McDonald’s McRib sandwich—a limited-time menu item most recently available in November—has drawn a cult following. Now some of those same fast-food diners are suing the company, alleging the famous sandwich’s name is a misnomer.
A federal class action lawsuit filed last month in the Northern District of Illinois claims McDonald’s calling the sandwich a “McRib” is a “deliberate sleight of hand,” and contains no actual rib meat. Instead, according to the complaint, what McDonald’s calls a “pork rib patty” is actually composed of “lower-grade pork products such as, inter alia, pork shoulder, heart, tripe, and scalded stomach.”
McDonald’s told Fortune in a statement that the lawsuit “distorts the facts and the claims are meritless.”
“Our fan-favorite McRib sandwich is made with 100% pork sourced from farmers and suppliers across the U.S.–there are no hearts, tripe or scalded stomach used in the McRib patty as falsely alleged in this lawsuit,” the statement said. “We’ve always been transparent about our ingredients so guests can make the right choice for them.”
The plaintiffs seeking class-action status and unspecified damages in the lawsuit—including in New York, Illinois, California, and Washington, D.C.—allege McDonald’s intentionally misled its customers on the type of meat in the sandwich: Rib meat, as found in baby back or spare ribs, is of a premium quality that costs more than lower-quality cuts of meat, the lawsuit said.
