Taco Bell's beef: what are consumers actually eating?

Taco Bell new breakfast menu commercials have initiated the fight between fast food chains, labeled the “breakfast wars” of 2014. Comparatively, the popular Taco chain has discreetly added details about the previously unknown ingredients in their beef to their website.

According to the Taco Bell website, the fast food chain stated that they “go at great lengths to be open about the ingredients [they] use.”

Taco Bell’s seasoned beef recipe is comprised of 88 percent premium beef and 12 percent of what the restaurant calls their “signature recipe.” Considering “signature recipe” sounds like just another cryptic phrase the food industry uses to keep Americans blind to what goes into their food.

However, the Live Más catchphrase company strives to make clear what is really in their taco beef. If a customer is wondering what ingredients, including cellulose, oats and maltodextrin, are and why these and ten other ingredients are added to the beef.

For instance, Taco Bell explained that oats are added into the seasoned beef recipe not as fillers to add volume to the recipe but as a way to keep the beef moist. Other misconceptions that the Mexican food company aimed to clear up with the web page include explanations about what Potassium Chloride is-- a common salt substitute used in the food industry-- as well as the need for modified corn starch which the website stated is used in common grocery foods like yogurt.

The short, often single sentence descriptions, however, are vague.

The Huffington Post stated the usefulness of the fact sheet is questionable.

If a consumer is wondering what “trehalose” is, Taco Bell gives a somewhat bewildering answer for the average person without an extensive knowledge of food additives. The company stated, “It’s a naturally occurring sugar that we use to improve the taste of our seasoned beef.” Additionally, the “natural flavoring” used in the “signature recipe” is a “black pepper flavor.” This opens up to more questions from the consumers about why Taco Bell is using black pepper flavor instead of simply black pepper that American’s are familiar with in their own homes.

Though Taco Bell’s fact sheet appears to be an attempt at more transparency in the fast food industry, The Huffington Post reported that Taco Bell fell under scrutiny in 2011 for it’s taco meat filling. An Alabama lawsuit against the food chain charged Taco Bell with false advertising, stating that it’s beef product did not contain enough USDA-inspected, real premium beef.
Though the case was dismissed in 2011, after the chain revealed that 88 percent of their recipe was real beef, in 2014 consumers are demanding more clarity in the food industry, according to The Huffington Post.

Food chains, particularly Taco Bell, attempt to give consumers a peace of mind, yet, the vagueness and possibly that they are being provided with incomplete lists of ingredients have consumers and critics wary of what happens behind closed doors in the food industry.

Taco Bell assures its customers that all ingredients used in their taco beef are completely safe and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.