Taco Bell's "Drive-Thru Diet": Not a Diet and Not Exactly Fresh and Natural Either
After facing heaps of skepticism earlier this year for the idea that eating fast food can lead to weight loss, Taco Bell (YUM) dialed back the messaging for its so-called Drive-Thru Diet, insisting that the "diet," which features seven low-calorie items and a woman who lost 54 pounds eating at Taco Bell, isn't actually a weight loss program at all. Now the chain is trying a different tack -- promoting some parts of Taco Bell's menu as natural.
In an interview with Adweek, Taco Bell's CMO David Ovens said that when Taco Bell launched the Fresco items that comprise the Drive-Thru Diet, it added "fresh, made-in-store pico de gallo and salsa." He also noted that this emphasis on fresh, natural food "carried over into other areas," namely Frutista Freeze drinks, which have "no artificial flavors or colors, and no high-fructose corn syrup."
Wow, Taco Bell selling natural food! If it sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. The chain's ingredient list shows the artificial food dye yellow 6 in the Mango Frutista Freeze and red 40 in the Strawberry Frutista and the artificial preservatives potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate in both. Ovens was right about the high fructose corn syrup -- the drinks are made with sugar. But unlike McDonald's (MCD) recent entry into the smoothie business, the Frutista contains no strawberries or mangoes, not even juice.
Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch explains that the Frutista is made with artificial colors in order to "enhance the product appearance" and that they are "the same colors found in common items in the grocery store including yogurts, vitamins, jams and jellies, butter, cheese and ice cream." And as for preservatives, Poetsch says Taco Bell uses "approved ingredients to ensure flavor quality and to keep the product consistent."
Taco Bell is, however, making a fresh salsa -- its Fiesta Salsa -- from the things that salsa is supposed to be made from -- tomatoes, onions and cilantro, without the additives, preservatives and flavorings that lurk in its standard Salsa Roja. It's a great first step, but it hardly warrants bragging rights.
The rest of Taco Bell's menu reads like a chemistry experiment, and with good reason. Loading food up with chemical additives and fillers helps you sell it for the absurd price of 89 cents. "Why Pay More?" as the chain asks. Because you might get more real food. Doing natural, fresher food is typically more expensive.
But higher quality, actually healthy fast food can be done, as witnessed by McDonald's new smoothies. It takes creativity and a firm commitment to go the distance. And it means you can't make misleading boasts about your food having no artificial flavorings or high fructose corn syrup when it contains chemical preservatives and food dyes that are contaminated with carcinogens and have shown signs of causing cancer in lab animals.
Image by Flckr user Amayzun
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