The mere mention of the “B” word and any New Yorker will visibly flinch at the thought of those voracious, teeny tiny minions from hell itself and the havoc they can wreak on a person’s life, damaging property and disturbing one’s social status. So it’s safe to say no one’s excited to hear that bedbugs (ugh) have been riding alongside commuters and tourists alike on one of New York City’s subway lines. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Police: Do You Have Four Logs Of Swiss Cheese Stuffed Down Your Pants Or… (Insert Punchline)
By 8.6.14
I can imagine getting away with stuffing one log of rather expensive Swiss cheese down your pants and passing it off as a “No big deal, nothing to see here, just a guy walking around a store,” situation. But four logs of cheese? Come on now, we know you’re not just really, really happy to see us. [More]
Burger King’s Largest Franchisee Blames Local Ad Cuts For Lower Sales
By 8.6.14
A few weeks ago, we shared with you a Bloomberg Businessweek cover story about fast-food chain Burger King, its young leadership, and its effort to change a lot of things about the fast-food brand business model. When the chain shed most of its corporate-owned stores in the U.S. in 2012, existing franchisees like publicly traded Carrols took on those restaurants. Its sales are down, Carrols wants investors to know, because Burger King cut back on local ad reimbursements to his loyal subjects. [More]
Walgreens Pays $5.27B For Remaining Half Of UK Drug Store Chain Boots
By 8.6.14
How much does it cost to buy half of a drug store chain? About $5.27 billion — or at least that’s what Walgreens will pay to acquire the remaining half of British company Alliance Boots, parent company of the Boots chain of retail drug stores.
Frozen Pizza With Cookie Layer Is What Pizza Hut Only Aspires To
By 8.5.14
Sure, Pizza Hut thinks it’s being all revolutionary with its cookie pizzas, and infinite variations on stuffed crusts but the chain isn’t taking things nearly far enough. Have they tried putting an entire cookie pizza layer on top of a pizza? They have not. Yet. One brave man, Michael J. Hudson, has tried such a feat. The result looks horrifying. And amazing. And horrifying. [More]
New Gluten-Free Labeling Rules Go Into Effect This Week
By 8.5.14
A year after the Food and Drug Administration laid out the rules for food manufacturers who want to label their products gluten-free, the new labeling requirements will go kick in this week. [More]
Should Food Companies Tell Consumers How Much Sugar They Add To Products?
By 8.4.14
Looking at the label of any food product on grocery store shelves and you’ll find the total amount of sugar in that item. But does it matter how much of that sugar is from a food’s raw ingredients, and how much sweetener was added? [More]
Great Fruit Recall Of 2014 Expands, Becomes Even Greater
By 8.4.14
Wawona Packing Company in California has expanded its recall of fruit that it processed and packaged during the months of June and July that may be contaminated with the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. The company has alerted consumers and retailers that all fruit packed at the facility between June 1 and when it shut down operations on July 17 are potentially contaminated, and that all fruit that has passed through the plant is potentially contaminated. [More]
Amtrak Hands Out Doritos & Pizza After Train Leaves The Station Without Its Passengers
By 8.4.14
You know that feeling you get when you leave the house, like maybe you left the curling iron on, or didn’t remember to lock the back door? That’s annoying enough, so I can’t even imagine what it’d be like to leave an entire trainful of passengers behind at the station, like one Amtrak train did over the weekend. [More]
USDA Changes Up The Way It’s Been Inspecting Poultry Plants For The Last 50 Years
By 8.1.14
In an effort to stem the tide of foodborne illnesses hitting the country every year via chicken and turkey, the Obama administration has announced new rules for poultry plants, revamping the rules its used for inspections for the first time since 1957. But critics are crying foul, calling the government out for failing to address the role antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria plays in the poultry industry. [More]
What Fight Did Taco Bell Workers Win To Earn The Corporate Moniker Of “Champions”?
By 8.1.14
Ground beef splattered everywhere. Hot sauce dripping thick and red across the tiled landscape. Tortillas, once filled, lay empty on the counters. There has apparently been a taco war, and Taco Bell’s food workers and cashiers must have emerged victorious over their enemies. Otherwise, what would merit the company calling its restaurant staff “champions”? [More]
Papa John’s Introduces Pulled Pork Pizzas For Some Reason
By 7.31.14
Sure, summer is a time for eating barbecue, but we’re not so sure that it should be a time for strange barbecue mashups in our chain pizzerias. Yet Papa John’s is taking what we can only assume is mediocre pulled pork and slathering it on their bland, salty pizza. [More]
If You’re Not Cooking With Hot Lava Or Lightning, Just Quit Calling Yourself A Grillmaster Now
By 7.31.14 — Updated: 5.2.17
I’m not here to burst your happy grilling bubble, but come on — can you really consider yourself a master of the art of grilling if you haven’t tried cooking with hot lava? What about lightning? Maybe. But bending the forces of nature to do your culinary bidding? There’s no topping that, at least not yet. Call me when you beat an egg with a tornado. [More]
Surgeon General’s Report: “We Need To Do Something” About Climbing Skin Cancer Rates
By 7.29.14
Summer might be half-over, but there’s still plenty of time left to go tanning on the beach before fall madness sets in. But before you head out to catch some rays before Labor Day, the Surgeon General has some advice for you: don’t. [More]
8 Things We Learned About Burger King’s New Leadership
By 7.25.14
We tend to focus more on the wacky food items and creepy mascots coming out of Burger King, but we learned this week that there are interesting things going on behind the scenes. Burger King is changing the way that it does business in a way that will either fail catastrophically or set an example for the rest of the fast-food industry. [More]
Man Who Tried To Rob Pizzeria Sues Restaurant For $260K, Claiming Unnecessary Roughness
By 7.25.14
A man who’s in jail for several robberies including an attempted robbery at a pizza restaurant in Delaware is now suing police and several employees of that eatery for $260,000, claiming they were unnecessarily rough in subduing him. [More]
Appeals Court Allows Farmers To Keep Feeding Unnecessary Antibiotics To Animals
By 7.24.14
More than 35 years ago, the FDA acknowledged that feeding medically unnecessary antibiotics to farm animals may encourage the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which poses a huge health risk to humans. In 2012, a federal court ruled that the FDA is required by law to hold hearings in which the drug makers would need to prove the safety of non-medical use of these antibiotics. But today, a the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling, saying it’s up to the FDA to decide if it wants to hold such hearings. [More]
6 Things We Learned About The Wiener Business From The Founder Of The Hot Dog University
By 7.23.14 — Updated: 5.2.17
It’s the middle of National Hot Dog Month and today just so happens to be National Hot Dog Day, so what better time than now to learn a little bit more about those wieners, and the business of selling them? Because yes, there is a Hot Dog University run by a master of hot dogs, who seems to have all the answers. [More]
