The number of tacos sold by Jack in the Box is absolutely staggering. In 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that the brand sells 554 million per year — that’s over a thousand tacos per minute. They’re also widely criticized as being terrible. You can find list after ranked list of fast food tacos online, and Jack in the Box invariably lingers near the bottom. That WSJ article likened them to a “wet envelope of cat food,” while GQ called them “unquestionably bad” — and that last one was in an article supporting them. When Tasting Table ranked fast food tacos, they came dead last. So, what’s inside these things that people love to hate?
First, you may want to sit down. There’s more in a Jack in the Box taco than you think. According to the ingredient list found on the company’s website, there are nine main ingredients, but those nine break down into 37 others. We won’t cover them all, just some highlights. Despite looking sort of like ground beef, there are four separate proteins in that tortilla. The first five ingredients in Jack in the Box tacos are beef, water, ground dark chicken, textured vegetable protein, and defatted soy grits.
Textured vegetable protein is made from soybeans after the oil is extracted. It’s dried out and develops a meaty texture, which can add protein. Defatted soy grits are similar but are coarsely ground and tend to be used in animal research diets, though they’re perfectly safe for human consumption. It just makes the cat food jab hit a little closer to home, though.
