(New York) Furious that his Tex-Mex pizza contained only half of what he hoped for ground beef and beans, a New Yorker sued American fast food giant Taco Bell for five million dollars for false advertising.

Frank Siragusa ‘never would have paid $5.49’ last September if he had known his Mexican ‘pizza-taco’ was nowhere near as filling as publicity photos claim, according to a civil complaint filed Monday before the federal prosecutor’s office in Brooklyn, New York, and which the Washington Post echoed on Tuesday.

The plaintiff, supported by other dissatisfied customers, embellished his legal action with flattering commercial images of this pizza dripping with beef, chicken, guacamole, sauce, cheese, tomatoes… such as the present Taco Bell, sign of the Yum group ! Brands, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut.

He added photos of the “real” meal eaten at a New York fast food joint to his complaint.

Mr. Siragusa is claiming five million dollars from the fast food chain for “unfair and deceptive business practices”.

The advertisements “hurt consumers financially because they receive a product of lesser value than what is promised to them”, argues its complaint which denounces the “actions of Taco Bell in times of high inflation of food prices, in particular for people low income”.

Taco Bell, headquartered in California, which was founded in 1962 by the American Glen Bell and which belonged to the giant PepsiCo, did not respond to requests from AFP and the American press.