Over the course of the last few weeks, Europe has been rocked by the revelation that horsemeat has been found in various “beef” products, from lasagna to burgers. At first it seemed the scandal was contained to the U.K., Ireland and France, but now things are spiraling outward to include as many as 16 countries. Finding out who to blame is still very much up in the air, however. [More]
Horsemeat Scandal Widens To 16 Countries & Everyone’s Busy Pointing Fingers
By February 11, 2013
Some Lean Cuisine Ravioli Recalled Because “Fragments Of Broken Glass” Wasn’t Listed As An Ingredient
By February 11, 2013
Some people like crunchy food, but most of us don’t enjoy the sensation of chewing on glass. This is why Nestlé has recalled some of its Lean Cuisine Culinary Collection Mushroom Mezzaluna Ravioli. [More]
U.K. Health Officials Find “Beef” Lasagna Meals Containing 60%-100% Horse Meat
By February 8, 2013
Our neighbors across the pond are caught in an equine-lover’s nightmare: First, beef hamburgers on shelves were found to contain horse DNA and recalled, after authorities traced the contamination back to a couple processing plants. Burger King got caught up in it as well, although no burgers with horse in them made it to stores. And now the scandal has spread to frozen “beef” lasagna meals. [More]
This Safeway Select Shepherd’s Pie Tastes As Good As It Looks
By February 7, 2013
We know that packaged food doesn’t always come out the way it’s supposed to look on the box, but this Beef Shepherd’s Pie that Consumerist reader PR bought from Safeway looks more like a pie that’s already passed through the shepherd. [More]
Here’s Why It Never Hurts To Give Your Soda Can A Rinse
By February 6, 2013
If you’re the type to drink from a soda can straight out of a store cooler or right from a vending machine, you might want to consider giving it a rinse or a wipe down with a wet napkin first. [More]
Mother Probably Less Concerned With Size Of Subway Sandwich Than The Glass Shards In It
By January 23, 2013
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]
6 Food Items That May Be Padded With Ingredients Not On The Label
By January 22, 2013
It’s one thing to look at the ingredients on some packaged foods and be befuddled by the presence of certain ingredients. It’s another thing when the makers of those products are using unlisted adulterants to provide filler to the products you buy. [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]
FDA Proposes New Food Safety Rules In Wake Of Peanut & Cantaloupe Contamination
By January 4, 2013
Following more than a year of ugly headlines about recalls of possibly tainted peanuts, cantaloupes, leafy greens and other food products, the Food & Drug Administration has proposed new rules aimed at making the food on our plates safer to eat. [More]
Settlement Ends 4-Year Dispute About Spit In Burger King Customer’s Whopper Jr.
By December 21, 2012
In Nov. 2008, an Ohio man says he stopped into a Pennsylvania Burger King and got something a little extra on his Whopper Jr. — a dollop of employee spit. He subsequently sued the franchisee who operates the restaurant, alleging the incident was racially motivated. Well, the matter has finally been settled without going to trial. [More]
This 2-Ring Circus With A Cherry On Top Is Actually A Pizza That People Can Eat
By December 20, 2012
At what first glance appears to be one of those pre-made deli trays your office puts out when they force you to have a meeting through lunch (or your neighbors give you when your mother-in-law passes away), is actually a pizza. Or at least that’s what Pizza Hut Singapore alleges. [More]
Don’t Bother Subway’s Sandwich Artists Right Before Closing Or You’ll End Up With This Mess
By December 10, 2012
We know that real-life fast food rarely resembles what you see in the pretty pictures the restaurant puts in its ads. But this is really just sad. [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]
Processing Plant Behind Great Peanut Butter Recall Of 2012 Won’t Reopen Just Yet
By December 3, 2012
The Great Peanut Butter Recall of 2012 began with a few voluntary recall notices on the shelves of Trader Joe’s, and has now escalated to the Food and Drug Administration making an unprecedented move to shut down the plant where the offending nut products were processed. [More]
Mom Not Happy About Finding Nose Ring In Daughter’s McDonald’s Breakfast Burrito
By November 30, 2012
While kids love to get free shiny playthings with their fast food meals, someone else’s nose ring doesn’t usually fall into that category. But that’s exactly what a mom in Georgia says she discovered in her kid’s McDonald’s breakfast burrito. [More]
L.A. Seafood Task Force’s Catch Of The Day Features Lots Of Mislabeled Fish
By November 21, 2012
What you see is apparently not always what you’re getting in L.A., says a county Seafood Task Force that took on the problem of mislabeled fish in the food industry. The group found that a whole slew of issues that were widespread across supermarkets and restaurants alike that could pose health problems for consumers. [More]
If Gooey Blobs Of Mold Count As Vitamins We’ll Have To Pass On That VitaminWater
By November 15, 2012
Yeah yeah, we know: Penicillin is mold*. But healthy or no, nobody wants to take a slug of a liquid beverage and find a globular bunch of moldy stuff trying to get down your throat. Grody to the max, right? Reports of contaminated vitaminwater are hitting the news, as one enterprising consumer even sent his blobular grossness off to a lab to be tested. The result? Mold. Not a vitamin. Nope. [More]
