San Antonio company responds after woman finds 'teeth' in barbacoa

Screengrab of El Rincon Mexican Restaurant customer Courtney Aguilar's Facebook post, showing what she initially believed was "teeth" in her barbacoa taco. Screengrab of El Rincon Mexican Restaurant customer Courtney Aguilar's Facebook post, showing what she initially believed was "teeth" in her barbacoa taco. Photo: Facebook Photo: Facebook Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close San Antonio company responds after woman finds 'teeth' in barbacoa 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

"When you order barbacoa tacos but get teeth instead."

This Facebook photo, and caption, is revolting thousands on Facebook, but the truth in the creepy find isn't nearly as outrageous as the knee-jerk social reaction may lead you to believe.

The Sunday tradition of barbacoa was interrupted March 19 when Facebook user Courtney Aguilar thought she found "teeth" in her taco from El Rincon Mexican Restaurant in Pflugerville.

"I asked the server if this was teeth," Aguilar's Facebook post reads. "She said 'baby teeth.'"

More than 2,000 people have reacted to Aguilar's post in the form of likes, shares and comments.

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Roger Baza, the restaurant's manager, told mySA.com the meat was purchased from Laxson, a San Antonio company.

Laxson explained in a statement to mySA that the "teeth" are actually "beef lips" and are a "USDA-inspected product for human consumption."

"We admit cow lips are not the most attractive food item and can resemble teeth," Laxson said in a statement to mySA. "Unfortunately, it made its way into this customer's dish."

The company explained the packaging process in a letter obtained by mySA.

"Occasionally some parts of the lips get mixed into the cheek meat, it is easily identified by the soft pointed nodules that is on the inside of the lip," the Laxson letter reads. "There is no equipment that I am aware of that can detect this in the cheek meat, and it is extremely rare that any of this gets mixed in with the cheeks."

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San Antonio Express-News food writer Mike Sutter confirmed that it's not uncommon to find the odd cow chunk in barbacoa, due to the way the meat is traditionally prepared.

"The reality is this: Barbacoa is a rough business. It starts with a whole skinned cow's head, wrapped in burlap and baling wire and buried in a smoking hole in the ground overnight," he said. "In the morning, somebody with a sledgehammer opens up that skull and the harvesting begins: all the fatty and lean soft tissue from lip to crown. Sometimes the brains, sometimes the eyes, sometimes the tongue if it's not being held out for lengua."

Sutter said sometimes "bones, teeth and cartilage" end up in the meat.

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El Rincon addressed the situation in a Facebook post on March 20 in which the restaurant apologized and said barbacoa sales would halt until a new vendor is found.

Aguilar updated her post to say the restaurant was in touch with her and had "taken full responsibility."

Staff writer Mike Sutter contributed to this report.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye