Taco Bell wants you to know that it does have real beef in its beef, dammit

Earlier this week, the state of Alabama filed a lawsuit against Taco Bell alleging that it was false advertising to call their beef “beef”, since Alabama stated that what appears to be beef that burrito is only 36% actual meat and the rest is filler and crap that’s been cleverly designed to look like meat. Yesterday, Taco Bell publicly responded, saying that their beef is all meat and that Alabama’s full of shit. And fat people.

But first, the basis for the argument. The picture above is a shot of the meat that Taco Bell employees get that they throw on the grill. Notice that it’s not called “beef”, but “taco meat filling”. According to the USDA, Taco Bell can’t label what comes in the store as “beef”, because there isn’t enough actual beef in what appears to be beef to be called beef. Beef.

This is Taco Bell’s statement regarding the lawsuit:

‘At Taco Bell, we buy our beef from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket, like Tyson Foods. We start with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef. Then we simmer it in our proprietary blend of seasonings and spices to give our seasoned beef its signature Taco Bell taste and texture. We 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 wrong. We plan to take legal action for the false statements being made about our food.’
Greg Creed
President and Chief Concept Officer
Taco Bell Corp

But the class action lawsuit isn’t alleging that there’s no beef. Clearly, the first ingredient in the package is beef. It simply alleges that for marketing purposes, Taco Bell is being deceiving by calling it “beef” to its customers. As in when you ask for a burrito and they ask “beef, chicken or steak?”, they should be asking “meat filling product, chicken or steak?”. 

Also, I wonder what the job of Taco Bell’s Chief Concept Officer consists of. Picking random ingredients from a hat and combining them into crazy new pseudo-Mexican creations?

Via