Taco Bell: Where's the Beef?

[Flack]

From Time.com:

The fast food chain, Taco Bell, has been accused of false advertising when it refers to "seasoned beef" in its meaty Mexican fare.

The Alabaman law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles filed a lawsuit on Friday on behalf of Amanda Obney, a Californian customer of Taco Bell. Ms Obney doesn't want cash damages but demands that Taco Bell be more honest in its advertising practices.

In a study conducted by the law firm, it was found that Taco Bell's "meat mixture", which it dubs "seasoned beef" contained less than 35 % beef. If these figures are correct, the product would fail to meet minimum requirements, set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to be labeled as "beef". The other 65% of the "meat" is made up of water, soy lecithin, maltodextrin, silicon dioxide, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch (amongst other ingredients more suited to a test tube than a taco).

Although Taco Bell displays these added ingredients on its website, there is no mention of just how much actual meat is contained in the product.

Rob Poetsch, a spokesman for Taco Bell, said the company denies that its advertising is misleading: "Taco Bell prides itself on serving high quality Mexican inspired food with great value. We're happy that the millions of customers we serve every week agree."

The verdict of the case — or the ruling from the court of public opinion — has yet to be announced.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Less than 35% beef! God, at some point, you just gotta sell people cow cock.

[sgranade]

I will sadly admit that Taco Bell is one of my go-to fast food restaurants when I'm traveling by myself and just want some terrible, terrible food with which to fill my stomach.

Generally I stick to the bean burritos, though, and not the "beefy" ones.

[Flack]

When I was in high school my parents gave me $2/day for lunch, and I specifically remember getting 2 tacos and 2 burritos (regularly) for $2.51.

I think if you go there now it would be like $17.62.

And don't get me started on Hot Sauce Soup. Sadly, it was a major staple of my diet for about six months.

[Flack]

And, since you asked (I know, nobody did), here's the recipe for Hot Sauce Soup!

Ingredients:

- One order of Frijoles ($0.49)
- One Small Water (Free)
- Handful of Hot Sauce Packets (Free)

Recipe:

Drink water. Dump beans in (now) empty cup. Add many hot sauce packets. Stir. Eat with a spork.

---

When I moved out into my first apartment, I worked at Pizza Inn and two of my three meals a day consisted of pizza. The third was either Hot Sauce Soup or Ramen (which had to be smashed into little tiny pieces because I had to cook them in a deep dish pizza pan). I had Mac and Cheese, but never had any milk.

Oh, and sometimes I got to eat out when one of the retarded waitresses would screw up the register and it would be over at the end of the night.

[Tdarcos]

When I was in high school my parents gave me $2/day for lunch, and I specifically remember getting 2 tacos and 2 burritos (regularly) for $2.51.

I think if you go there now it would be like $17.62.

If you're making a joke it flopped. Many times I would visit Taco Bell during 2010, it's more like $4. I can get really tasty soft tacos or burritos for 99c each, and not little thin things. You can get steak and cheese chimichangas (burritos which have been fried) from Target for about $1.13 or the same brand and product from Dollar Tree ("Everything's $1!"). I think the freshly made ones from Taco Bell were heavier than the frozen ones.

And don't get me started on Hot Sauce Soup. Sadly, it was a major staple of my diet for about six months.

James Cameron tells how, before he was able to get the first Terminator movie made, at one point he was so broke his car had been repossessed, he was sleeping on the floor at a friend's place, and he was using the coupons his mom got him that gave him two Big Macs for the price of one, he'd eat one on one day and the other the next day.

Robert A. Heinlein speaks of using catsup and boiling water, "Depression-era cooking ala WPA." Resillient people survive. Your ancestors survived the battle of Valley Forge, or the potato famine or the plague of 1918 or the black death. They survived horrors you can't even imagine, so they gave you good stock. Most of us never come close to learning what they can go through or survive.

We had a water main break either late in '09 pr early '10, so no water. I went out and got a trash can full of snow where it was clean. I have two trash cans. One is marked "trash only" the other is "not for trash." The NFT can is used for bringing home groceries, supplies, library books or anything else. It's how I make sure I don't overload myself. It is never used for anything unsavory or that could contaminate it.

I boiled the snow in pans to both make it drinkable and to kill anything in it. We don't realize how dirty even fresh snow is. I saw a TV show once on processing rainwater in catch basins and they pull a lot of dirt even before cleaning the water.

I'm a survivor too.

[Flack]

If you're making a joke it flopped.

I was not making a joke. I bought four items at Taco Bell recently and it was $17.62.

Do they have Viagra for senses of humor?

[Guest]

You can get steak and cheese chimichangas (burritos which have been fried) from Target for about $1.13 or the same brand and product from Dollar Tree ("Everything's $1!").

WRONG. You cannot purchase edible, human consumable FOOD from the dollar tree.

If you believe you have purchased a so called "chimichanga" from any dollar tree establishment it is YOU, sir, who has had a joke played upon. THEM.

[Tdarcos]

You can get steak and cheese chimichangas (burritos which have been fried) from Target for about $1.13 or the same brand and product from Dollar Tree ("Everything's $1!").

WRONG. You cannot purchase edible, human consumable FOOD from the dollar tree.

If you believe you have purchased a so called "chimichanga" from any dollar tree establishment it is YOU, sir, who has had a joke played upon. THEM.

(Reginald Veljohnson to Paul Gleason in Die Hard:)
"Excuse me, sir!" The exact same brand, product and item are sold by both Dollar Tree and Target and the only difference is that Target is charging a few cents more for the exact same thing.

I might wonder about Dollar Tree selling stuff that's overly cheap, but I doubt seriously that Target is going to sell something potentially dangerous that would ruin their reputation as a place where you get relatively good stuff at a fair price just to make a sale of something they won't make a lot of money on. They're not Wal*Mart, they actually have a reputation.

[Tdarcos]

If you're making a joke it flopped.

I was not making a joke. I bought four items at Taco Bell recently and it was $17.62.

Do they have Viagra for senses of humor?

Flack, I have gone into TB many times. You would have had to buy the 10-pack of tacos for like $6 to spend that kind of money, that's about the most expensive thing on the menu.

If you bought the frozen fruit drinks at just under $3 each - the strawberry is yummy - then that's almost $12, but I've gone into taco bell and bought 4 items for less than $5 with tax. So what on earth did you order that cost $17.62 for four items? It wasn't two tacos and two burritos, even the most expensive single ones are less than $4 each and are probably under $3.

One day I wanted to get enough food for three days, I bought like 10 burritos, a carmel-apple empanada, and the strawberry fruit drink, and that including tax was like $15. I have no idea how four food items at Taco Bell could cost over $17.00.

Unless the sales tax there is on the order of 20% or something horrible. In Alexandria, Virginia the sales tax on restaurant food is like 8% and in Washington, DC it's a whopping 10%. A double cheesburger at a MickeyDs at Union Station is easy to figure, it's $1.10.