Taco Bell takes beef lawsuit to the public

Associated Press

Taco Bell went big and bold to respond to a lawsuit claiming its taco filling can’t be called beef, buying up newspaper ads Friday that trumpet “Thank you for suing us.”

The company says it is setting the record straight with full-page ads in Friday’s editions of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other papers and a YouTube campaign.

“Here’s the truth about our seasoned beef,” the ads say, declaring the product is 88 percent ground beef and the rest a mixture of spices and common food additives. Taco Bell is fighting a claim that the taco is only 35 percent beef.

The lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in California, claims calling Taco Bell’s filling “seasoned beef” is false advertising. The suit alleges the meat mixture has binders and extenders and does not meet federal requirements to be labeled beef.

Taco Bell denied those claims but went further by launching the advertising campaign after a week in which the story spread like wildfire, making national headlines, creating an Internet stir and even prompting a bit by comedian Steven Colbert.

Experts say similar cases show the tempest in a tortilla is unlikely to hurt Taco Bell’s business, but the aggressive counterattack is drawing some attention.

“It is unusual for a company to take this on and challenge the allegations so boldly,” said Gene Grabow-ski, chairman of the crisis-and-litigation practice at Levick Strategic Communications in Washington. “A lot of companies are going to be watching how this turns out.”

The tone and scope of the campaign indicates Taco Bell is confident in its facts, Grabowski said. Companies typically shy away from taking facts in a legal dispute public.

The lawsuit, filed by the Alabama law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, doesn’t specify what percentage of the mixture is meat. The lawyer on the case, Dee Miles, said the firm had the filling tested and found it contained 35 percent beef. The firm would not say who tested the meat or give any other specifics of the analysis.

Taco Bell says the filling contains 88 percent USDA-inspected beef, and the rest is water, spices and a mixture of oats, starch and other ingredients that contribute to what it calls the “quality of its product.”

The company said it uses no extenders to add volume to the filling.

The plaintiffs would have to prove that most diners believe they are getting something other than what Taco Bell serves.

In addition, the lawsuit cites U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for labeling ground beef. The problem? They don’t apply to restaurants. The USDA’s rules apply to meat processors — the companies Taco Bell buys its meat from.

So what’s in the meat, anyway?

Fast food often contains additives. That “isolated oat product,” for example, usually is used to help processed meat hang onto moisture and flavor. Other chains use them, too. Experts say similar ingredients are used in many processed foods sold in stores.