Taco Hell banned from selling 'meat' by piratenews

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Taco Hell banned from selling 'meat'

POSTED BY: PIRATENEWS
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 2, 2011 10:15
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Friday, January 28, 2011 5:13 PM

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Batshit meatloaf at Taco Hell (FDA allows ratshit in all foods)

Taco Bell says a legal beef over the meat in its tacos is bull.

The fast-food chain took out full-page ads in at least nine major newspapers and launched a YouTube campaign featuring its president Friday to proclaim its taco filling is 88 percent beef.

A false-advertising lawsuit filed last week that caused an online stir alleges the company's filling doesn't have enough beef to be called that. The lawsuit seeks to make the company stop calling it "beef," and pay the suing law firm's bill.

Taco Bell trumpeted "Thank you for suing us. Here's the truth about our seasoned beef," in the ads in Friday's editions of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other papers.

The ads go on to say the rest of the filling is a mixture of spices and common food additives.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, alleges the meat mixture has binders and extenders and does not meet federal requirements to be labeled beef.

Taco Bell denied those claims earlier this week but turned up the volume after a week in which the story spread like wildfire, making national headlines, creating an internet stir and even prompting a bit by comedian Stephen Colbert.

Experts say similar cases show the tempest in a tortilla is unlikely to hurt Taco Bell's business, but the aggressive counter-attack is drawing some attention.

"It is unusual for a company to take this on and challenge the allegations so boldly," said Gene Grabowski, chair of the crisis and litigation practice at Levick Strategic Communications in Washington. "A lot of companies are going to be watching how this turns out."

The tone and scope of the campaign indicates Taco Bell is confident in its facts, Grabowski said. Companies typically shy away from taking facts in a legal dispute public.

The lawsuit, filed by the Alabama law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, doesn't specify what percentage of the mixture is meat. The lawyer on the case, Dee Miles, said the firm had the filling tested and found it contained 35 percent beef. The firm would not say who tested the meat or give any other specifics of the analysis.

Taco Bell says the filling contains 88 percent USDA-inspected beef and the rest is water, spices and a mixture of oats, starch and other ingredients that contribute to what it calls the "quality of its product."

The company said it uses no extenders to add volume to the filling.

Customers at a Taco Bell in parent company Yum Brands' hometown of Louisville, Ky., were unruffled.

"I've eaten it for years," said Greg Long as he grabbed a Beefy 5 Layer burrito Friday in Louisville, Ky. "I don't care."

"It tastes like ground beef from any fast-food restaurant to me," said David Carey, who mostly cared it was quick enough to fit into his lunch break.

The plaintiffs would have to prove that most diners believe they are getting something other than what Taco Bell serves. Most customers realize taco meat has ingredients besides beef, Williams said.

In addition, the lawsuit cites U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for labeling ground beef. The problem? They don't apply to restaurants. The USDA's rules apply to meat processors - the companies Taco Bell buys its meat from.

Tyson Foods Inc., the company's largest meat supplier, said it mixes and cooks the meat at three USDA-inspected plants.

So what's in the meat, anyway?

Fast food often contains additives. That "isolated oat product," for example, is usually used to help processed meat hang onto moisture and flavor. Other chains use them, too. McDonald's, for example, says its hamburgers are all beef, but the hamburger chain's ingredients list also includes additives and preservatives in many items.

Experts say similar ingredients are used in many processed foods sold in stores.

"There is nothing really Frankenfood in here," said Karen Ansel, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

Nutrition experts say foods in their most basic, fresh form are healthiest. But Ansel said taco fans should be more concerned about salt than ingredients with long, complicated names.

"If they eat this, it is no worse for them than what they are getting anywhere else."

http://www.wsbtv.com/nationalnews/26648261/detail.html

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Saturday, January 29, 2011 4:19 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Wait, people actually thought that was pure beef in the first place, instead of mystery meat and filler ?
Talk about self-delusion, but I tellya this much...

*I* sure as hell won't eat there, never have.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvenEvilHasStandards

-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, January 30, 2011 7:46 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

What I love about this lawsuit isn't that it's surprising to find out there's less than 35% "meat" in Taco Bell's "beef" - it's that it's going to get the tabloid press testing EVERY fast-food chain's "meat", and things are about to get really hilarious when it comes to light just exactly what people have been fed. (Hint: There is NO rib in the McRib.

)

This Space For Rent!

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Monday, January 31, 2011 7:52 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

While I do prefer eating things that are more natural in general, I do have a penchant for fast food, partly because I grew up with it and partly because its cheap, how else can I get lunch for 2 dollars on the way somewhere and have it be warm food? It does seem odd that people wouldn't know that Taco Bell has ... other things ... in the meat.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, January 31, 2011 7:55 PM

KWICKO

Oh, I think on some level people *know* - they just don't want to think about it. Kind of like a hot dog - we all *know* there's a certain amount of hog anus in 'em, but it's not really something you want to discuss over lunch at der Wienerschnitzel. ;)

This Space For Rent!

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Monday, January 31, 2011 8:39 PM

DMAANLILEILTT

Yes, that's all very good, but when the day is done and the sun goes down and the moonlight's shining through...what then?

"I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I?"

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 3:14 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Kind of like a hot dog - we all *know* there's a certain amount of hog anus in 'em, but it's not really something you want to discuss over lunch at der Wienerschnitzel. ;)

I just heard the GROSSEST, WORST story about hot dogs.

This is one of those stories that a friend heard from her daughter who heard from from her classmate. I don't know if it is an urban legend, and I am NOT saying this story is true. I retell it to drive home the point of "mystery meat."

The classmate got into a small fender bender with a company truck, a company that makes hotdogs and lunchmeats. The truck doors swung open because of the accident, and the classmate sees a pile of dead human bodies in there. Now this is Peru, where cops don't do anything, and there is no consistent enforcement of traffic laws. So the truck just closes its doors and the classmate drives away.

BUT...why would hot dog truck be carrying dead people in it?

I don't think such an idea is possible in the USA. But it is not impossible here in Peru.

-------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 6:07 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

I think it would be cheaper and less risky to use various animals than various people.

Besides, if you saw such a thing, would you just tell a friend about it? Or would you become an avatar of outrage and righteous vengeance?

Perhaps I am odd or insane, but if I spy a hot dog truck carrying bodies, that truck ain't goin' nowhere.

--Anthony

Assured by friends that the signal-to-noise ratio has improved on this forum, I have disabled web filtering.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 6:51 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
I think it would be cheaper and less risky to use various animals than various people.

Well, animals you gotta feed and raise.

Then let's say some organized crime needs to get rid of a few bodies. You get free meat, and they get evidence disposal. They pay for the transport.

Excuse me while I go

again.

Quote:
Besides, if you saw such a thing, would you just tell a friend about it? Or would you become an avatar of outrage and righteous vengeance?

Perhaps I am odd or insane, but if I spy a hot dog truck carrying bodies, that truck ain't goin' nowhere.

Or would you be too scared to say anything except to a few friends? I don't know.

I sure HOPE it's not true, cause I've eaten those people's hot dogs before.

But the point is not so much whether the story is true. It is that we are eating "meat" that is not identifiable, with the obvious risks of meat anonymity.

-------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 7:02 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

If it makes you feel better, I doubt I'd be able to identify with certainty what my steak was. Or where the ribs I ate came from.

Can you?

Most of the meat we eat is unidentifiable. So is most of the food we eat. Like the powdered bones and placenta mixed in with the flour of your bread.

I mean, can you be sure they're not in there?

What about the drops of menstrual fluid added to your meal by your hot Caribbean girlfriend, part of a Santaria practice to ensure your faithfulness?

Without some small faith, no one could live that hadn't collected and/or butchered and cooked their own food.

--Anthony

Assured by friends that the signal-to-noise ratio has improved on this forum, I have disabled web filtering.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 7:31 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Without some small faith, no one could live that hadn't collected and/or butchered and cooked their own food.

Some foods require more faith than others. Some foods require a LOT more faith.

I think hot dogs are in their own category of faith requirement. Like medicine made in China.

-------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 12:42 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Actually the one that bothers most folk about hot dogs is "filler" as in coal ash, leftover from power plants... but I digress.

Old german sayin, that two things you really don't wanna know how are made, laws and sausages, yes ?

Mind you, my theological/philosophical beliefs hold utterly no prohibition on eating long pig, and on occasion I do mentally screw with folk regarding that - but frankly, given what THEY eat, most people these days wouldn't be safe TO eat, all that MSG, HFCS, Aspartame, plus all those presciption drugs shovelled on em by Big Pharma....
Now, free-range vegans on the other hand...

Oh, and regarding trucks/trailers - often they're used by other companies too, the sideboard and company logo doesn't necessarily mean that's what is IN the truck - I learned this when I wondered what the hell a Tyson Chicken truck was doin pickin up a load of Titanium Dioxide...
(Eddie, of course, decided he was swearing off of chicken for a while, after that.)

Of course, if I did stoop to eating someone, I'd want it to be kissinger - cut out his tiny black heart and have that bastard as a kebob, I would.

-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011 12:50 PM

BYTEMITE

I actually don't mind if the meat isn't what they say; before I was vegan I've eaten haggis and I LIKED it.

The rat poop allegations in the past are concerning though.

(Yes, I saw what Frem said about vegans. So long as I died from/for unrelated causes I'd have no reason to complain. Same goes for necrophilia, but let's not go there.)

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 2:49 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Ah, so zombification is ok with this one...
*making note for the collection teams*

For SCIENCE !!! Bwahahahaha!

-F

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 3:10 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Now, free-range vegans on the other hand...

God damn. You ARE evil.

-------
Everything I say is just my opinion, not fact.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 3:43 AM

WHOZIT

TACO BELL IS PEOPLE!!

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 4:34 AM

BYTEMITE

I wouldn't say I'm okay with zombification, but at some point after the old heart kicks it and I've vacated the premises, it doesn't matter much now does it?

Then again, "faking my death with a brief indenture period Haitian style" IS a contingency plan I have filed way in the back...

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011 10:15 AM

TRAVELER

Meat! Taco Bell don't need no stinking meat!

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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