Taco Bell Fake Meat Class Action Lawsuit

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Taco Bell Fake Meat Class Action Lawsuit

By Matt O’Donnell

A federal class action lawsuit is claiming Taco Bell deceptively advertises its menu items as containing beef, failing to tell customers that the majority of the “beef” is not actually real meat.

“Rather than beef, these food items are actually made with a substance known as ‘taco meat filling,’” the Taco Bell class action lawsuit says, adding that the filling consists mostly of extenders and other non-meat substances that don’t meet the minimum USDA standards to be labeled as beef, seasoned or otherwise. These ingredients include, among other things, “Isolated Oat Product,” wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch and sodium phosphate, as well as beef and seasonings.

This constitutes false and deceptive advertising, and Taco Bell should label these products as containing “taco meat filling” — not beef, the Taco Bell class action says.

For example, when ordering food items, customers are generally given the choice between chicken, beef or carne asada steak. While the “chicken” and “carne asada steak” are actually chicken or carne asada steak, the “seasoned beef” is not beef. Consumers are completely unaware they’re ordering a product of substantially lower quality that does not meet the definition for beef, the lawsuit says.

The woman who filed the Taco Bell meat class action, Amanda Obney, says she does not want money or damages from the lawsuit – she simply wants Taco Bell to ‘fess up to consumers about what is in the seasoned beef through a corrective advertising campaign “to educate the public about the true content of its food products.”

She is bringing the lawsuit on behalf of a proposed class of anyone in the United States who purchased any food product from Taco Bell that was advertised or labeled as containing “beef,” “seasoned ground beef” or “seasoned beef.”

Updated January 26th, 2011

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