2013 news report on human remains is unrelated to McDonald’s

McDonald’s has been serving fries and burgers for more than 70 years. But a viral video put would-be customers on alert about what sounded like a frightening fast-food development.

“FBI finds human remains at a McDonald’s meat supplier,” read text over several Instagram videos shared Sept. 27 and Sept. 29 that show a television news reporter appearing to break news about the FBI recovering evidence of human remains from a Detroit business.

(Screenshot from Instagram)

The posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The video clip is real, but it does not show a reporter at a McDonald’s meat supplier. It’s from Dec. 13, 2013, and shows a reporter from metro Detroit’s ABC News affiliate WXYZ-TV discussing the FBI’s investigation into International Biological Inc., a business the reporter described as a “medical educational service provider.”

Arthur Rathburn, who owned the business, was sentenced to nine years in prison for selling diseased body parts for use in medical and dental training.

We found no mention of McDonald’s in news reports or court documents involving the case. 

PolitiFact previously debunked claims that human remains were found in a McDonald’s meat factory. 

So eat your Big Mac in peace. The claim that this video shows the “FBI finds human remains at a McDonald’s meat supplier” is Pants on Fire!