A Kentucky man buys an Arby’s Beef and Cheddar, puts on rubber gloves and says: ‘I wouldn’t call it roast beef’

A Kentucky man pulled apart an Arby’s Beef and Cheddar sandwich on TikTok, and he calls the meat “paste.” According to BroBible, he wore rubber gloves while taking the sandwich apart and titled the clip a breakdown. The clip focuses on what the chain’s roast beef contains.

He unwraps the sandwich, removes the bun and lifts out the beef before making his case. He claims the meat on the sandwich starts as paste that gets shaped into slices. He also lays in a clip of a worker squeezing a bag of what appears to be liquid paste.

Later he says a lot of food is “tainted” and describes what such places serve as “poison.” These are his own claims, and nothing in the video has been independently verified. The outlet reached out to the creator and the company, and no reply from either was reported.

Arby’s roast beef arrives in bags

Other food outlets describe the preparation differently from the viral claim. Tasting Table states the beef reaches restaurants sealed in plastic bags with a gel-like broth. Roasting inside the bag takes between three and four hours, and workers then slice the meat for sandwiches. The report states that the broth is a basting solution meant to keep the meat juicy. The same report adds that brisket at the chain is pre-smoked before delivery and sliced to order.

Chowhound notes that the menu lists beef, water, salt and sodium phosphates. It adds that the meat is not mechanically separated and comes from USDA-inspected whole roasts of beef. Which cuts the chain uses is unclear in that reporting. Its roasting time matches the first report. The piece also describes the bag solution as thick and gelatinous, which it links to the confusion over a “liquid.”

The liquid-meat rumor is not new. Chowhound traces it to an old question sent to Snopes, which found it false, and it spread again years later after a viral answer online. A quality assurance head at the chain described the product to Snopes as real beef soaked in a self-basting solution. After roasting, the beef is cooled and sliced to order.

The accounts overlap on one point: the beef comes in a bag with liquid. They differ on what the liquid is. The creator calls it paste, while the outlets above describe a broth or basting solution used during roasting. Neither side has produced lab results on the contents.

Texture helps explain why the question lingers. The slices look smooth and low in fat, and the same piece states that this look leads some people to suspect the meat is not whole. Meat texture draws attention in other viral food reviews too, and a Texan reviewed a tough brisket on TikTok in a separate case.