Taco Bell understands that fast food restaurants are unhealthy, so it limits trans fats, cuts salt by 25%, and caps calories and sugar in its drinks.
Taco Bell professes to be concerned about customer health, yet their products come with a frightening health warning.
Taco Bell cautions customers at the bottom of their website that acrylamide in fried food and mercury in fish may be harmful.
California's Proposition 65 cautions that some chemicals may cause cancer and birth defects. What does the rule require, and how harmful are the chemicals used by Taco Bell?
Proposition 65 is the 1986 California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. Customers must be warned about drugs that may cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive problems. There are almost 900 chemicals.
What are the levels of mercury and acrylamide in Taco Bell's seafood and baked goods? Evidently not. Although most fish are safe during pregnancy, the FDA cautions against consuming them.
The most mercury-containing fish include bigeye tuna, swordfish, shark, king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, and tilefish. The FDA claims that high-temperature cooking creates acrylamide, which causes cancer in animals at higher levels than in people.
Proposition 65 does not apply to PFAS found in Taco Bell packaging. Taco Bell chip packages have high quantities of these chemicals,
which Consumer Reports associates with some cancers, low birth weight, and weakened immune systems. Taco Bell says it will use PFAS-free packaging by 2025.