so they can stage another factory tour of how another of of their mystery items is made.

Sure, it packs a whopping 22 grams (g) of protein, but take a look at the 980g of sodium — that eats up roughly half of the recommended serving for the entire day. Continuing to base these recommendations on a typical 2,000-calorie diet, no more than 600 of your day’s calories should come from fat. The McRib provides a total of 500 calories and nearly half of them come from fat. The sandwich itself is made of pork, water, salt, dextrose, and preservatives BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid, according to McDonald’s nutrition list. Thanks to that transparent video, we now know it’s flash frozen meat filled with preservatives, wrapped in plastic and shipped off in boxes.