Does Taco Bell Beef Use Silicon Diioxide

Yum foods? A bit of beef does make it into the mix with all that Isolated Oat Production and Autolyzed Yeast Extract. Update beneath original mail.

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Information technology'due south one thing for fast food companies to dangle drawing characters in front of kids to pitch junk food. That practise arguably amounts to deceptive advert, simply don't expect a legal crackdown on it anytime soon. But what about falsely challenge your product is something that information technology isn't? According to a class-action lawsuit filed yesterday by an Alabama police firm, Taco Bell is doing just that with its "seasoned beef" products. Evidently, what Taco Bell identifies as "seasoned beefiness" has so many binders and extenders that it fails the minimum USDA labeling requirements for beef products (via ABC News). The accommodate claims that the law firms' tests showed that Taco Bell'southward "meat mixture" contains less that 35 percentage beef. The suit isn't seeking monetary damages, just that Taco Bong stop calling its concoction "beef."

All of this calls to listen the the great "pinkish slime" debacle — the revelation that a huge portion of U.Due south. "hamburger meat" contains an ammonia-treated beef filler that turned out not to accept the antiseptic properties its maker claimed. At the time, many fast food chains chop-chop claimed that pink slime made up only a small percentage of their ground-beef mixes. Taco Bell never commented on whether it was using the stuff. The company's official ingredient list for "seasoned beefiness" doesn't include "ammonia-treated puréed beef trimmings," though the notorious production theoretically could be nowadays under the rubric of "beef." For the record, here's the official ingredient list for Taco Bong's "seasoned beef":

Beefiness, Water, Seasoning [Isolated Oat Product, Table salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Tomato plant Powder, Oats (Wheat), Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Spices, Maltodextrin, Soybean Oil (Anti-Dusting Amanuensis), Garlic Pulverisation, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Pulverization (Candy With Alkali), Silicon Dioxide, Natural Flavors, Yeast, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Smoke Season], Common salt, Sodium Phosphate

But the best part of this story (which I tin't imagine surprises anyone) is Taco Bell'due south response to the lawsuit through a spokesperson:

"Taco Bong prides itself on serving loftier-quality Mexican-inspired food with great value. We're happy that the millions of customers nosotros serve every week concur," Poetsch said. He said the visitor would "vigorously defend the adjust."

That, my friends, is what we call a non-denial denial. Certain, they will ship a vigorous team of lawyers to court. But Taco Bell very clearly avoided that use of the discussion "beef" in their statement — if the lawsuit were truly frivolous, you lot might await them to, I don't know, deny the charges. Taco Bell, yous just gave upward the game right in that location.

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UPDATED v p.thou.: Our good friends at Taco Bell wish to revise and extend their before remarks regarding their beef. And, make no mistake, they're willing to say "beef" loud and proud! In an e-mail Tuesday afternoon, Taco Bell President and Chief Concept Officer (!) Greg Creed wrote:

At Taco Bell, we buy our beef from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket, like Tyson Foods.  Nosotros start with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef.  Then nosotros simmer it in our proprietary blend of seasonings and spices to requite our seasoned beefiness its signature Taco Bell taste and texture.  Nosotros 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 incorrect.  We plan to have legal activity for the faux statements beingness fabricated virtually our nutrient.

That's more than like information technology, guys! Those crisis management consultants sure exercise earn their continue! Only might I humbly submit that it's a bit of a stretch to claim that things like "Oats (Wheat)" (any that is), Soy Lecithin, "Soybean Oil (Anti-Dusting Agent)," Silicon Dioxide (isn't that sand?), Yeast, and Modified Corn Starch are "seasonings." Proprietary blend, I'm sure, merely that stuff sounds an awful lot like fillers to me.

Every bit to the claim that the lawyers got their "facts" wrong (quotes? really?), Taco Bell didn't say which facts it is disputing. For example, still no mention of whether that 100 percent pure USDA beef ends up as 35 percent USDA beef later they add their "seasonings." Whaddya say, Taco Bong? Is it more than 35 percentage beef or non? In the words of that dandy savant Judge Elihu Smails, "Well? Nosotros're waiting?"

Related:

• Is Taco Bong'south beef 'filler' the healthiest thing it sells?
• Tom Philpott takes a look at the other foreign substances Taco Bell serves upward
  

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Source: https://grist.org/article/2011-01-25-lawsuit-taco-bells-beef-is-mostly-filler/