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Consumer Law

Taco Bell Defends Its Beef, Says It Will Take Unspecified ‘Legal Action’

Taco Bell has a beef with the lawyers who filed a class-action suit claiming its “seasoned ground beef” isn’t as meaty as it sounds.

The California class action filed by Alabama law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles had claimed meat accounts for less than half of Taco Bell’s meat mixture. Advertised “seasonings” are in reality binders and extenders such as “isolated oat product” intended to increase volume, the suit alleges. It doesn’t seek damages, but asks for a court order requiring Taco Bell to be truthful in its advertising.

A statement by Taco Bell president Greg Creed says legal action is planned, but doesn’t provide specifics, the Associated Press reports.

“Unfortunately, the lawyers in this case elected to sue first and ask questions later—and got their ‘facts’ absolutely wrong,” Creed says in the statement. “We plan to take legal action for the false statements being made about our food.”

At Taco Bell, the statement says, “We start with 100 percent USDA-inspected beef. Then we simmer it in our proprietary blend of seasonings and spices to give our seasoned beef its signature Taco Bell taste and texture.” The statement says all the seasoning and spice ingredients are listed on its website.

According to AP, the website lists ingredients that include salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats, soy lectithin, sugar, soybean oil, garlic powder, yeast extract, citric acid and cocoa powder.