Monday, January 24, 2011

Taco Bell's Fake Beef

I eat at our local Taco Bell once in a while. But seeing this article about the meat they use in their taco makes me think again. They don't actually use "beef" in their dishes. They use "Taco Meat Filling" as shown in the picture, which customers can't see. The list of ingredients
 
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. 


Base on the label, they use only 36% beef and the rest of the 64% is what you see above. According to the USDA, you can't consider this as being "beef" nor being "grounded beef."

Grounded beef is defined as:
Chopped fresh and/or frozen beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat as such, shall not contain more than 30 percent fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders.

Note that Taco Bell does not use "Taco Meat Filling" in their packaging and ads. Would you still eat at Taco Bell if you saw these ingredients in their packaging?

Source: gizmodo.com (Jesus Diaz)

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