Judge Allows McRib Consumer Deception Claims to Proceed

A federal judge has allowed key consumer-deception claims over McDonald’s McRib sandwich to proceed, rejecting the company’s request to dismiss a proposed class-action lawsuit in its entirety. The ruling leaves unresolved whether the sandwich’s marketing misled customers or whether its patty contains the ingredients alleged by plaintiffs. U.S. District Judge April Perry, sitting in Chicago, ruled October 30 that claims of consumer deception, fraud and unjust enrichment could move forward. She dismissed five other claims without prejudice, leaving plaintiffs able to seek to bring them again. The decision concerns whether the allegations may proceed, not whether they are true. The proposed class has not been certified. Four consumers filed the lawsuit in December 2025. They allege that the McRib’s name, rib-shaped patty and marketing lead customers to believe it contains pork rib meat, and that buyers paid a premium based on that impression. Their complaint says the patty instead uses restructured pork and alleges it contains cuts including shoulder, heart, tripe and stomach. McDonald’s denies misleading customers and says the sandwich is made with pork sourced from U.S. farmers...