Food for Thought

Over February break, a controversial lawsuit was brought against Taco Bell. California citizen Amanda Obney, along with a law firm in Alabama, claim that only 35 percent of Taco Bell’s ground beef is not actually beef, so Taco Bell should not call their beef filling “beef.” Other ingredients were typical additives and hard-to-pronounce-names such as autolyzed yeast extract, maltodextrin and the worst: anti-dusting agent. While some may debate the place of stabilizers and chemicals in our food, I confidently believe that nobody wants “anti-dusting agent” in what they’re eating. Now, if you type into Google: “Taco Bell meat,” or anything of the like, you’ll find thousands of news results about the lawsuit. One thing that I noticed is that the majority of these websites and sources are questionable. It’s very unsure as to how legitimate this claim is. But whether it’s true or not, it brings up many questions about fast food and the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) beef standards and has gotten a lot of attention.
In an attempt to quickly quiet this unwanted attention, Taco Bell has vigorously denied that these claims are true. They boldly stated, “the lawsuit is bogus and filled with completely inaccurate facts” and claimed that “our seasoned beef recipe contains 88 percent [...] beef and 12 percent seasonings, spices, water and other ingredients that provide taste, texture and moisture”.

Now, I’m not going to immediately determine their statement to be false (although I would be willing to bet that it’s probably fudged a bit). However, I do have a number of problems with this claim. First, why would you publically give a specific percentage (88 percent) that is WAY higher than the USDA standard (45 percent)? I find it hard to believe that Taco Bell’s meat filling is almost double what the legal standard is, as the more meat the filling contains, the more expensive it is to make. Second, I find it irksome that Taco Bell is claiming that the majority of ingredients are seasonings, spices, water and other ingredients that anyone could find in their home, and furthermore, that the purpose for these ingredients is only for “taste, texture and moisture.” Like any fast food restaurant, Taco Bell clearly puts in ingredients and stabilizers to make their food last longer, ship better and look fresh. I also highly doubt you can find silicon dioxide, caramel color, autolyzed yeast extract and maltodextrin in your kitchen cabinets at home.

So what will happen? Personally, I believe that Taco Bell is going to win the lawsuit, not necessarily because their beef filling is (or was) actually 88 percent beef, but because they have more money, resources and power than their attackers. They’ve already spent vast amounts of money on full-page print ads in big newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. In addition, it appears that there may be a number of particular problems and details that may hurt the prosecution. Lastly, I’m certain that Taco Bell will quickly change and make sure their beef filling meets the standards if it didn’t before.

Honestly, it’s hard to know what’s true or not. While I am by no means rooting for Taco Bell, I think it’s important not to jump to any conclusions. Fast food restaurants are an increasingly easy target to blame for our food problems and the media quickly jumped on the case for its shocking qualities. Ultimately, I think the real surprise in this story is that the USDA standard for percentage of beef in beef filling is 40 percent. That’s definitely a fact. I understand that everyone puts in seasonings and other ingredients, but less than half of the filling is meat? Wow.