Taco Bell 'Beef' Less than 35% Beef?

MoonlightMerlot

Taco Bell doesn't use beef in their "beef"-based pseudo-Mexican delicacies. They use a gross thing called "Taco Meat Filling" as shown on their big container's labels—which customers can't see. The list of ingredients is gruesome:

Water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

Oh, and 36% beef. Thirty-six percent—plus all the above making up for the other 64% of the party in your mouth.

According to the USDA, you can't call this "beef" at all.

Wow. Well, I agree that Taco Bell should not be passing off their "Taco Meat Filling" as beef! But processed oats and powdered taco seasoning aren't that bad, are they?

RoadDog

Wow. Well, I agree that Taco Bell should not be passing off their "Taco Meat Filling" as beef! But processed oats and powdered taco seasoning aren't that bad, are they?

No they're not, but....a friend of mine used to work at Del Taco. They would prepare a huge pot of ground beef. Of course the grease all floats to the top. Instead of draining it, that's when they would add oats to the mixture. It absorbed all the grease and added to the quantity. I am assuming something similar is going on at Taco Bell.

arewethereyet

dont know if its true but i read somewhere that eating dog food is better than eating taco bell's beef!!!!

thats just down right gross!!!!:sick:

where is the throw up smiley? :sick:

arewethereyet

It's funny. This week I was craving Taco Bell. I have been sick and not craving any type of food for a month, so I decided to go for it and get some ( I call it Taco Smell :laugh:)

Anyway. As I drove home with the food, instead of that mouth watering reaction I have had in the past I felt a bit nausaus (sp). I thought, "Oh that is because you have been sick!"

When I got home and opened it a crunched into the first one and this reddish goop fell out the other side. What is that? I remembered the taco meat being brown with meat in it. Instead it is now a reddish color and I didnt see much of anything that resembled meat. So I ended up eating one with 'meat' and 2 with out. I just cracked the bottom and threw it in the garbage. The crunch of the taco, cheese, lettuce, tomato and sour cream was what I apparently was craving anyway!

I wonder if you can order a taco, no meat?? :huh:

P.S. I had a bad experience with McDs and have never eaten another burger from there. Now TB is off my list. Before you know it I will be eating clean and yummy foods only!! Well...........except for Wendy's :laugh:

MoonlightMerlot

Wow. Well, I agree that Taco Bell should not be passing off their "Taco Meat Filling" as beef! But processed oats and powdered taco seasoning aren't that bad, are they?

No they're not, but....a friend of mine used to work at Del Taco. They would prepare a huge pot of ground beef. Of course the grease all floats to the top. Instead of draining it, that's when they would add oats to the mixture. It absorbed all the grease and added to the quantity. I am assuming something similar is going on at Taco Bell.

Ewww! I hadn't thought of that. :frown:

arewethereyet

Wow. Well, I agree that Taco Bell should not be passing off their "Taco Meat Filling" as beef! But processed oats and powdered taco seasoning aren't that bad, are they?

No they're not, but....a friend of mine used to work at Del Taco. They would prepare a huge pot of ground beef. Of course the grease all floats to the top. Instead of draining it, that's when they would add oats to the mixture. It absorbed all the grease and added to the quantity. I am assuming something similar is going on at Taco Bell.

I have a friend who is Mexican and she makes the best tacos in the WORLD. She takes beef and grinds it in her food processor, fries it up and then adds all the ingreds (we aren't allowed to know her recipe) to the beef with all the fat in the pot. I want one now.............dangit

RoadDog

Personally, I rarely eat there. As far as I'm concerned the food is fine. It's just much less expensive to make my own Mexican food and I like to cook so I make Mexican cuisine in my own home. I ate a lot of Taco Bell when I was younger.

I don't even see anything wrong with the fact that their Taco Filling is only 36% Beef "products".

But....I do believe that they should follow whatever food industry standard applies and disclose the ingredients if that is the rule. And....if a product must be a certain percentage of beef to be called "beef" then either bring it up to that standard or drop the label.

Alioth

Heh heh heh. Agreed. This makes me want to make tacos NOW! But I'm gonna hafta wait until the beginning of next month to do it.

Last night around midnight I had to drive my housemate to a bus stop. The urge to get a fast-food snack hit me hard. But there was nothing open but Taco Bell's drive-through window! It was not appetizing.

Gennawest

Haha- I totally agree. Taco Bell is great- and one day we shall meet again... but not anytime soon. Sorry Taco Bell.

chrish1981

I wonder if you can order a taco, no meat?? :huh:

During my 3 month stint as a vegetarian, I used to replace the meat in their tacos with beans. Delicious....IF you like beans.

I'm with what someone else said: if we knew HALF of what was in our food (even the supposed "good" stuff), we wouldn't want to eat it.

<

---

used to work at a restaurant. 'Nuff said.

beasty77

I read this report too, and immediately had the types of responses that most of you did.

Then I saw this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/taco-bell-beef-lawsuit_n_813185.html


Of course it's more fun to believe the sensationalistic story, but that's what it may be: just sensationalism. I don't know WHAT the truth is, but I do know that we (myself included) will tend to accept these news stories (like the original one) as absolute fact, when in fact they may not be.

I should say that I don't like Taco Bell, don't work for them, and am frankly disaffected by it all in general (it doesn't take a genius to know that it's unlikely that their food is wholly healthy for you), but I am someone who does prefer the truth, whichever way that truth goes.

mjd0109

It's funny. This week I was craving Taco Bell. I have been sick and not craving any type of food for a month, so I decided to go for it and get some ( I call it Taco Smell :laugh:)

Anyway. As I drove home with the food, instead of that mouth watering reaction I have had in the past I felt a bit nausaus (sp). I thought, "Oh that is because you have been sick!"

When I got home and opened it a crunched into the first one and this reddish goop fell out the other side. What is that? I remembered the taco meat being brown with meat in it. Instead it is now a reddish color and I didnt see much of anything that resembled meat. So I ended up eating one with 'meat' and 2 with out. I just cracked the bottom and threw it in the garbage. The crunch of the taco, cheese, lettuce, tomato and sour cream was what I apparently was craving anyway!

I wonder if you can order a taco, no meat?? :huh:

P.S. I had a bad experience with McDs and have never eaten another burger from there. Now TB is off my list. Before you know it I will be eating clean and yummy foods only!! Well...........except for Wendy's :laugh:

You CAN order a taco with no meat, I'm a vegetarian and I just tell them that! Sometimes they ask if I want beans instead but that has lard in it (among a bunch of other gross things plus too many calories!) So if you're craving the crunch, go for it!

Bakkasan

Taco bell is only %35~ FOOD. It's tastes great, but it aint food.

Alioth

Update!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41308545

Taco Bell says their beef is 88% USDA certified beef in fact! They are fighting the lawsuit.

I really hope they're telling the truth.

arewethereyet

Update!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41308545

Taco Bell says their beef is 88% USDA certified beef in fact! They are fighting the lawsuit.

I really hope they're telling the truth.

I bet it is all semantics. If the 'beef' in the 'beef' is 88% usda then they are telling the truth. but we are still eating 33% beef along with the other fillers when we are eating a taco. it is just that the 33% beef is 88% USDA :indifferent:

Now I am talkng like an attorney:laugh:

arewethereyet

Taco bell is only %35~ FOOD. It's tastes great, but it aint food.

arewethereyet

It's funny. This week I was craving Taco Bell. I have been sick and not craving any type of food for a month, so I decided to go for it and get some ( I call it Taco Smell :laugh:)

Anyway. As I drove home with the food, instead of that mouth watering reaction I have had in the past I felt a bit nausaus (sp). I thought, "Oh that is because you have been sick!"

When I got home and opened it a crunched into the first one and this reddish goop fell out the other side. What is that? I remembered the taco meat being brown with meat in it. Instead it is now a reddish color and I didnt see much of anything that resembled meat. So I ended up eating one with 'meat' and 2 with out. I just cracked the bottom and threw it in the garbage. The crunch of the taco, cheese, lettuce, tomato and sour cream was what I apparently was craving anyway!

I wonder if you can order a taco, no meat?? :huh:

P.S. I had a bad experience with McDs and have never eaten another burger from there. Now TB is off my list. Before you know it I will be eating clean and yummy foods only!! Well...........except for Wendy's :laugh:

You CAN order a taco with no meat, I'm a vegetarian and I just tell them that! Sometimes they ask if I want beans instead but that has lard in it (among a bunch of other gross things plus too many calories!) So if you're craving the crunch, go for it!

Cool thanks.............after reading this I went to TB and asked for " A beef meximelt no beef no beans" she was confused...........I said it will be like a grilled cheese and tomato because it is a flour tortilla, pico and cheese steamed in the machine.

It was delish!! I found out they put 1oz cheese in each one.

jessieinblue

There are an awful lot of rumors and stories that go around about the actual contents of fast "food". I could be worried about them, but my solution is much easier, cheaper, and more delicious:

Don't eat fast food.

Done

humpalc

USDA guidelines say that taco fillings only have to contain, I think, 55% actual beef, and even if a place advertises 100% beef, that doesn't mean it's what we would call meat. It likely includes other tissues - tendons, and yummy stuff like that mmmmm.

modernfemme

Now couple this with the fact that the conditions in which they treat that 35% of cow are absolutely inhumane. #beingvegetarianisawesome