Since very young, children have admired the colorful and tasty creations of the brand McDonald’s, which is a master in marketing.

This immensely popular fast-food chain has even created a cult of their “McRib” sandwich.

This sandwich was introduced in 1981, along with a ‘special’ selection menu item available in numerous regions at different times. However, its great comeback was at the end of 2013.

Yet, even though the famous McRib is supposedly made of a bun, pickles, a barbecue patty, and onions, apparently, it contains 70 ingredients!

The fast-food chain has even gone so far that the official website lists all of them. We will five a short review of the ingredients, and the information is taken from the website.

The “Meat”

McRib Pork Patty

Ingredients: Pork, Water, Salt, Dextrose, Preservatives (BHA, Propyl Gallate, Citric Acid).

The meat is of extremely low quality, as the ‘pork’ is restructured meat in fact. It contains the disposable innards of the pig like the heart, tripe, and scalded stomach, which are then cooked in salt and water.

This process eliminates all of the salt-soluble proteins and blends all into some kind of concoction, known as the “pork patty.”

The preservatives used, propyl gallate and BHA, are linked to numerous side-effects, like urinary bladder and thyroid carcinogenesis. Research has shown that these two also cause stomach hyperplasia and cytotoxicity.

The McRib Bun

McRib Bun

Allergens: Wheat and Soy

Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Yeast, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains 2% Or Less: Salt, Corn Meal, Wheat Gluten, Soybean Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oils, Dextrose, Sugar, Malted Barley Flour, Cultured Wheat Flour, Calcium Sulfate, Ammonium Sulfate, Soy Flour, Dough Conditioners (Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Mono- and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Mono- and Diglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Guar Gum, Calcium Peroxide), Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Soy Lecithin.

Contains: Wheat and Soy

This list shows that there are around 40 ingredients in the bun solely. Yet, you should know that hydrogenated oils cause numerous side-effects, high-fructose corn syrup leads to pancreatic cancer, and ammonium and calcium sulfate are often used as soil fertilizers!

Moreover, azodicarbonamide serves as a ‘dough conditioner’ in this case, but otherwise, it is used in the manufacture of foamed plastics in the U.S. Yet, the disturbing truth is that its use is banned in Europe and Australia, while in Singapore, it results in jail time.

The McRib Sauce

McRib Sauce

Ingredients: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Tomato Paste, Distilled Vinegar, Molasses, Natural Smoke Flavor (Plant Source), Modified Food Starch, Salt, Sugar, Spices, Soybean Oil, Xanthan Gum, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Chili Pepper, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Caramel Color, Beet Powder.

Here again, the main ingredient is high fructose corn syrup.

Pickle Slices

Ingredients: Cucumbers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Alum, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Natural Flavors (Plant Source), Polysorbate 80, Extractives of Turmeric (Color).

Unfortunately, even the pickles in this sandwich might lead to cancer, as potassium sorbate is a compound with genotoxic and mutagenic properties.

Hence, this popular rib patty contains 70 ingredients and no ribs! Shocking, isn’t it?

Marta Fearon, Marketing Director for McDonald’s, makes an interesting spin by saying that the absence of actual “ribs” is what gives the item its “quirky sense of humour”!

Due to such things, people are becoming more aware of the disastrous effects of the consumption of fast foods. In the last ten years, the McDonald’s restaurants in Bermuda, Iceland, and Bolivia were shut down and banned.

Customers became conscious about their dietary habits and started to focus on nutrient-rich, healthy foods, in order to boost their health and avoid potential health risks.

Let’s hope that one day, the world will be free of these harmful foods which endanger our well-being on the first bite.

Source: www.collective-evolution.comOther included sources linked in Collective Evolutions’s article:
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/coopext_swine/174/ (restructured meat info)
http://www.ewg.org/research/ewg-s-dirty-dozen-guide-food-additives/generally-recognized-as-safe-but-is-it (Propyl gallate information)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/high-fructose-corn-syrup_b_4256220.htmlhttp://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/01/21/corn-syrup-toxic.aspx (high fructose corn syrup information)
http://apps.who.int/bookorders/anglais/detart1.jsp?codlan=1&codcol=38&codcch=16 (azodicarbonamide information)
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/is-potassium-sorbate-bad-for-you/ (potassium sorbate information)
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/08/08/countries-without-mcdonald/http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/product_nutrition.sandwiches.292.mcrib-.html