Kind of a legal question/rant

[7th_Sephiroth]

i bought a box of beef patties, i opened them up and the pattis were ghost white, i cook one up and YUCK, if that was beef than i'm aunt jemima, i look up the ingredients, and its like 99%soy (tofu) with a little bit of beef hearts so they can say beef, how repulsive is that?

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. oops, forgot the legal question

is it legal to sell blocks of tofu with a little bit of "beef" in it and call it beef?

on edit

I think they should be forced to put, right next to the ingredient, the percentage of a serving size the particualr ingredient is, and the actual picture of the product on it, because the picture of the beef patti's on the box is NOT the same product they make

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. I think listing the ingredients on the package covers their obligation

Yours is to read them... ;)

[7th_Sephiroth]

4. why should i waste my time doing that

its thier obligation to tell the truth

[DuctapeFatwa]

7. My understanding of the Truth in Labeling laws

would prevent them from calling them "ALL BEEF" or "100% BEEF," but if beef is an ingredient, they may call them "beef patties" and in any case, they must list all ingredients.

[7th_Sephiroth]

8. they do

but then i could piss in a bottle, put a drop of budwiser and sell it as budwiser as long as i write in it the chemical compounds of urine in really tiny letters.

[7th_Sephiroth]

3. AND ANOTHER THING

i'm experimenting with the atkins diet,carbs being bad, and beef has 0Zero carbs, i look at the info
Serving size:1 Patti
Total carbohydrates per serving: 7

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Never used to be...

but the rules may have changed.

And they are changing again.

Used to be you had to call it "beef flavored" or "with beef" or some such thing if it didn't have the required percentage of beef in it.

Could be they outright lied, which is dangerous for them to do, or they were a bit too deceptive in their packaging. Seems to me burgers are beef, or they're called something else. Could there have been a very tiny "veggie" or "soy" before the "Burger?"

[7th_Sephiroth]

6. nope

just Grade A Brand Beef patties

[TreasonousBastard]

11. Then there is a slim possibility...

that they got mispackaged in the plant. It happens, and there should be a recall.

A very odd screwup, though, since they had beef on the front, but the real ingredients on the back. It's still possible, I guess. Tough to believe anyone would be stupid enough to lie that boldly about what's in the package, but they never cease to amaze me.

Make a consumer complaint-- FDA, Dept. of Agriculture, local and state departments, TV news consumer hotlines, Consumer Reports...

Have fun with the bastids.

[7th_Sephiroth]

12. perhaps i should

but i want to get a legal view of things first

[7th_Sephiroth]

15. ugh

i just did an even closer inspection of the box and it has the department of agricutlure's seal of approval on it

[TreasonousBastard]

16. Complain anyway...

whatcha got to lose?

Probably the Pennsylvania Dept of Agriculture anyway. Doesn't mean a thing.

[7th_Sephiroth]

17. probably

cant trust our goverment for shit

[OldSoldier]

18. They can do it

Does the box say something like "Beef Patties with Textured Vegetable Protein and Beef By-Products"? (Which it probably does, but the TVP part in itty-bitty type.)

"All Beef Patties" or "100% Beef Patties" means it's all beef. "Beef" means whatever in hell they want it to, including "we slaughtered this with the front bumper of a Mack truck."

[La_Serpiente]

9. Good question

McDonalds had an incident like this before. McDonalds changed the oil they used in their fries from natural beef flavoring to vegetable oil. They did this to appease Hindus who have a problem eating animal foods due to their religion. So Hindus went to McDonalds thinking that they didn't use beef flavored products anymore. However, McDonalds didn't tell the whole truth and they in fact DID use beef flavored products. Although it was a small amount, McDonalds lied about their product and got slapped with a lawsuit by a Hindu group.

Hindus were furious because they ate an animal - or what was left of one.

McDonalds ended up paying 12 1/2 million dollars to the Hindu group.

[7th_Sephiroth]

10. yeah i remember that

think i got a lawsuit?

[La_Serpiente]

13. If you can find beef chunks in there

go for it dude. By I am not a lawyer, just to let you know.

[7th_Sephiroth]

14. what is the percentage of meat

you have to have in something to call it beef?

[Nikia]

19. Complain

You'll be doing everyone a favor in reporting the offenders. There are laws to protect people from being misguided by the lable. Unfortunately, the staff to enforce this law is rather lean. Call the state agricultural office about this. Unfortunately, a number of companies try to get away with this stuff. I don't think that you'll be awarded anything, but the company will have to change its lable so they stop deceiving consumers. They might even be fined.
This is one of the reasons that I am not a Liberatarian.

[toddzilla]

20. unless you buy them in the meat department

those pre-made patties all suck pretty bad. i eat them on atkins but i make sure to get the 100% beef version. even then they contain all kinds of other shit that you wouldn't want to eat. but i cover them in cheese, pickles and miracle whip/mustard so i don't really taste anything anyway..

take the time and buy a huge package of ground beef and make your own, then freeze em. much tastier and doesn't really take that long.