Omaha Exploration

Back in the 1970’s, the National Pork Producers Council was desperate to add pork to more restaurant menus. That’s when they approached an animal science professor at the University of Nebraska. That person, Roger Mandingo, was tasked with creating a menu item specifically for McDonald’s that used pork trimmings. If Roger had his way, the golden arches may be slinging McPork Chops rather than McRibs. 

Drawing inspiration from the process of sausage-making, Roger went back to his lab and instead of stuffing pork into casing, he used salt to extract proteins from the muscle. Those proteins were then used to hold the pork trimmings together. At that point, he was able to shape the meat however he wanted. That led him to the creation of a faux pork chop. 

The people at Mickey D’s clearly didn’t think a pork chop shaped menu item would sell quite as well as a rib shaped item. After dressing it with barbecue sauce, onions and pickles and served on a sandwich roll, the McRib was born. 

McDonald’s added the item to its menu following a chicken shortage caused by the popularity of its Chicken McNuggets which made its debut in 1979. The McRib, on the other hand, didn’t take off in the same way. It was first added to menus in 1981 before being pulled in 1985 due to poor sales. It was added again in 1989 before being removed yet again. It reappeared in 1994 to promote the Flintstones movie. By this time, the McRib became a hit and remained on menus until around 2005. Since then it has become a limited-time offering that seems to pop up every few years including 2023. 

Roger does not claim to be the father of the McRib stating that his team in Lincoln only developed the concepts and technology that allowed meat trimmings to be shaped however it wanted (it’s also used to make dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets). He was, however, credited with inventing “restructured meats” which earned him a spot in the Meat Industry Hall of Fame 2010 class alongside such industry heavy weights as Dave Thomas of Wendy’s and Colonel Sanders of KFC. 

After retiring from UNL a year later, Larry Begrer, department head of animal science said of Roger, “We have a leading scholar in the processed meats area who has worked with and has been a part of meat processing in Nebraska to help the industry become more productive and efficient. It’s a win-win for the department and the meat processors of Nebraska.”

Probably not surprising to anyone is that the largest buyer of restructured meats is not McDonald’s but the U.S. Military. This makes it an easy and convenient way of feeding large numbers of people each day. As far as the rest of us, if you want the McRib when it’s not offered in one of the 13,522 restaurants in the United States, travel to Germany or Luxembourg where you can get it year-round.

I’d love to hear what you have to say so please feel free to comment. Until next time, keep exploring!

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