Today’s news is all shards and we haven’t stopped cringing: First it was the potential for metal shards in pizza and now a mother is claiming her three-year-old daughter ate pieces of glass that were allegedly inside her Subway sandwich. Kinda makes all those complaints of 11-inch Footlongs seem a bit less important because hey, at least they’re shard-free. [More]
Mother Probably Less Concerned With Size Of Subway Sandwich Than The Glass Shards In It
By January 23, 2013
Breaking: No One Actually Sells Pig Rectums As ‘Imitation Calamari’
By January 21, 2013
For the last week or so, public radio listeners haven’t been able to look at their deep-fried appetizers quite the same way. That’s because two weekends ago, the WBEZ/PRI program “This American Life” investigated a reader’s tip that in a meat-packing plant somewhere in America, there was a box of pig rectums with the words “Imitation Calamari” printed on the side. [More]
Study: 20,000 Trips To The Emergency Room In 2011 Linked To Consumption Of Energy Drinks
By January 17, 2013
Following on the heels of reports linking ill health effects to energy drinks like Monster and 5-Hour Energy, a new government study says those beverages are “a rising public health problem,” and have been linked to 20,000 visits to emergency rooms around the country. [More]
Meat Lovers In UK, Ireland Surprised That Beef Now Comes With Horse DNA Included
By January 16, 2013
Over here we’ve had our spate of controversy over fillers in beef products but even talk of pink slime likely won’t provoke quite the reaction as telling someone there’s horse meat in their hamburger. The Republic of Ireland’s food safety authority (FSAI) says horse DNA has been found in burgers and other products purported to be made of beef in Irish supermarkets as well as in the United Kingdom. Cue shudders. [More]
Student Finds The Absolute Grossest, Disgusting Chicken Brain (Kidney?) Thing In His KFC
By January 8, 2013
We’ve heard plenty of stories of people encountering grody, nasty and unsavory items in their fast food. Yes, that’s true. But honestly, everyone? Cross our hearts and swear to die, stick a needle in our eyes, the story of a man in England finding what appears to be a chicken brain in his KFC is one of the absolutely most disgusting, stomach-turning things we have ever had the misfortune to see. [More]
This Reese’s Peanut Butter Christmas Tree Looks Like The World’s Tastiest Poop
By December 31, 2012
This Reese’s peanut butter Christmas tree resembles many things. Tipster Chris, who found it, says that it resembles “a combination turd/dildo.” It kind of looks like a sword made out of those long, thin balloons used for balloon animals. If you held it upside down, it would look a little like a palm tree. What it doesn’t resemble in any way is a Christmas tree. [More]
Former Beef Worker Sues Chef Jamie Oliver, ABC News & Diane Sawyer Over “Pink Slime”
By December 13, 2012
The beef industry isn’t about to forget about that whole “pink slime” thing, wherein ABC News and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver used the phrase to bring attention to a widely used product known as lean finely textured beef. Beef Products Inc. filed suit against ABC back in September, and now a former employee of the company is suing the news network, anchor Diane Sawyer, Oliver and others, claiming he lost his job because of the pink slime controversy. [More]
Study Finds A Third Of NYC’s Seafood Is Mislabeled, Posing Health Risks
By December 11, 2012
It isn’t just Los Angeles that is having a problem with mislabeled fish — a new study that tested seafood on menus, at grocery stores and in fancy specialty shops in New York City says plenty of the fish offerings there are frequently misidentified. So while you might think you’re ordering up a nice slab of red snapper, it could just be a regular old piece of tialpia. That kind of mislabeling and misrepresentation could also lead to plenty of health problems, say researchers. [More]
Court: Texas Roadhouse Doesn’t Owe Customer $150K For Hair-Stuffed Steak
By December 7, 2012
A customer at a Wisconsin Texas Roadhouse restaurant complained that his steak was overcooked, and a spiteful staffer who thought he was lying to scam free food stuffed pieces of his facial hair inside the meat. The same employee later claimed to have stuffed a steak with pubic hair. This story may sound familiar to old-school Consumerist fans: we posted it in 2008, and it appeared on our list of all-time grossest food stories. The hairy steaks are in the news again. What’s happened in the intervening four years? Lawsuits. [More]
Petition Claims Ingredient In Gatorade Is A Flame Retardant, Unsafe For Consumption
By November 30, 2012
Gatorade is under fire from a new consumer petition claiming that the company’s beverage contains an unhealthy ingredient, brominated vegetable oil (or BVO), that was developed as a flame retardant. Opponents of the emulsifier, which is used to suspend citric oils in beverages, says it poses health risks like reduced fertility and early-onset puberty. Gatorade says the levels of BVO it uses are totally safe. [More]
FDA Incident Reports Link Monster Energy Drink To Five Deaths
By October 23, 2012
Last week, a mother in Maryland sued the makers of caffeine-heavy Monster Energy drink, alleging that the beverage was not only behind the death of her teen daughter, but that the company knew of possible health risks and failed to warn consumers. [More]
