McDonald’s must face a class-action lawsuit alleging that the name, appearance, and marketing of its McRib sandwich mislead customers into believing it contains pork rib meat, a federal judge has ruled. The dispute adds the McRib to a list of McDonald’s products that have become the subject of courtroom battles, including Chicken McNuggets, french fries, and its coffee. Four customers filed the lawsuit against McDonald’s Corporation in December 2025 in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The complaint alleges that the company deliberately gives the McRib patty ridges so that it looks like a proper rack of ribs. "Despite its name and distinctive shape—its meat patty has been deliberately crafted to resemble a rack of pork ribs—the McRib does not contain any actual pork rib meat at all," the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs claim that the sandwich uses less expensive pork products, including "inter alia, pork shoulder, heart, tripe, and scalded stomach," and that customers paid a premium price for it because they believed they were buying rib meat. The company’s published ingredient list describes the patty as containing pork, water, salt, dextrose, and rosemary extract. Its website calls the product "seasoned boneless pork," but doesn’t identify "rib meat" as a specific ingredient.
District Judge April Perry rejected McDonald’s attempt to dismiss the entire case. Perry said it was too early to accept the company’s argument that no reasonable consumer would believe the McRib contained rib meat. "Plaintiffs’ proffered understanding of ‘McRib’ is not unreasonable or fanciful," Perry wrote.
The judge dismissed some claims but allowed consumer-deception, fraud, and unjust-enrichment claims to proceed. The ruling doesn’t mean that McDonald’s has been found liable, though. The plaintiffs must still produce evidence supporting their allegations.
McDonald’s denied that the McRib contains heart, tripe, or stomach and said it has been transparent about the sandwich’s ingredients. "This lawsuit distorts the facts and the claims are meritless," the company said in a statement. It argued that the preference of some customers for a particular cut of pork doesn’t turn its marketing into consumer fraud.
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