When I saw the tweet a few mornings ago that Taco Bell would offer healthier fare, I RT’ed in a knee-jerk way, celebrating it and even claiming it as progress against the flood of food-like substances.

In a window-dressing sort of way, it was progress. Taco Bell puts sugar in its meat and is the contemptible promoter of “fourth meal,” so even if they're only flapping their gums about healthy food, it acknowledges that not everyone wants to eat total crap.

But mere window dressing it was. In his announcement to reporters, CEO Greg Creed said as much: “We're not going to walk away from who Taco Bell is." So, like, what are we talking about, then? 

Whatever changes he pledged, pointedly devoid of even the slightest detail, won’t reach consumers until next year. And even by 2020, TB intends that merely 20 percent of its combo meals will meet nutritional guidelines for calories and fat set out by the federal government.

You got that? They’re going to need seven years to change a fraction of menu, even measured against the only government guidelines that survived sharp-elbowed lobbyists knocked out most of their meaning .

In other words, bullshit.

It’s true that the way to encourage reform is to encourage the reformer, but in this case, I’m going to wait until they actually do something to include Taco Bell in that category. Even if it meet the totality of their stated goals, which is doubtful, it won’t have accomplished much of anything, except perhaps being able to say that they did.