Behind the Nasty Urban Legend That McDonald's Uses Human Meat
Updated May 7 2020, 5:52 p.m. ET
Most of our favorite fast food chains have been victims of urban legends, from stories alleging that Taco Bell's meat partially comes from dead horses, to others, such as Burger King serving fake sweet potato fries. Likewise, folklore that McDonald's uses human meat has been prevalent for several years now.
We're doing a deep dive into how the urban legends surrounding McDonald's came to be, and we'll be looking into what their hamburger meat is actually made of — stay tuned.
Where does the McDonald's uses human meat urban legend come from?
Apparently, the rumor that McDonald's uses human meat was spread by a site called, Huzlers, which posts satire stories, including a piece about an Oklahoma City McDonald's restaurant that blended both human and horse meat into their burger patties, according to Eat This, Not That!. Obviously, the news story was totally fake, and eventually, readers realized they had been fooled.
With that, a number of people have come to believe that McDonald's patties aren't made of real beef, and to cover that up, the chain supposedly buys its beef supplies from a company called 100 Percent Beef. This part of the rumor, however, was proven incorrect, as McDonald's is relatively transparent about sourcing its ingredients.
What does McDonald's actually use in their patties though?
Like we said previously, as a whole, the Golden Arches are pretty open about what they use in terms of ingredients, as well as who they use as suppliers — on an FAQ page on their website, one user, Muhannad asked, "are you using humans meat in the food," and the chain responded with, well, the response most of us probably expected to hear.
In response to the inquiry, McDonald's said: "Hi Muhannad! We use 100% pure and Halal beef and chicken in our food sourced from approved suppliers who abide by our strict quality, safety and Halal standards. To help you have a clearer picture of what goes into our patties, kindly click on this link which explains the process from farm to tray. Thanks for stopping by!" So that explains it.
Someone supposedly "found" a finger in their Wendy's chili once, but they plated it there.
Although there hasn't been human meat found in McDonald's burgers as of publication, a 39-year-old woman named Anna Ayala once "found" a finger in her Wendy's chili, back in March 2005. Supposedly, according to New York Times, she was eating at a San Jose, Calif. location, when she "unexpectedly" discovered human remains in her food.
However, the finger in the chili turned out to be a hoax — apparently, the missing appendage belonged to a colleague of Anna's husband... which is pretty disgusting, if you ask us.
We're truly relieved that McDonald's isn't using human meat in their burger patties, or else the Big Macs we're picking up this weekend would look pretty nasty. Needless to say, don't believe everything you read on the internet. Some of it could actually be "fake news."
