Nearly four years ago, McDonald’s added the Angus Third Pounder to the menu, making it the company’s first new burger offering in eight years, and leading to the inevitable rash of “anus burger” signs. But now comes a report that the sandwich is set to vanish forever.

With its full slices of bacon and red onion rings, the Angus Third Pounder was intended to be an upscale — and pricier — offering than the burgers McDonald’s normally sells. But BurgerBusiness.com reports that some stores have already stopped offering it, and that the sandwich is being phased out nationwide, in favor of expanding the Quarter Pounder line of burgers.

It’s possible the shift to Quarter Pounders is an attempt to appease critics of the calories in fast food. The Angus Bacon with Cheese totals up to 820 calories, 41g of fat, and 2110mg sodium. Slapping some bacon on a Quarter Pounder with Cheese would result in a sandwich with 630 calories, 33g of fat, 1510 mg of sodium.

The Angus burgers are still listed on the McDonald’s website, and the company has yet to respond to BurgerBusiness’ request for confirmation.

Though it didn’t debut nationwide until the summer of 2009, Consumerist first heard of Angus Third Pounder testing as early as 2007.

Earlier this year, McDonald’s got rid of another higher-end products, its Chicken Selects chicken strips. At the time, it said it was pondering the fate of the Angus Third Pounder.

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