A McRib by any other name is WHAT?

  When McDonald’s first introduced this well marketed sandwich in 1981 it appeared to be some form of a boneless slab of barbequed pork and any American “worth his salt” loves barbeque.  My husband hears those two words “barbequed ribs” and he literally dives into the pit emerging with sauce dripping from his mouth, hands and elbows.  Forget the napkins, it’s finger, hand and wrist lickin’ good.  Heaven forbid you’d waste one drop by using a napkin for any excess.  It’s like time traveling to attend a primal-man luncheon.  The entire visual experience is, in my opinion, nauseating and revolting.

Since the first time I lifted the rather weighty, compressed sandwich to my lips I would describe the McRib as nauseating and revolting. Another disgusting fast food item, ranked right up there with greasy french fries that titillates the taste buds like cardboard. I’d rather eat orange crayons or suck on a piece of coal. I became a connoisseur of both as a child, a true story gladly verified by my siblings. Some may be offended by my opinion. My own mother loved the sandwich, but I surmise what really appealed to her was the experience of getting out of the house and having company while she ate.

        I sensed something “just not right” about it, rather akin to attempting to eat those make-believe plastic food pieces.

   As it turns out the McRib is a “Restructured Meat Product".  According to a Chicago magazine, citing a 1995 article by Mandigo, a University of Nebraska professor, who developed the product, it is described:

“Restructured meat products are commonly manufactured by using lower-valued meat trimmings reduced in size by comminution (flaking, chunking, grinding, chopping or slicing). The comminuted meat mixture is mixed with salt and water to extract salt-soluble proteins. These extracted proteins are critical to produce a “glue” which binds muscle pieces together. These muscle pieces may then be reformed to produce a “meat log” of specific form or shape.“

Still hungry?  There are a lot of restructured meat products out there: Hot Dogs, sausages, Chicken McNuggets just to mention a few.  According to McDonalds’ box labeling, the McRib sandwich consists of just five basic components – a pork patty and BBQ sauce with pickle slices, onions and a sesame bun.

Read between the lines:

A closer examination of McDonald’s own list of ingredients reveals that the sandwich contains a total of 70 ingredients, including :

·         Ammonium sulfate- (Ammonium sulfate is used most commonly as an artificial fertilizer , the production of printed circuit boards, and  plays an important role in developing vaccines. Ammonium sulfate is potentially dangerous to both people and the environment and should not be consumed in large quanity.)

·         Polysorbate 80 (It is used primarily as an emulsifier in food products, cosmetics, vitamins, medicines, and vaccines.  Injection of the chemical into the body, and a study in 1993 showed that its injection into baby female rats resulted in malformed reproductive organs. Years later, reports of this study caused many to question if this compound was safe when used in flu vaccines for the H1N1 virus. The chemical has also been linked to anaphylactic shock.)

·         Azodicarbonamide ( A flour-bleaching component that is often used to produce foamed plastics [think gym mats and the soles of shoes]. It is banned in Europe and Australia as a food additive.)

Think about that for a second: When you eat a McRib, you’re eating the same chemical ingredients and compounds in those disgusting yoga mats at the gym.

In our youth while camping or picnicing and an insect lit on our food it was met with our disgust.  My Dad would laugh and say “If you eat it, it’s not going to hurt you. It’s just a little extra protein.” Never thought I’d say it but “No thank you, McDonalds. I prefer the bugs!”.