A reader sent us the contents of a Better Business Bureau complaint filed against Taco Bell. It describes how a customer tried repeatedly to find out what grade beef Taco Bell uses in its food, and how nobody at the company was able or willing to provide an answer. Not surprisingly, the BBB complaint also went unanswered. Let’s just hope they’re not sourcing their beef from forklift cattle, which is like downer cattle but has odd prong-shaped bruises on the side.
Here’s the actual BBB complain that went unanswered by Taco Bell:
About 3 weeks ago i called the 800# asking what grade of beef they use. All they could tell me was usda approved. I called 4 times and got the same, twice i left my # and was told a nutritionalist would call me back….no call ever came. I next e mailed corp with the same question. I was answered by a Sandy Shakelford telline me:I have located a phone number contact in which you can inquire about our meat. Taco Bell Corporation 949-863-4500 and ask for the QA Department. I called a total of three times first got a prompt telling me to put in MY voice mail # to get my messages. Next i was transfered to a recording telling of bad cheese both plain and mixed and to throw them out and call in for a credit. Third was disconected. 4th i got a voice mailbox in the Quality control dept. i think his name was Steve…Again i left my question and # and again no call back. On Feb 27 i e mailed Sandy telling her what my phone experiance was and had not got an answer to my question…That was 10 days ago and again no contact from Sandy nor Taco Bell. Side note the web sight says contact us call 1800 TACO BELL when its actually 800 TACO BEL….The companys resistance to answer my question tells me what i was told by a friend that worked there that they use poor yet usda approved beef could be true.
(Thanks to Moe!)
(Photo: karlfrankowski)
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I was told by a Taco Bell manager they mix ground oatmeal with the ground beef to bulk it up. I always thought this actually made thier ground beef slightly healthier than most other fast food beef products.
I wonder if Sandy Shakleford is Rusty’s little sister….
I’ve heard that they actually use Grade E. A friend of mine owns a slaughterhouse and he knows the different grades inside and out. He said that he can tell it’s below a D. The sad thing, is that’s what they feed our soldiers
Well to tell first there would need to actually be some beef in my taco! Every time I go there I am disappointed with the filling and have to pull out a magnifying glass to see where some trace amounts of meat may or may not have been. Looks NOTHING like the picture and bet there is not even and ounce in them.
i was told grade D by a friend. It’s one grade above dog food apparently, but i think they could even go down one grade and I’d still buy it.
I love taco bell.
Its all about fire sauce. poor that fire sauce on and you wont be able to taste anything else.
Low grade meat is nothing more than eyelids and assholes ground to a tasty mess of whatever can be eaten.
@SomeoneGNU: “What’s next? Complaining that a mexican pizza isn’t really how they eat pizza in Mexico?” beautiful!
yes… this is like asking what grade of tobacco your cigarettes are made of. it’s pointless.
I don’t get why people want to know what the quality of Taco Bell meat is. Or actually, I don’t want to know but I respect someone’s right to know.
No one seems to get upset at the all white meat chicken nuggets which amount to the company bleaching all the neck and beak parts until its a fine white mush.
No one should expect Taco Bell meat to be a high grade. Nor any other processed patty for that matter. Either eat it, or don’t.
You call that beef? I’ll stick with the “chicken,” tyvm
Anyone who reads Snopes knows that this is a retarded question. There is no “grade D” meat, there is only USDA approval, and then an optional grading if the manufacturer wants.
You should watch the movie “Fast Food Nation.” You’ll swear off of meat for good.
Soylent Red? Anyone still eating at Taco Bell is on their own.
taco flavored textured vegetable protein
“All they could tell me was USDA approved.”
I was at a petstore and one selling point was the dog was USDA approved, I looked at the puppy and informed him he has been certified as edible by the government.
I feel like USDA approved doesnt really mean all that much.
@B:
I was wondering whatever happened to the dog on their commercials.
Do you think they care what kind of sludge they feed the stoners that roll thru at 2am?
I like the responses that are Simpsons quotes and people taking them seriously.
And then there’s I KNOW THIS GUY THAT WORKED THERE IN 87 like he’s the go to know it all.
@Lambasted: When I was a freshman, there was a Taco Bell on the first floor of my dorm, and they accepted the student meal plans! I had very irregular bathroom habits for about a semester. (They did away with the Bell my 2nd year in favor of healthier alternatives)
They use cutter beef. It’s what’s left over after they get done cutting steaks and prime cuts. It’s the second to the lowest grade of beef–just above canner. No tendons or organ meats or anything, but plenty of fat. Mostly fat, actually. It has either no flavor or a nasty flavor, so they have to season the heck out of it in order to make it edible. The reason Taco Bell won’t say what “grade” it is is because it’s not graded. The USDA doesn’t “grade” meat except by special request. All they do is inspect the facility where it’s processed to make sure everything is clean and up to code. Here are the details, via Snopes:
[www.snopes.com]
Taco Bell uses a mix of varous extenders and fillers and a poor grade of beef. It is probably a formulation that is used throughout the entire fast-food industry. Don’t you think it is the case that McDonald’s, Burger King, White Castle, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell all use the same mix? So, what is the typical ratio of extenders/fillers to beef? Why can’t we be told? Everybody knows that the beef is adulterated. What we are being told is that the beef is 100% beef. Unfortunately, beef is not the only thing that is present.