The Jack In The Box Menu Has A Shady Side
Burgers, fries, and antibiotics: Jack in the Box might seem like harmless fun — look closer, however, and you might be in for a nasty surprise.
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00:00Burgers, fries, and antibiotics? Jack in the Box might seem like harmless fun.
00:06Look closer, however, and you might be in for a nasty surprise.
00:10At any given time, the Jack in the Box menu features more than a dozen different types
00:15of hamburger. The chain is able to offer these in part because all of those different sandwiches
00:19utilize one of just two kinds of beef patties stocked in the Jack in the Box kitchen.
00:24But these two patties aren't only different in size, the ingredients greatly vary, too.
00:29For example, Jack in the Box lists just one ingredient for their beef hamburger patty,
00:34jumbo and regular, which is used in its smaller sandwiches. That one ingredient is beef,
00:39thankfully. The beef patty used in the preparation of some of Jack in the Box's
00:43larger and more premium sandwiches is known as the Beef Patty Quarter Pound Signature.
00:48This is mostly beef, but it also contains a number of fillers and flavor enhancers.
00:53These include salt, yeast, extract, corn maltodextrin, onion powder,
00:58hydrogenated cottonseed oil, cornstarch, garlic powder, and the enigmatic natural flavors.
01:03These larger patties are also made with beef tallow,
01:06meaning that Jack in the Box uses beef extracts to make its beef taste beefier.
01:11In December 2016, Jack in the Box announced that it would curb the use of antibiotics by
01:15its poultry suppliers. After its competitors in the fast food sphere made similar pledges,
01:20Jack in the Box promised that by 2020 it would phase out antibiotics in the
01:25raising of the chickens that eventually became chicken sandwiches and chicken strips.
01:29The use of antibiotics in animal feed is intended to help prevent the spread of disease
01:33and allow animals to grow to usable maturity quicker. According to some public health advocacy
01:39groups, however, overuse of antibiotics can also lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant
01:44superbugs or bacteria, which could sicken animals and humans alike.
01:49Unfortunately, Jack in the Box failed to keep its promise.
01:57In a 2024 study released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group,
02:01Jack in the Box was one of about a dozen major chain restaurants to score an F
02:05letter grade, meaning its suppliers are still routinely using antibiotics in protein production.
02:12In the chain's marketing materials, Jack in the Box promises freshly cracked
02:16eggs in some breakfast menu items, particularly the sandwiches. However,
02:20this is a slightly misleading claim because it doesn't mean that everything available on
02:24the Jack in the Box menu board contains real, unprocessed eggs. Notably, products with
02:29fried eggs listed in the Jack in the Box ingredient and allergen breakdown
02:33also contain the egg's cooking liquid, a vegetable oil with butter flavoring made from soy and dairy.
02:40Besides the fried egg discs used on Jack in the Box's sandwiches,
02:44other breakfast menu favorites contain eggs prepared in a completely different manner,
02:48and with a number of other ingredients. The Jack in the Box scrambled eggs are
02:52a careful concoction of complete eggs with extra egg whites and water, for example.
02:56They also contain salt, a coloring agent, butter flavor, butter-flavored vegetable oil,
03:02and xanthan gum. It's certainly less natural than what you'll find coming out of a chicken.
03:08Jack in the Box serves up more than a half-billion tacos every year,
03:12making them something of a cult favorite for the chain's customers.
03:15Barely resembling the standard tacos made by most other American fast food companies,
03:20Jack in the Box tacos are made using a hard, deep-fried shell. This is then filled with a
03:25smooth, meaty paste, as opposed to the wide-open shredded chicken or ground beef tacos found
03:30elsewhere. Notably, the meat inside the Jack in the Box taco isn't actually derived from any single
03:36animal or another. The filling is a factory-prepared slurry combining heavily processed
03:41and macerated beef and chicken, along with a textured vegetable protein made primarily
03:46with rehydrated soybeans. The taco supplies arrive at every Jack in the Box location in
03:51the form of shells already loaded with this meat concoction. They're then cooked to order,
03:56using a deep fryer. After they're removed from the oil, a store employee adds sliced cheese,
04:01shredded lettuce, and a few bottle squirts' worth of hot sauce.
04:05Delicious taco goodness, or a fast food monstrosity? You decide.