Taco Bell has made headline news this week, as a California woman filed a lawsuit claiming that the meat at Taco Bell doesn’t contain enough meat to be properly labeled as beef.
This is not the first time that the meat that is sold in restaurants, grocery stores, and even in schools has been questioned. About this same time last year, the New York Times ran two articles about the processing of beef and the flaws in the federal inspection system. The first article was a chilling look at what is actually in hamburger meat and the danger presented by pathogens such as E. coli, some strains of which can make some people very sick and even kill them. The article begins by telling the story of a woman who had a severe form of food-borne illness caused by E. coli and then discusses the processing of beef. I have included a link to this article below.
The second article in the Times talked about the use of ammonia, yes ammonia, to destroy E. Coli. The ammonia injected as a disinfectant remains in Beef products that are sold in stores and restaurants nationwide. The interesting thing is that studies have found that ammonia isn’t always effective at destroying E. Coli, yet it is still used, and the FDA has signed off on this.
OK, so back to Taco Bell. The basis of the lawsuit is the claim that there is less than 40 percent meat in Taco Bell’s beef. Taco meat filling, according to the USDA's Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book, must contain at least 40 percent fresh meat. Yes….that is right….the USDA says that there only has to be 40% meat. Scary…right? So what can be in the other 60 percent. Well, it is usually meat extenders and fillers like soy lechithin. I think this should once again remind us all that we should always know what we are eating. At restaurants you can ask for a list of ingredients or go to the website. Although the ingredients are usually very hard to find, they are there.
To me, the main take-away from all of this is…
1. Do your homework before ordering and know what you are eating and asking your body to digest.
2. If you eat meat, try to eat 100% ground beef. Try to ensure there are no fillers and no additives.
3. If you eat meat, ensure you are getting it from a good and credible source. You may want to also find out what parts of the cow are used and what the grade of the meat is. Most of the time ground beef comes from various grades of meat from different parts of cows. (I’ll just leave it at that for now.)
If you are interested in learning more about what goes into meat processing, check out the movie Food Inc. It is a very sobering documentary on the meat industry.
Oh, in case you were wondering… I looked it up. Taco Bell’s Seasoned Ground Beef has the following 26 ingredients:
Beef, Water, Seasoning [Isolated Oat Product, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Oats (Wheat), Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Spices, Maltodextrin, Soybean Oil (Anti-dusting Agent), Garlic Powder, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Powder (Processed With Alkali), Silicon Dioxide, Natural Flavors, Yeast, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Smoke Flavor], Salt, Sodium Phosphates. CONTAINS SOYBEAN, WHEAT
NY Times Story- The Burger That Shattered Her Life http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html
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