Lawsuit: Taco Bell 'meat' not technically meat

• Kueh wrote on 2011-01-29 00:50
  I foresee tacobell not calling it "Meat" to avoid having to comply with the definitions of meat.
• gentrone wrote on 2011-01-29 04:03
  lol @ "isolated oat product".
  
  At least it's healthy food. lol
• Skye wrote on 2011-01-29 04:07
  To be completely honest, I'm in love with Taco Bell, so...I can't really say that I care too much about this. UNTIL IT SHUTS THEM ALL DOWN. Then I might take some people out.
  
  People need to take action against less healthy fast food that really is harming people.
  [SIZE="7"]I'm lookin' at you, McDonald's ಠ_ಠ[/SIZE]
  Like we all don't know people in the Olympics do not, in fact, eat at McDonald's every day of their lives.
• Joker wrote on 2011-01-29 04:11
  Who goes to Taco bell..? lol.. my uncle says their food sux and goes to Mighty Taco instead... (though ironically I doubt its any different)
• Justified wrote on 2011-01-29 04:20
  Even without "40% real meat" Taco Bell still tastes better than Del Taco / other fast food Taco chains.
  
  If it tastes good and isn't going to kill you, why fuss over it? People are stupid to deny themselves the food that they like for random reasons.
• Tarvos wrote on 2011-01-29 04:27
  I could care less if it's real beef or not, as long as it isn't deadly or bad (in moderate servings) I don't care what they call it really... I can see why people would be pissed over the "legal" aspect though. Doesn't really apply to me since I don't like tacos or Taco Bell anyway.
• Spartaaaaa wrote on 2011-01-29 12:13
  Here's NaturalNews' response to Taco Bell's objections:
  
  

  Taco Bell beef faked? No more than the rest of the FDA-approved toxic food supply
  by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
  
  (NaturalNews) The word spread like wildfire across the internet: An Alabama law firm had filed a class action lawsuit against Taco Bell in California, saying its meat fails to meet the definition of beef set forth by the U.S. government (and even that's a pretty low hurdle, if you ask me). The lawsuit claims Taco Bell's meat cannot be honestly advertised as "beef" because it claims tests showed the meat was only 35% beef, not the 70% beef required by federal standards.
  
  "It's mainly soy and oats, and there's lots of other stuff in there that I don't even know how to pronounce," said attorney Dee Miles.
  
  Taco Bell responded quickly, saying their meat was "88% beef" and that they buy the same brand of beef sold in supermarkets -- Tyson Foods.
  
  Oh well, that clears it all up, then. Tyson Foods.
  
  And what's the other 12%? According to Taco Bell, it's water, spices, oats, starch and "other ingredients" that the restaurant says contribute to the "quality" of its beef. Apparently, Taco Bell believes the way to enhance the quality of beef is to throw in things that are not beef.
  
  So what else might be found in that "other ingredients" category? A quick look at Taco Bell's own website reveals the restaurant uses all the following ingredients in its various menu offerings:
  
  • Autolyzed Yeast Extract (which contains MSG, an excitotoxin)
  • Red #40, Blue #1, Yellow #6 artificial colors
  • Corn syrup solids
  • Partially Hydrogenated Corn Oil
  • Soy Protein
  • Propylene Glycol Alginate
  • Dimethylpolysiloxane (an anti-foaming chemical)
  
  Source: http://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/ingredientstatement
  
  Are you seriously eating at Taco Bell?
  If you're eating at Taco Bell, there's not something wrong with their meat... there's something wrong with your head.
  
  Even if Taco Bell's beef is 100% beef, it's still conventional beef from cows that are processed in factory farm operations (rather than open-range grass-fed cows). The soy ingredients used in Taco Bell foods are almost certainly GMO soy in origin. The other chemicals such as dimethylpolysiloxane make their foods sound more like chemical concoctions than real food.
  
  Then again, Taco Bell beef is probably no worse than any other fast food restaurant. These junk food chains all exist at the fringes of the very definition of "food". What they serve is more like PHUD.
  
  In fact, in some ways Taco Bell is actually far better than some other popular restaurants. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), for example, uses monosodium glutamate across a huge percentage of its menu items. And they advertise their fried chicken as "fresh!" (How is it fresh if it's fried? The claim makes no sense...)
  
  Suddenly we care about food quality at Taco Bell?
  But seriously, the bigger issue here isn't Taco Bell's meat ingredients as much as it is Americans' dietary complacency: If you eat at Taco Bell, you don't CARE what you're eating. Why should it matter if it's meat, or soy, or even recycled rat turds? The very fact that somebody is eating at Taco Bell already establishes they're not very interested in the purity, origins and nutritional potency of the foods they consume.
  
  If a guy walked up to me, for example, and showed me a Taco Bell beef burrito and complained, "Dude, I'm not sure if this is real beef! What do you think is the problem here?" Then I would pause, examine the burrito carefully, then reply, "The problem is... you're a moron!"
  
  Since when did people ever read the ingredients of the food they buy at Taco Bell anyway?
  
  I guess reading ingredients lists is just too complicated these days
  That's the glaring contradiction in all this, frankly. Of all these people sounding the alert over Taco Bell's beef, how many of them ever read the ingredients of the food they buy at Taco Bell in the first place? How many read ingredients at ANY restaurant? How many read the ingredients of the foods they buy at the grocery store? How many consider whether their favorite restaurants are cooking their food on toxic nonstick cookware?
  
  The answer is virtually none. Because if mainstream America actually read (and understood) the chemicals going into the foods they buy every single day -- like bacon, sausage, canned soups and processed foods -- there would be an overnight food revolt that would make Taco Bell's beef burrito issue seem irrelevant.
  
  Because Taco Bell's ingredient list isn't any worse than what you find in canned soups at your grocery store right now. And if you really want to find some toxic foods, look into the children's frozen food section where you'll find some of the most obnoxious and damaging chemicals of all, including sodium nitrite which causes cancer, and artificial colors which are derived from coal tars.
  
  I recently produced and posted a mini-documentary video showing how blueberries are faked in many mainstream food products, including cereals from General Mills and Kellogg's. You can watch that video at www.FoodInvestigations.com
  
  Nobody seemed to go berserk over that. Fake blueberries are acceptable to mainstream consumers, it seems. But fake beef? Oh, now that's messin' with the food supply!
  
  Eat up, America! The beef in your burrito is no more fake than the idea that the FDA-approved processed dead food supply is somehow good for your health. By the way, you're also paying for your fake food using fake money being counterfeited by the Federal Reserve faster than you can say, "genetically modified soybean filler material."

• Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-01-29 13:43

  Quote from Spartaaaaa;309392:

  Here's NaturalNews' response to Taco Bell's objections:

  
  
  This guy is a little bit extremist but every word he said is right. Why do you think cancer has skyrocketed over the last 50 years? Why do you think that not only are people eating badly but it becomes physically harder to lose the fat. Like its retained or something. Why do you think that food related medical conditions and eating disorders are awry? The government isn't only trying to ruin America, THEY'RE @$#%ING POISONING US IN THE PROCESS! STOP PUTTING CHEMICALS IN OUR FOOD SO YOU CAN SAVE 20 CENTS!
• Cucurbita wrote on 2011-01-29 16:58
  Taco Bell meat has been publicly criticized for the longest time for serving grade F beef.
  This is a wide known fact and shouldn't be news at all.
  
  Fast Food isn't bad. Its the people who eat it.
  
  But when you're paying like 40 cents per tacos, you probably should've seen it coming.
  
  They provide all the facts when you ask for them. And their websites pretty much contain all the information you need on every thing.
  
  This way you can still eat fast food and keep away from the nasty stuff.
  
  For example, if you're going for Tacos, the ones from Taco Johns is far superior to that of Taco Bell's, and the price difference is pretty small.
  Alternatively, you want to avoid having the potato oles from Taco Johns because those pack so much sodium and calories it'll chip away at your life span.
  
  If you're craving a dollar chicken sandwhich, pick Wendys over Mcdonalds.
  Its less calories, their food holding time limit policy makes sure the sandwich is fresher, theres actually more meat on it, the bun has less carbs and more nutrition, and the lettuce is fresh and whole rather than shredded. The taste is almost exactly the same.
  
  Just good examples of smart fast food dining.
  
  And sleeperdial, while it is ridiculous that they're putting all that junk into the meat, the term "poison" is defined as something that disturbs or harms organisms. And nothing they put in there can harm your body, other than the fact that its fatty and unhealthy, which is a given in any cheap processed meats.
• Mama wrote on 2011-01-29 18:15

  Eat up, America! The beef in your burrito is no more fake than the idea that the FDA-approved processed dead food supply is somehow good for your health. By the way, you're also paying for your fake food using fake money being counterfeited by the Federal Reserve faster than you can say, "genetically modified soybean filler material."

  
  LMAO! I now officially love this guy. america is indeed one ****ed up place, both food wise and economy wise.
  
  I think people are happier not knowing, however. ignorance is bliss.
• Justified wrote on 2011-01-29 18:57

  Apparently, Taco Bell believes the way to enhance the quality of beef is to throw in things that are not beef.

  
  
  This made me laugh. Because cooking is all about NOT combining different things together, right?
  
  In any case, people are focusing on the fact that its's "not beef," but why does that matter? Look at the list...
  Food Coloring, Corn Syrup, Corn Oil, Soy Protein
  and some chemical preservatives.
  
  I don't see anything wrong with that at all.
• Phunkie wrote on 2011-01-29 18:59
  I love my Taco Bell.
  
  And seriously, you get what you pay for. Fast food is bad good (health-wise), but still very delicious.
  
  OMG BIG MACS
• Invalid wrote on 2011-01-29 19:04

  Quote from Lan;308712:

  Kids didn't mind eating chicken nuggets event when it was made of some pink chicken glop, they saw how it was made and still ate it.

  
  
  JAMIE'S KITCHEN THING?
  <33
  I loved that show.
  
  Also.
  If 40% meat is required to be legally called "meat"
  What's the other 60% :I
• Taycat wrote on 2011-01-29 19:56
  I still eat fast food...
  
  Just, not Taco Bell.
• Spartaaaaa wrote on 2011-01-29 20:07

  Quote from Justified;309692:

  This made me laugh. Because cooking is all about NOT combining different things together, right?
  
  In any case, people are focusing on the fact that its's "not beef," but why does that matter? Look at the list...
  Food Coloring, Corn Syrup, Corn Oil, Soy Protein
  and some chemical preservatives.
  
  I don't see anything wrong with that at all.

  
  
  Yeah I thought that was kind of weird too... Though I would have to say that food coloring and corn syrup (high fructose corn syrup I'm guessing) and certain preservatives aren't particularly healthy.