restaurants
Chain restaurants are trying to lure in recession-weary diners with deep
discounts, but franchisers worry that if you suddenly start paying half-price for sandwiches, you won't be willing to pay full price when the economy recovers. We're all accustomed to chain restaurant sandwiches costing $8 and up, but how much do those sandwiches really cost restaurants to make?
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grocery shrink ray
Bryan, a longtime
Naked Juice customer, noticed that that Strawberry Kiwi Kick brand he always bought had a different colored cap. He writes, "Alas, the 'Kick' is no more. Gone are the supplements, including plain ol' Vitamin C. Strawberry Kiwi Kick is just fruit juice." When he contacted them to complain, they responded that their "devotees" preferred it that way, and they sent him a coupon and a temporary tattoo. Because if there's anything that says "we take your input seriously," it's a temporary tattoo. (Or maybe they're trying to tell him what they expect of real devotees.)
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ingredients
Reader Sarah got a laugh from her egg nog this morning. The package says the ingredients are all
natural, just "exactly" like when "Grandfather started our dairy business in 1898."
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canned soup war
Reader Michael noticed these weird,
soup-bashing ads in some Detroit-area newspapers yesterday. It seems that Progresso and Campbell's have launched some negative campaign ads — smearing each other for using MSG in their soup. Is the world ready for a canned soup war? If it is, should we be depressed about it?
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mockolate
Since
we wrote about Hershey's reformulating some of their products into "mockolate" that can't legally be called "milk chocolate," the story has been getting some play in the media, prompting Hershey to respond to the controversy. So, why did they reformulate their candy? Because you like fake chocolate better!
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tropicana
It's apparently a whole lot of fun to try to get a straight answer out of Tropicana as to what "natural flavors" are in their 100% juice.
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candy
We'll admit that it would look a little sad to advertise a single lonely almond on the wrapper of the .6 oz Almond Joy. But printing "Coconut & Almonds" on the front, including an illustration of two almonds next to the text, and then referencing "almonds" in the ingredients list, looks a little
misleading when you open the package and see one lonely nut lump on your candy.
(Thanks to James!)
mystery meat
A reader sent us the contents of a Better Business Bureau complaint filed against Taco Bell. It describes how a customer tried repeatedly to find out what grade beef Taco Bell uses in its food, and how nobody at the company was able or willing to provide an answer. Not surprisingly, the
BBB complaint also went unanswered. Let's just hope they're not sourcing their beef from forklift cattle, which is like downer cattle but has odd prong-shaped bruises on the side.
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disturbing
Wired took a peek under
Cool Whip's sheets, and the results are not appetizing. Mandatory food labels ostensibly exist to empower consumers; when companies label ingredients with their scientific names, rather than their common names, consumers can wind up eating lube, or as it's called in Cool Whip, Polysorbate 60. From Wired:
Polysorbate 60
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breyers
Remember the kid who liked Breyer's Ice Cream because he could pronounce the ingredients? Milk, sugar... Can he pronounce "tara gum"?
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Consumerist
Worried about toxic makeup? The Environmental Working Group has a database with safety ratings on more than 25,000 personal-care products. [Skin Deep]
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kfc
ingredients
jamba juice
