Is Taco Bell's Meat Filling The Real Deal?

Taco Bell is one of those fast food chains that often finds itself in the crosshairs of pop culture. These digs are typically focused on the content of the restaurant's seasoned beef, which is the baseline protein for most of its menu items. For the most part, consumer criticisms of Taco Bell are subjective — Taco Bell has its share of critics, and most of these jokes tend to come from those who simply don't like its food.

That said, a highly publicized lawsuit that challenged the contents of Taco Bell's seasoned beef brought the restaurant under legal scrutiny. All of the jokes about Taco Bell's seasoned beef resurfaced but, this time, they had the added legitimacy of a lawsuit to fan the flames. It wasn't long before social media sites were awash in speculation about what Taco Bell puts in its seasoned beef. Some time has passed since the lawsuit was presented and eventually dismissed, but Taco Bell detractors continue to bring up the scandal whenever the fast food restaurant chain enters the discourse. While the allegations about Taco Bell's seasoned beef have largely been proven false, and yes, the beef is real, it never hurts to take a deeper look into what's in our favorite fast food items. So what exactly is going on with Taco Bell's protein of choice these days?

It all started when an Alabama-based law firm, Beasley Allen, pursued a false advertising claim against Taco Bell because the restaurant's seasoned beef only contained around 35% beef. The firm's reasoning was that it wasn't accurate to call the product beef when it had such low levels of the protein. According to NPR's All Things Considered, the law firm claimed to have tested the product and found that it consisted of 35% beef, and that the other 65% was made up of "soybeans and wheat and oats, non-meat products." Of course, any headline that ran about the story carried with it the implication that Taco Bell was hiding who knows what in its beef, which inspired all sorts of creative memes.

In response to these allegations, Taco Bell launched a campaign to restore its reputation. The million-dollar initiative defended its counter claim that the menu's seasoned beef consists of 88% beef with the other 12% reserved for seasoning and color – every restaurant has its trade secrets, after all. Satisfied with Taco Bell's transparency, Beasley Allen dropped its beef over the restaurant's beef.

With all of the twists and turns of an HBO docu-drama, the scrutiny against Taco Bell slowly dissipated once the lawsuit was dropped. But has Taco Bell kept up its levels of transparency? The short answer is yes.

According to the nutritional info page on Taco Bell's website, the first three ingredients of the restaurant's seasoned beef are beef, water, and seasoning. The seasoning includes common ingredients like chili pepper, maltodextrin, salt, oats, and soy lecithin among others, and there's nothing shocking for a fast food restaurant. One interesting discussion that the Taco Bell beef lawsuit has teased into the dining discourse is the use of plant-based ingredients. The suit's original claim wasn't about Taco Bell's beef containing some sort of mystery meat but rather ingredients like oats and soy. Taco Bell continues to use soy in its seasoned beef — though not at the levels originally alleged — and it's one of the most vegan-friendly fast food restaurants currently on the market.

Though it's been a bumpy road for Taco Bell and its seasoned beef, the moments of increased scrutiny have revealed that this fast food chain does indeed use real ground beef in its recipes. Whether the preparation of said ground beef is up your alley or not remains subjective, but at least it's the real deal.