Where's the Beef?

[Magus]

That little old lady on the Wendy's commercial would have a heart attack over Taco Bell's "seasoned ground beef", which apparently consists mostly of the "seasoning" (didn't know oats and soy added a ton of flavor to meat, but anyway):

Originally Posted by Yahoo News

The late-night crowd knows all too well the allure of Taco Bell's piping-hot creations. But is it really ground beef they're putting in that beef meximelt?

That's the question at the heart of a lawsuit filed recently by the Montgomery, Alabama-based law firm Beasley Allen.

The standard for what constitutes meat as defined by the USDA is pretty straightforward: "flesh of animals." In the "Food Facts" section of its website, Taco Bell says the following about its beef: "Our taco meat is made from USDA-inspected beef and is subjected to quality check points. It tastes great because it's simmered in 12 authentic seasonings and spices and is never frozen. Moreover, our taco meat is leaner than what you'll find in a restaurant-cooked hamburger because of the unique way that we prepare our taco meat and remove fat." But Beasley Allen contends that the company's claims are untrue.

"Rather than beef, these food items are actually made with a substance known as 'taco meat filling,' " the lawsuit says. The firm contends that that Taco Bell shouldn't market the taco meat filling in question as beef because their testing shows that it only contains 36 percent ground beef. If that's true, Taco Bell's meat filling product would fall below the already generous USDA standard for it to qualify as meat -- the present standard demands it consist of at least 40 percent meat. This inspired Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz to crack, "Perhaps they should call it 'Almost Taco Meat Filling.'"

The remainder of the Taco Bell's meat filling product consists of "extenders" like water, "Isolated Oat Product," wheat oats, maltodrextrin, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch, sodium phosphate and silicon dioxide.

Taco Bell actually addresses its use if silicon dioxide in the "Food Facts" section of its website under the question, "I heard a rumor that there's sand in your taco meat?" It then goes on to explain that silicone dioxide is "a safe, common food ingredient" that's "primarily used in food to prevent ingredients from sticking together."

In response, Taco Bell has issued a statement insisting that the suit is unfounded: "Taco Bell prides itself on serving high quality Mexican inspired food with great value. We're happy that the millions of customers we serve every week agree. We deny our advertising is misleading in any way and we intend to vigorously defend the suit."

In any event, the lawsuit's appetite-squelching accusations are likely to provide plenty of unadulterated fodder for late night comedians. "Late Show with David Letterman" head writer Eric Stangel was already making Taco Bell jokes on his Twitter page this morning, cracking that because of the lawsuit we're all finally "about to find out where the Taco Bell Chihuahua went."

UPDATE: Taco Bell President and Chief Concept Officer Greg Creed contacted The Lookout with a strongly worded amended corporate response to the lawsuit:

At Taco Bell, we buy our beef from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket, like Tyson Foods. We start with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef. Then we simmer it in our proprietary blend of seasonings and spices to give our seasoned beef its signature Taco Bell taste and texture. We are proud of the quality of our beef and identify all the seasoning and spice ingredients on our website. Unfortunately, the lawyers in this case elected to sue first and ask questions later -- and got their "facts" absolutely wrong. We plan to take legal action for the false statements being made about our food."

Now I wouldn't have a problem with this if what Greg Creed said in another statement was true, that it is 88% beef. I could understand that. However, these attorneys have found that it is only 36% beef. The rest is soy, oats, and other fillers, along with a small amount of spices. Here is the ingredient list from the taco bell website:

Originally Posted by Taco Bell's Official Website

SEASONED GROUND BEEF

Beef, Water, Seasoning [Isolated Oat Product, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Oats (Wheat), Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Spices, Maltodextrin, Soybean Oil (Anti-dusting Agent), Garlic Powder, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Powder (Processed With Alkali), Silicon Dioxide, Natural Flavors, Yeast, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Smoke Flavor], Salt, Sodium Phosphates. CONTAINS SOYBEAN, WHEAT

So there have been a lot of jokes about the sort of mystery meat filling that goes into Taco Bell tacos, but I don't think anybody realized it is this bad. It's so bad that they aren't even meeting the minimum requirement for calling it "beef" filling--40% meat. That's pretty bad. And when you factor in the fact that in most of their value menu tacos that involve beef they are also sticking in copious amounts of refried beans and other ingredients, the amount of beef in one of these tacos may be quite miniscule indeed.

In any case, if eating at Taco Bell you may want to focus on tacos involving more meat, but they are not on the value menu or 2 dollar meal deals. I think we can all see now how they afforded to offer a 2 dollar meal deal--by cutting the amount of meat in their tacos to miniscule amounts. Their more expensive tacos seem to have less of the filler, such as in their chicken or steak tacos:

SOUTHWEST CHICKEN

Chicken Breast Meat With Rib Meat, Water, Seasoning [Salt, Maltodextrin, Spices, Garlic Powder, Chili Pepper, Paprika, Onion Powder, Carrageenan, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Natural Flavoring, Mixed Triglycerides, Yeast, Modified Corn Starch, Corn Syrup Solids, Yeast Extract, Alginates (Sodium, Calcium And/Or Ammonium), Cellulose, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate Used To Protect Quality, Not More Than 2% Silicon Dioxide Added To Prevent Caking, Soybean Oil], Modified Food Starch, Sodium Phosphates Soy Lecithin (Used As A Processing Aid). CONTAINS SOYBEANS

...

STEAK

Beef, Water, Seasoning [Modified Potato Starch, Salt, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Carrageenan, Paprika, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Spices, Hot Sauce (Aged Red Peppers, Vinegar, Salt), Citric Acid, Sugar, Dehydrated Vinegar, Soybean Oil, Natural Flavors, Soybean Lecithin], Sodium Phosphates. Sauce: Water, Seasoning (Salt, Caramel Color, Modified Food Starch, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Garlic Powder, Xanthan Gum, Onion Powder, Beef Stock, Vinegar Solids, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Sugar, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Succinic Acid, Soy Lecithin, Beef Fat, Potassium Sorbate) Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, BHT. CONTAINS SOYBEANS

They still contain soy but not oat fillers and the soy is listed as being lower on the list of ingredients, implying that there is less than in the "seasoned ground beef", which by all rights cannot be called beef under USDA regulations. I suppose to ask Taco Bell to at least raise their beef content to the minimum 40% (a rather hilarious minimum in and of itself), but this is just ignoring the larger problem of food quality, really.