Don't Dig On Swine...part 1. | The GEM Organic Food and Juice

Pork+Meat Glue+Cult following=McRib

Now you know the equation. But do you know what the hell ‘McRib’ is?

If you knew, you might think twice about bee-lining it to the drive thru to get you some piggie love. First off, it includes “restructured meat product” and a flour-bleaching agent used to make the soles of shoes. Delectable? You ready for this?

How many ingredients does it take to make a McRib? Holy Cow! Er, Pig.

At first glance, the sandwich contains just pork, onions, and pickles doused in BBQ sauce and laid out on a harmless bun. But the truth is, there are roughly 70 ingredients. The bun alone contains 34. In addition to chemicals like ammonium sulfate and polysorbate 80, the most frightening may be azodicarbonamide — “a flour-bleaching agent most commonly used in the manufacturing of foamed plastics like gym mats and the soles of shoes.” According to McDonald’s own ingredient list the bun also includes calcium sulfate and ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, among other chemicals. Whaa? I’ve never seen those ingredients in my recipe books AND they are banned in Europe.

You know what they make those things out of, Chet? You know? Lips and assholes! (The Great Outdoors,1988) Or, as it’s called, this “restructured meat product” includes pig bits like tripe, heart, and scalded stomach, says Whet Moser at Chicago Magazine. (Scalded stomach???) These parts are cooked and blended with salt and water to extract proteins, which act as a “glue” that helps bind the reshaped meat together. (There’s that famous meat glue again!)

Is it really that bad for you? Need you ask? Though “slightly trimmer than the Big Mac,” the McRib, still packs in 500 calories and 26 grams of fat. And despite its name, one thing you won’t find inside a McRib is bones. The absence of any detectable “rib” is what gives the unnutritious mush its “quirky sense of humor,” says McDonald’s U.S. marketing director.

Is that really humorous?