IRVINE, Calif. -- In January, a California woman filed a class-action lawsuit against Taco Bell, which sought no monetary damages, but objected to the fast food chain calling its products “seasoned ground beef” or “seasoned beef,” when a substantial amount of the filling was allegedly composed of water, isolated oat product, wheat oats, soy lecithin, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch, and other fillers. Alabama-based law firm Beasley Allen, which represented the woman in the suit, insisted that lab tests had shown Taco Bell’s meat was actually only 35 percent beef. Today, however, attorneys from Beasley Allen announced that they had dropped the legal action.

Greg Creed, Taco Bell’s president, expressed relief and triumph: “Our reputation was falsely tarnished, but today the record has been set straight about the high quality of our seasoned beef. To imply that our tacos were actually full of grains, vegetables, oats, and other fillings with no relationship to processed red meat was appalling. We’re not operating some tree-hugging, vegan, bark-and-beansprouts health food market. This is good old fashioned American food, inspired by Mexico, the country where we hire most of our workers. We feel totally vindicated, and want our valued customers to know that the tacos we sell are as beefy, indigestible, and unhealthy as they’ve come to expect.”