| Real ground beef (top), alleged "beef" in Taco Bell taco (bottom) |
Update: Fat City, like most media outlets, received a written statement from Taco Bell president and chief concept officer Greg Creed defending Taco Bell's products. Read on to the end of the post to be reassured that a beef taco is not really a "beef" taco.
OK, so the headline might be a slight overstatement, but a consumer rights class-action lawsuit filed last Friday in California argues that the Tex-Mex fast-food giant, owned by Louisville-based Yum! Brands, is guilty of false advertising because it claims to use ground beef in its inexpensively priced food.
The suit claims that what Taco Bell calls "seasoned ground beef or seasoned beef" is, substantially, a meat-flavored product "containing substances other than beef."
And what are those substances?
Our sister publication, OC Weekly, weighed in yesterday on the $5 million lawsuit, filed by an Alabama law firm, as "The Taco Bell Crime of the Week." The lawsuit and complaint can be read here.
Anyone who has devoured the salty, over-seasoned beef tacos, gorditas and chalupas served at Taco Bell has probably wondered, at one point or another, what's really in the gooey, blood-colored mess? Thanks to the lawsuit, we now know: less than 35 percent beef along with "water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch."
Appetizing, huh?
Wanting to know how a local Taco Bell restaurant might respond to this scandalous news, I called the location at 123 East Linwood Boulevard, one of the more popular fast-food venues. I asked the store's supervisor if there was real beef in the beef tacos she served. Stunned by the audacity of the question, she fumbled for an answer before finally telling me: "As far as I know, it's beef. That's what we're told."
Honey, that's what we've all been told. In the meantime, let me have the wheat-oat and soy-lecithin taco. With extra hot sauce.
Statement from Taco Bell's Greg Creed:
"At Taco Bell, we buy our beef from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket, like Tyson's 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."
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Where is the detailed content analysis that the ingredient in Taco Bell tacos should not be considered beef.
Most fast-food and some frozen super market ground beef contains a filler commonly known as "pink slime". Doesn't that sound appetizing?
Why is everyone just assuming this is fact? Because it confirms your negative biases re: fast food? I would like to see actual proof, testing, etc. But that's just me.
A former manager of a fast food place couldn't possibly have an axe to grind, could he?
I agree for the most part. A couple years ago my diet was primarily fast food. When I stopped I had a headache for days and craved it. A buddy brought over some Mc Donalds the other night. As soon as I caught a whiff my body craved it. David Kessler did some great research on how these types of restaurants strive to create these triggers. It is very deliberate and effective.
Lost business, headline in every paper, butt of every joke, etc., that's exactly what I meant.
They're not asking for any monetary compensation or damages, etc. The complaint just asks the Taco Bell either call it "filling" or add beef & if Yum! doesn't do it voluntarily, the USDA can mandate changes to their operations/claims. So far, Yum! wants to fight so the only expense is from their own legal fees & hopefully some lost business. I'm disappointed the USDA didn't catch this and a former manager had to bring it to the lawyers. So much for oversight & consumer protections.
They talk about buying their beef, and simmering their beef...but he never mentions actually putting beef in their food and selling it to customers. Scary.
But don't you think, Faith, that most people are possessed to want Taco Bell when they're already ravenous (this theory would hold for White Castle and other lowbrow fast food places) so that the food seems much better than it really is? I mean, I'll never forget how surprised I was to finally taste a White Castle cheeseburger when I was sober. I still enjoyed it, but it wasn't exactly as fabulous as I remembered from those boozy, late-night marathons.
My husband used to work at a Taco Bell when he was in high school, and he told me that it's essentially a soy product that they serve as "meat". I stopped eating there when we were dating. So it's been over 5 years now.
And damned if I don't still crave those tacos! Whatever is in them, it's pretty powerful stuff.
One day, when you’re sitting on the toilet don’t be surprised as you tend to mother nature that a tailgate from a Chevy Chase coated in maltodextrin and sodium phosphates comes oozing down the tile floor. Because if it does- you’ll be glad you found it at Taco Bell.
Shouldn’t you order a beef “TACO BELL” soon?
http://scallywagandvagabond.co...
TACO BELL and KB Home get less than you pay for? Melissa Lora is the currently a Board of Director for KB Home Inc and the Chief Financial Officer of TACO BELL. On Wikipedia Taco Bell’s bio has no mention of Lora who sits on KB Home Board of Directors? Clearly Melissa Lora does not want to be associated with one of the nation’s largest builders? Melissa Lora. CFO at Taco Bell Corp. Orange County, California
Melissa Lora does not have a biography on TACO BELL's Official Website? No one in management at TACO BELL has a bio on their website. Are they hiding? Another reputation issue since the food poisoning outbreak TACO BELL’s E. coli bacteria was famous for? In March 2005, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) won a landmark victory in its national boycott of Taco Bell for human rights. KB Home uses undocumented workers to build its homes? Taco Bell? A lawsuit filed in 2011 alleges that Taco Bell beef is comprised of less than 35% beef. We’ve seen the goop, it pours out of a bag like dried brown flour that coagulates into something that looks like ground beef when water is added.
Currently, Ms. Lora serves on the following boards:
* KB Home
* Taco Bell, YUM Brands
* Discovery Science Center
Other distinguished KB Home Board members include Melissa Lora's buddy Bruce Karatz who was just convicted as a felon and is currently under house arrest in his 24 room Bel-Air Mansion (not built by KB Home) serving out his 8 months home confinement for swindling 11 Million Dollars. Martha Stewart is a spokesperson for KB Home also served time for her former stock swindle. Gary A. Ray head of KB Home human resources is a convicted felon in this current stock swindle.
Melissa Lora and KB Home built this lemon with Bruce Karatz. KB Home is under a Federal Trade Commission Consent Order. KB Home must buy back your home if not 100% satisfied within the first year? Melissa Lora has never responded as KB Home Board of Directors to any customer complaint letter sent to him by certified mail. KB Home sells Lemons, Just Google Melissa Lora.. http://preview.tinyurl.com/6bu...
Seems the entire management of both KB Home and TACO BELL has an image problem? Not mentioning their Chief Financial Officer's proud accomplishments at KB Home. Where's the BEEF in my poorly constructed KB Home? Both are misleading the public and getting less than they paid for. The only difference is TACO BELL exits after 24 hours; KB Home continues to give you irritable bowel syndrome. Should I be thinking outside of my bun? Taco Bell is a part of Yum! Brands, Inc. (“Yum Brands”). Yum Brands includes: Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC U.S. Properties, Inc., Taco Bell Corp., Pizza Hut, Inc., Long John Silver’s, Inc., A&W Restaurants, Inc., WingStreet, LLC, and Yum Restaurants International, Inc. She has been a Director at KB Home since 04/2004. She serves on the Taco Bell National Purchasing Co-Op Board of Directors and is a Member of the Unified Foodservice Purchasing Co-Op as well as the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California. Are they all ripping you off?
"Our government, through the USDA and FDA, provides definitions, standards and labeling guidelines for 'ground beef.' Just like the FTC is enforcing the 1979 FTC Consent order Against KB Home. Yeah Right!
I wonder if the plaintiffs offered Taco Bell to settle without publicity, because the only way for them to fix this now is start putting beef in their filling, which will be a lot more expensive than any settlement.
Maybe less beef is a good thing.
Consider the alternative.
Most fast food beef is created out of the trimmings and detritus shipped from slaughterhouses around the country and has to be put through a pathogen killing process to get it clean enough to eat.
Fake Beef in Taco Ball Tacos. Why all the fuss?
http://gigabiting.com/?p=7413/
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