Taco Bell Explains What All Those Unpronounceable Ingredients In Its Beef Are
It’s like a game! But without the fun.
While Taco Bell explains that its beef is mostly beef, at 88%, there’s still that other 12% that consumers might be wondering about, so the chain is providing a page laying out all that list of unpronounceable ingredients (H/T BusinessInsider). This, instead of driving consumers to ask scientists to explain what the heck torula yeast is. And while maybe you (and me, and plenty of other sites) didn’t realize it, this information has been on the site since 2011, a Taco Bell spokesperson tells Consumerist.
“Our seasoned beef recipe consists of 88% Premium Beef and 12% Signature Recipe. All of our ingredients are listed on our ingredient statement page, and you can learn more about these ingredients and the Taco Bell meat grade by clicking on a topic below.”
With catchy titles that sound like Taco Bell is trying to be just like your cool Uncle Hal bonding with you over science, each ingredient comes with a pop-up explanation.
“Why trehalose?” Why indeed? Because “It’s a naturally occurring sugar that we use to improve the taste of our seasoned beef.”
Oh, okay. “What’s the deal with soy lecithin?” Taco Bell’s version of Seinfeld asks.
“When you prepare as much seasoned beef as we do, you don’t want it to separate. That’s what soy lecithin does. It helps (with moisture) to bind substances that would otherwise separate – like oil and water. It’s a common ingredient in many grocery staples, like chocolate bars and salad dressings.”
Whether or not this makes you actually want to chow down on 88% beef and 12% other stuff, that’s up to you. But I’m saving “torula yeast” for future Scrabble games, that’s for sure.
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