Taco Bell = Beef? Maybe Not?

I was reminded of a scandal that broke years ago ion my home town of Dallas, Texas when a local Mexical food buffet was accused of serving dog food in their enchiladas.  Though it's hardly dog food, the ingredients in a Taco Bell taco look more like breakfast cereal than beef, and that's the issue.

According to a class-action lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in the Central District of California, the chain is serving a product that hardly qualifies as beef.  Only 36% of the taco filling is beef by volume with the rest being everything from oats to yeast and other ingredients including soy lecithin, etc.  Following are the "other" ingredients that make up the alleged beef:

1. Water
2. Isolated oat product
3. Salt
4. Chili pepper
5. Onion powder
6. Tomato powder
7. Oats (wheat)
8. Soy lecithin
9. Sugar
10. Spices
11. Maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose)
12. Soybean oil (anti-dusting agent)
13. Garlic powder
14. Autolyzed yeast extract
15. Citric acid, caramel color
16. Cocoa powder
17. Silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent)
18. Natural flavors
19. Yeast
20. Modified corn starch
21. Natural smoke flavor
22. Salt
23. Sodium phosphate
24. Less than 2% of beef broth
25. Potassium phosphate
26. Potassium lactate