Is McDonald's really the largest purchaser of cow eyeballs?

Dear Matt:

Is McDonald's really the largest purchaser of cow eyeballs?

-- Jason, Mission Beach

Yeah, I know I said I'd had my fill of obvious urban legends. But with this tall tale I figured, if McDonald's isn't the largest purchaser of cow eyeballs, then who is? We scanned the horizon and found that cow eyeballs are sold to high schools, colleges, and medical schools for dissection. One prepared and individually packaged cow eyeball from Carolina Biologicals will set you back $1.95, $1.45 each if you want a dozen. So a pound of cow eyeballs costs way more than a pound of ground beef. We did find an outlet that will sell you a sheep eyeball for 32 cents, so if McDonald's was thinking about spicing up their burgers with eyes, they'd probably go with the cheap sheep.