Overview
- A federal judge in Chicago refused to dismiss a proposed class action against McDonald’s and allowed core consumer-deception, fraud, and unjust-enrichment claims to proceed.
- The complaint, filed by four consumers, alleges the McRib patty contains no actual rib meat and instead is reconstructed from lower‑grade pork parts and shaped and named to suggest ribs.
- McDonald’s denies the accusations, says the lawsuit distorts the facts, and points to its published McRib patty ingredients of “pork, water, salt, dextrose, and rosemary extract.”
- The court dismissed five other claims without prejudice, sending the remaining counts toward discovery where plaintiffs may seek internal marketing and ingredient information and the parties may contest class certification.
- The case arrives as McDonald’s is running a limited regional McRib return, a dynamic that plaintiffs say magnifies consumer expectations and potential harm given the sandwich’s long history of scarcity-driven demand.