I’ve been eating SAND?!

OK. So I was watching some T.V. and a commercial comes on for tacobell in response to some controversy of late over the percentage of meat in their tacos. The comercial stated that they use 88% USDA certified beef, and that to see what the other 12% is, visit tacobell.com. So of course I have to look it up right then. Most of it seemed pretty reasonable, spices, seasonings, pretty good explanations of other ingredients used for texture, whatever. One thing caught my eye though:

“I heard a rumor there's sand in your taco meat.
This is completely false. The truth is, what has been referred to as "sand", is silicon dioxide. Silicon dioxide:
 Is a safe, common food ingredient often used in spices, seasonings, and many restaurant and packaged foods;
 Is primarily used in food to prevent dry ingredients (like seasonings) from sticking together;
 Is a naturally occurring mineral, often found in water, leafy green and root vegetables, cooked dried beans, whole grains, cereals, and fruits;
 Can be found in many kitchen pantries across America, in mashed potato and rice mixes, coffee, soups, and many spices and seasonings;
 Is approved for use in food by the Food and Drug Administration here;
Like many in the food business, we use silicon dioxide in the seasonings and spices of our taco meat. When cooked, our beef contains about .0005% (or five ten-thousandths of one percent) of this ingredient—far less than the 2% FDA limit. Furthermore, we use certified organic silicon dioxide. It is not artificial and is not a preservative.”

Now, I have a problem with this. I don’t doubt that SIO2 is found naturally in plant life, but the fact remains that Silicon dioxide is quartz and while it is found in other places, it IS sand! In addition to that they claim to use “certified organic silicon dioxide”. While I understand the usage to mean that it comes from a living source, by definition an organic compound means that it contains carbon, so it is somewhat of a misnomer. But that’s a rant for another day. Still I can’t believe that I’ve been eating “sand”. I ran to the kitchen to read the ingredients on the Old El Paso Taco kit we purchased earlier this evening, and sure enough silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent). I had no idea.