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A name is just a name correct? But what if your name is Taco Bell and you’r claim to fame is real beef tacos.  Well before you bite into that beef taco, you might want to clarify the definition of “beef.”

Apparently Taco Bell’s  Mexican delicacies are not filled with “ground beef” or “seasoned ground beef.” Instead, they use a blend called “Taco Meat Filling” as shown on their big container’s labels—which customers can’t see.

It is for this reason that an Alabama law firm Beasley Allen has filed a class action lawsuit against Taco Bell, claiming the restaurant chain misleads its customers about what’s actually in its tacos. According to Alabama’s WSFA 12 News, the lawsuit alleges Taco Bell’s beef doesn’t meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition of the word, claiming it contains only 36 per cent meat.

This is a list of what is inside the taco meat filling gruel:

Water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

Oh, and 36% beef. Thirty-six percent—plus all the above making up for the other 64% of the party in your mouth. By USDA definition, “beef” is the “flesh of cattle.” Duh, you might think. But the rules are more complicated when it comes to labelling “ground beef” and “taco filling.”

The USDA requires “taco filling” to contain only a minimum of 40 per cent fresh meat, WSFA reports.

Just a little food for thought and something to chew on.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE LAWSUIT