Franchising is the business model behind the massive homogenization of the American foodscape. A local entrepreneur licenses a larger brand, often buying supplies and other necessities for running a restaurant as well. This has worked very well for many fast food and quick-serve chains, so why isn’t popular burrito eatery Chipotle interested in opening franchises? [More]
Food & Personal Care
FDA: Use Of Vital Human Antibiotics In Animals Increased 16% In 3 Years
By 10.2.14
Even as a growing number of people — from consumers to scientists to physicians — expressed concerns about the overuse of antibiotics in animal feed, a new FDA report shows that farmers continued adding more drugs to their animals’ diets, and that almost every one of those antibiotics was purchased and administered without a prescription. [More]
Guy Who’s Been To 11,000 Starbucks Outlets Would Rather Get His Coffee Elsewhere
By 10.2.14
He’s been around the world in the last 17 years, visiting about 11,000 Starbucks locations in his (likely neverending) quest to visit them all. But when it comes to his own tastes, the man who drinks 10 cups a day says he would rather not drink the coffee at Starbucks. [More]
McDonald’s Japan Also Gets Into The Black Burger Game
By 10.2.14
Because there is nothing more appealing than a slab of dark gray meat on a dark gray bun, McDonald’s Japan has followed Burger King’s lead and introduced a burger that doesn’t look like anything you’d really want to eat. [More]
Tyson Decides To Feed Slightly Fewer Drugs To Its Chickens
By 10.1.14
When it comes to reducing the enormous amount of antibiotics being fed to animals solely for growth-promotion, just about any news is good news. So we welcome today’s announcement from Tyson that it will cease using antibiotics in its hatcheries, but still have concerns about the drugs being fed to birds once they leave the hatchery. [More]
Pepsi To Start Selling Naturally Sweetened Soda — But Only On Amazon
By 10.1.14
Latching onto a double dose consumer trends, Pepsi will start selling naturally sweetened sodas, free of the artificial kind many people are eschewing these days, but the only way to buy the drinks is going to be online in an exclusive deal with Amazon. [More]
California Governor Vetoes Weak-Kneed Antibiotics Bill
By 9.30.14
Considering that 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used on farm animals, and that most of those drugs are used primarily for growth promotion, you’d think we’d be happy to see a state like California introduce legislation that appears to ban the use of antibiotics to get fatter cows, pigs, and chickens. But it’s what that bill doesn’t do that has us concerned, and why California Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed it. [More]
Mysterious Salmonella Outbreak Had Innocent Victims: Tomatoes
By 9.29.14
We like to share news of product, food, and vehicle recalls, because keeping our readers free from fire, illness, and injury is very important to us. However, every recall and warning of potentially contaminated food has hidden victims. Sometimes those victims are vegetables left to rot in the fields, and the farmers who were supposed to sell them. [More]
There Are No Names On The Cups At The CIA’s Starbucks Because It’s The CIA’s Starbucks
By 9.29.14
When someone mentions that fact that there’s a Starbucks inside the CIA’s Langley, VA compound, visions of sneaky, super secret latte operations dance through your head, right? Put on your best dark sunglasses and pop the collar on that trench coat because the place does seem to be exactly like the stuff of our spy dreams. [More]
Chipotle Lacks Diaper Changing Table, Mom Changes Toddler On The Dining Table Instead
By 9.29.14
Chipotle has a kids’ menu with tiny quesadillas and organic milk, and offers high chairs in its dining rooms. They seemed to Chad like an establishment that welcomes and accommodates families with small children. When his wife took their 16-month-old daughter for a diaper change, though, she found no changing table. So she did the logical thing and changed the tot’s dirty diaper on a table in the dining area. Wait, what? [More]
CVS Collects Erroneous Birth Control Copays, Will Issue Refunds
By 9.26.14
Pharmacy chain CVS charged about 11,000 customers who have health insurance small copays when they picked up some recent prescriptions. What’s wrong with that? Those prescriptions were for generic contraceptive pills, which should be dispensed with no copay at all under the federal Affordable Care Act. Now those customers are due a refund. [More]
Foster Farms Recalls 39,747 Pounds Of Cooked Frozen Chicken Strips For Possible Listeria Contamination
By 9.26.14
You may remember the name Foster Farms from the year-long salmonella outbreak that authorities finally linked to the company this past July. During a recent inspection, routine tests turned up Listeria Monocytogenes bacteria in frozen chicken strips shipped to warehouses in California, Texas, Utah, and Washington state. [More]
Burger King Australia Will Honor Winning McDonald’s Monopoly Pieces
By 9.24.14
While fast food fans in the U.S. prepare to begin the annual ritual of collecting McDonald’s Monopoly pieces in the hopes of getting free food and other prizes, the promotion is already running in Australia. But rather than watch the competition benefit from this board game-themed campaign, the operators of Burger King’s Down Under operations are fighting back. [More]
Craving Pizza And Burgers? White Castle Has You Covered
By 9.23.14
Have you ever been hungry late at night, but unsure whether you wanted to get burgers or pizza? Your dilemma has been solved, and not by that Pizza Hut monstrosity with tiny cheeseburgers in its crusts. No, this time it’s White Castle that has you covered: their “Slider Italiano Fest” features a pizza slider: that is, a slice of pepperoni, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese on an original (beef) slider. There are also chicken-based sliders. [Brand Eating] [More]
Man Proves You Can Just Slap Together Every Taco Bell Ingredient And Still Please People
By 9.23.14
We’ve joked in the past that Taco Bell will eventually just wrap every every ingredient in its kitchen and serve that meat/cheese/lettuce/sauce beast as its own menu item. They recently let someone try just that, and apparently the results were not awful. [More]
Police Officers Finish Delivering Order After Pizza Hut Driver Is Injured In Car Crash
By 9.23.14
It’s the joke that must be made — Portland Police not only protect, but they serve… pizza. Because after a Pizza Hut delivery driver was injured in a car crash, the cops made a special effort to ensure that his customers didn’t go hungry, and delivered up the pizza in his stead. [More]
Starbucks Testing Drink that Tastes Like Guinness, Tastebuds Don’t Know What Time Of Day It Is
By 9.22.14
Consumers who don’t like their coffee to taste like coffee now have another option when it comes to their morning beverages. Although the newest drink at Starbucks may make you think it’s five o’clock somewhere, because it reportedly tastes like beer. [More]
Former Peanut Butter Moguls Found Guilty Of Knowingly Shipping Contaminated Food
By 9.19.14
Remember the massive outbreak of salmonella in peanut butter? No, not the one earlier this year, or the one in 2012, or the one in 2007. We mean the one in 2008, where peanut butter shipped from the Peanut Corporation of America was linked to more than 700 illnesses and nine known deaths. Five years after the company’s cartoonish terribleness was revealed, three executives were put on trial for knowingly distributing contaminated food to the American public. [More]
