Taco Bell Seasons Beef with Oats?

Madcrawdad

Madcrawdad

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Dec 29, 2006
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Here's an article about some folks suing Taco Bell, claiming that they shouldn't be able to call their taco filling "Beef", as they use fillers and binders. Taco Bell says, "Nonsense!"... they start with 100% beef, and then just season it. Among those seasonings are oats (filler) and soy lecithin (binder). Anyone here season with either oats or soy lecithin?

Nothing against Taco Bell, though. The food is cheap, and tastes alright, in a pinch. I suppose it's better than the crafty restaurateur in China caught stretching the pork in his pork sandwiches by adding cardboard to the meat.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/n...o-Bell-meat-Beef-says-firm.-Filling-says-suit

Taco Bell meat? Beef, says firm. Filling, says suit.
Taco Bell meat has too little beef to be called beef, a lawsuit charges. 'Absolutely wrong,' the fast-food chain says of the suit.
By Alyssa Stevens and Laurent Belsie, Contributor and staff writer / January 26, 2011

When is beef not beef?

When it's served in a Taco Bell taco, alleges a California woman in a class-action lawsuit. The suit, filed Friday, claims that the fast-food giant uses so much other ingredients in its meat that it no longer qualifies as beef.

Taco Bell, based in Irvine, Calif., fired back in a statement Tuesday, saying that the suit is "absolutely wrong" and that it planned legal action of its own.

The dispute revolves around how much can be mixed in with beef and still be called beef.

In its raw or frozen form, ground beef "shall not contain more than 30 percent fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders," according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). It can include seasonings or not.

To hear Taco Bell tell it, that's exactly what it does:

"We start with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef," the company says in its statement. "Then we simmer it in our proprietary blend of seasonings and spices to give our seasoned beef its signature Taco Bell taste and texture."

That "texture" is where the legal wrangling begins over Taco Bell meat.

"In reality, a substantial majority of the filling is comprised of substances other than beef," the lawsuit alleges. And those seasonings?

"Those ingredients are not added for flavor, but rather to increase the volume of the product," the suit charges. "These ingredients are binders and extenders such as 'isolated oat product.' "

One piece of evidence the suit puts forward is purportedly a Taco Bell label on a meat container it ships to its restaurants. That shipping label reads: "Taco Meat Filling," not beef.

Taco meat filling, according to the USDA's Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book, must contain at least 40 percent fresh meat, says Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, the Montgomery, Ala., law firm that filed the suit. The one plaintiff named in the class-action suit, Amanda Obney of California, is not asking for monetary damages, but wants Taco Bell to stop advertising its meat filling as beef.

Taco Bell, owned by Yum! Brands, isn't backing down in the face of the allegations.

"We are proud of the quality of our beef and identify all the seasoning and spice ingredients on our website," the company said in its statement "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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According to another article, the actual beef content of Taco Bell's beef is only 36%. :22_yikes:

http://eater.com/archives/2011/01/24/lawsuit-claims-taco-bells-meat-isnt-really-beef.php

Lawsuit Claims Taco Bell's Meat Isn't All Beef
Monday, January 24, 2011, by Paula Forbes


Alabama law firm Beasley Allen has filed a class action lawsuit against Taco Bell that claims the chain is falsely calling its taco filling "seasoned beef" and "seasoned ground beef" when allegedly the mixture, which would be more properly called "Taco Meat Filling," only contains 36% beef. The firm is not asking for money, but is instead asking the chain to make changes to their menu to reflect the food they are serving.

What in the hell else is in there? Taco Bell's meat filling is people! No, it's mostly water and "extenders" like "wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch and sodium phosphate." Also, something called "Isolated Oat Product." Mmm, oat product.

The USDA defines beef as "flesh of cattle," which is a little biblical but seems straightforward enough. They define "Taco Meat Filling" as 40% meat, so if the lawsuit is correct, it seems like Taco Bell would have to up their beef levels to even qualify for that. The self-described "Mexican inspired" chain denies that their advertising is misleading and "[intends] to vigorously defend the suit."

Beasley Allen has sued several high profile companies in the past, including suits against Toyota after their massive recall, BP after the oil spill, and a side-effect related suit against Yaz birth control.
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its rediciolous what people will sue for to make a buck personaly does it matter? if you dont like it dont eat there IMO
 
I never count on anything that comes to me from a drive through window being of high quality. I travel a lot for work and now bring my own food with me (it's amazing what you can cook with a coffee pot and a microwave in a hotel room). After sampling the menues at most major fast food chains, I'm actually a little surprised cardboard isn't one of the ingredients, but oats doesn't surprise me.

Seems to me they should be embracing it, after all, aren't oats heart healthy?
 
sorberj said:
I never count on anything that comes to me from a drive through window being of high quality. I travel a lot for work and now bring my own food with me (it's amazing what you can cook with a coffee pot and a microwave in a hotel room). After sampling the menues at most major fast food chains, I'm actually a little surprised cardboard isn't one of the ingredients, but oats doesn't surprise me.

Seems to me they should be embracing it, after all, aren't oats heart healthy?[/QUOTE]


lol good point
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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.
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Link to the Yahoo article :)

the silicon dioxide amused me the most, and to be honest, I'll probably still eat it...
 
Yeah, I'm surprised they haven't spun it to say, "Well of course! We don't want you fatties getting fatter! We add the soy and oats 'cause it's GOOD FER YA!"
 
Doesn't surprise me. I just can't believe people were ever under the impression that they were getting quality ingredients from a place such as Taco Bell.
 
Seriously...who really thought it was beef, you could look at it and tell it wasn't ground beef.
 
I used to work at Taco Bell in the late 80's/Early 90's while I was in high school. I remember when we used to cook huge 5 lb blocks of ground beef that looked just like what you would buy at the grocery store...So I can honestly say that they used to use real beef. My last year working there was when they switched to these pre-cooked packages of meat that we would just heat up in boiling water, and that's probably what they still use. That's when I stopped eating their beef.
 
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