Suing fast food restaurant chains is very fashionable, and mostly a waste of time, no matter how meritorious the issues might be. But there is one new lawsuit that may some "meat" to it.
A California woman is suing Taco Bell because the chain doesn't have enough beef in its meat filling.
The filling is referred to as "seasoned ground beef or seasoned beef," according to the lawsuit. But the chain does not refer to what would appear to be beef as "beef."
In this Orwellian fashion, if you don't use the word "beef" — even if it looks like beef, the substance can contain as little as 40% meat. The claim in the suit is that the material is about 35% was solid with about 15% constituting protein.
Those who brought the lawsuit had the mixture tested and found water, isolated oat product, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch, and sodium phosphate, along with some beef and seasonings.
In a prepared statement, the company said "Taco Bell prides itself on serving high quality Mexican inspired food with great value."
First of all, any image that Taco Bell works in "high-quality" anything is fairly ludicrous. On the other side, what kind of food do you expect to get in something that costs 99¢.
This lawsuit should go ahead if for shining a light on how little cow parts can be in something and still be called "beef" or "meat." Whether we are talking 15% or 40%, we should have higher standards. Think about it: even 60% allows for a lot of cheap non-animal related products. This would be a huge step up from the status quo.
If we are going to have such low standards in our food, we shouldn't be ashamed of them. When someone says America is #1, remind them of how little meat we have in our "meat filling." Because America is #1 — we have the most Orwellian language to describe our "food."
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