OP-ED Taco Bell's not "meating" standards

It's been 27 years and the question on fast food customer's minds is still the same; WHERE'S THE BEEF? Only this time instead of a mock grandma from a Wendy's hamburger commercial the question is formed by a group of Alabama lawyers filing a class action lawsuit against Taco Bell. The claim is that the meat served at Taco Bell is less than 35% beef.  Taco Bell's meat make-up shouldn't be the only issue examined, but broadened to measure the level of quality of all fast food.

To start off this lawsuit should widen it's view to the whole taco.  This typical taco sells for 99 cents.  For Taco Bell to turn a profit that taco has to cost them at most 75 cents to make.  Assuming they spend the most on meat, let's say 50 cents, that leaves them 25 cents to spend on the cheapest surrounding ingredients.  The cornmeal to make the the shell that's slightly more quality than cardboard. A minimal amount of lettuce that's only marginally above what they feed cows on a farm. Finally they shave a few cents by opting for pseudo Velveeta cheese.  To sum it up, there's nothing of healthy high quality substance in that taco, or on the taco bell menu at all for that matter.   

When a salad, which should be the healthiest item on the menu, packs in 900 calories and 57 grams of fat you know the restaurants not a healthy stop.  Guess that's better than getting the volcano nachos, "Weighing in at 1,000 calories, 62 grams of fat and 1,930 milligrams of sodium, this nacho "snack" has all the makings of a nutritional disaster."    Not to mention these nachos cost only $3.49 which one can assume doesn't buy the best ingredients.  Taco Bell may be the only restaurant currently under the public microscope, but don't be fooled in thinking that all fast food restaurants aren't pulling the wool over your eyes.

Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger king: No matter which character brands the bag the food inside it is all of the same poor quality.  McDonald's issues are well documented in Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me.  The results are in this video and included: 24.5 pounds gained, a 7% increase in body fat, higher cholesterol, higher risk of heart disease/failure, and massive cravings that were followed by headaches if he didn't eat McDonald's.   This is an experiment in a vacuum, but the results prove that McDonald's food product cannot be high quality and consequently healthy.  Don't tell professional NFL player Chad Ochocinco, who claims his diet consists of Mickey D's daily, but the reason for McDonald's unhealthy tag is that they cut corners in food quality to provide meals at such low cost to consumers.

The list goes on an on.  Burgerking has a line of XXL meals that average 900 calories and sixty grams of fat per sandwich.  Chic-fil-a's chicken is loaded with controversial chemical MSG.  Jack in the box had a salmonella scare that nearly ruined the franchise.  There are continuous examples of fast food restaurants using fillers, preservatives, and simply sacrificing quality in the concern of lowering cost.  However there is a small sample of healthy fast food options.

There's only two restaurants that come to mind that provide fresh high quality ingredients; Subway and In-n-Out.  It's surprising and relieving to learn that Subway has just passed McDonald's for most restaurants worldwide.  Be that as it may it is less hope inspiring when you look at the nutrition facts. Subway provides fresh cheap sandwich's with a barrage of fresh vegetables to pile on free of charge.  However Subway isn't what they appear.  One nutritionist claims,

"Don't be fooled by the Subway "health halo." This sandwich delivers 9 grams of fat, not to mention nearly 800 calories. On top of that, you'll be getting more than 2,000 milligrams of sodium with your sub. Most adults should consume less than 2,300 milligrams per day."

In-n-Out is a different story.  It's their  philosophy to not open a franchise that's more than one day's truck ride from their privately owned farms. They provide the freshest ingredients possible with no freezing and no microwaves.  Yet that doesn't stop the American public from ordering their burgers extra large with extra cheese such as this 100x100 delicious monstrosity.  That raises the final question if the fast food restaurants are really the only one's to blame.

It's clear that Taco Bell, McDonald's and the other fast food restaurants are cutting corners in food quality in order to continue lowering their prices.  This recent lawsuit of Taco Bell only highlights a small part of a massively growing problem that will end in nationwide U.S obesity. However how much of the blame should be placed on the restaurants and how much should be place on consumers themselves?  The consumer is the one that continues to eat at these restaurants on a weekly, and in some cases daily basis.  Americans love fast food so much that in 2006 they spent $142 Billion at fast food restaurants.  That amount has only increased.  With the continued growing knowledge that this food is low quality and bad for us, perhaps the question should be changed from "Where's the beef?"  to "Where's our common sense?"