Remember those Powermat things Starbucks was testing back in 2012, where you just set your smartphone down on top of it for a bit and it gets juiced up? After its earlier trial run, Starbucks says the system is ready to roll out to stores across the country. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Wegmans Recalls Bagged Ice Because Metal Machine Fragments Aren’t Great For Cooling Beverages
By 6.12.14
In what may be a first for us, we bring you the news of a supermarket chain — specifically Alec Baldwin fave Wegmans — recalling thousands of pounds of bagged ice that may contain little bits of metal from the machine that produces the frozen water. [More]
FDA Promises To Work With Cheesemakers On Safety Of Using Wood Ripening Boards
By 6.11.14
Earlier this week, cheesemakers across the country seemed to be collectively freaking out over the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement that it wasn’t cool with cheese ripened on wooden boards, saying the bacteria in the boards could be a potential a food safety issue. Now the agency is clarifying its stance in an apparent attempt to quell that freakout. [More]
Has The FDA Declared War On Cheesemakers Who Use Wooden Aging Boards?
By 6.10.14
Before you take the above headline straight to your dairy-loving hearts and faint dead away, rest assured that cheese in general is here to stay (especially if I have anything to say about it). But for some cheesemakers, the United States Food and Drug Administration’s recent crackdown on certain kinds of cheese aged on wooden boards is a worrisome issue, one that they say could change how they practice their craft. [More]
Pizzeria Boss Fined $334K Because You Can’t Pay Workers In Pizza And Soda
By 6.10.14
When I was about 7 years old, the idea of growing up and getting a job where I could eat all the pizza and drink all the soda I wanted sounded like the best life anyone could ever have. Who needs money anyway, when you’ve got all life’s necessities in those two substances? Cheese and sugar! But getting paid in pizza and soda isn’t such a great idea, you know, legally speaking. [More]
Health Officials Make It Official: Makers Of Infant Formula Must Test For Germs
By 6.9.14
Back in February, the United States Food and Drug Administration announced an interim rule covering infant formula that would require manufacturers to test for certain contaminants, as well as ensure that the products contain the right amount of nutrients. Today the agency announced that the new policy is set to be finalized. [More]
Does Your Local Pizza Hut Have Anchovies?
By 6.5.14
Reader Matthew knows what he likes, and he’s not ashamed. He likes anchovies. Plenty of other people like anchovies, too, but evidently not enough. They have now disappeared from the menu at his favorite local place, and the nearest Pizza Hut only has enough to last for just ten more pizzas. Ten more pizzas. [More]
Group Petitions Target To Ban Guns Following Open-Carry Demonstrations
By 6.5.14
A petition to ban guns at Target stores has garnered thousands of signatures after recent open-carry demonstrations at the retail stores. [More]
GSK To Pay $105 Million To Settle Advair, Paxil, Wellbutrin Disputes
By 6.4.14
Drug biggie GlaxoSmithKline has been slapped with another huge settlement for its questionable marketing tactics. This time, the pharma company has agreed to pay $105 million to resolve claims made by attorneys general from 45 states regarding the selling of asthma drug Advair and antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin. [More]
Before You Eat That, Check The FDA Flickr Account For Warnings About Recalled Products
By 6.4.14
With this that and the other thing getting recalled on what feels like a daily basis, maybe you feel like you don’t have the time to stay abreast of what foods aren’t safe to eat. That’s why the Food and Drug Administration has started its very own Flickr account to alert consumers when products are recalled. The more you know, the less you end up clinging to the bathroom floor for dear life in extreme gastrointestinal distress. H/T to The Verge [FDA Recalled Products 2014 on Flickr] [More]
Why Do Velveeta Cheese Slices Have Different Calorie Counts Depending On The Package Size?
By 6.3.14
Sometimes we have questions from you, our fresh-faced and bright-eyed Consumerist readers, that we just don’t have an answer for. And when that happens, we will move heaven and earth to get the answers. Or just you know, look into things. Thus it was with the Mystery Of Velveeta Cheese Slices And Differing Calorie Counts. [More]
Egg Company Agrees To Pay $6.8M Fine In Connection To Salmonella Outbreak That Sickened 62,000
By 6.3.14
Four years after tainted eggs caused a nationwide salmonella outbreak that sickened 62,000 people, the Iowa farm responsible for those ill-fated ovules has agreed to pay $6.8 million in fines for selling old eggs under false labels for years. [More]
FDA Launches New Public Database Tracking Which Drugs Do Not Play Nicely With Other Drugs
By 6.3.14
Medicinal drugs can be beneficial, even lifesaving — but not, always, in combination with each other. Putting two and two together in the human body can cause a million different unexpected, unintended, downright harmful side effects. Until now, those “adverse interactions” have been difficult to research, sort through, and track. But today, the FDA is launching a new initiative designed to let members of the public have access to, and make sense of, all the data. [More]
Customer Sues Burger King & Military Over Needle-licious Triple Stacker
By 6.3.14
Back in 2010, an Army sergeant in Hawaii was chowing down on food bought from an on-base Burger King when he claims he chomped into some needles that were definitely not on the nutritional info for the sandwich. Now, after years of negotiating a settlement have proved fruitless, he’s suing both the fast food chain and the Army and Air Force Exchange that sold him the burger. [More]
Current Measles Outbreak The Worst U.S. Has Seen In 14 Years
By 5.30.14
When I was a young cheese-fed sprout growing up, the measles sounded like one of those awfully scary diseases that only people in history books ever came down with. Because I knew enough to know that getting vaccinated against it meant I likely wouldn’t get it. But measles are all the rage again now, or at least cases are climbing to record highs since the disease was eliminated 14 years ago in the U.S. [More]
Idea For Taco Bell’s Waffle Taco Came From Facebook Photo Of A Folded Waffle Sandwich
By 5.29.14
When you’re posting things on the Internet, you never know where they’ll end up eventually. So it goes with one Facebook user’s photo of a folded over waffle sandwich at a California restaurant, which ended up morphing into Taco Bell’s waffle breakfast taco. [More]
On Day 5, The Sexagintuple Frappuccino Is Finally Gone
By 5.29.14
On Saturday, a man walked into a Starbucks store in Texas with a vase and created a legend. Technically, he asked the baristas to create a legend, or at least something that everyone on the Internet wouldn’t stop typing about for three days. Last night, he finally drained the last of the Sexagintuple Vanilla Bean Mocha Frappuccino. [More]
Starbucks Debuting Real (Open Kind Of Late) Restaurant In Los Angeles Next Month
By 5.27.14
If you’re a fan of Starbucks’ limited food options, then you might be excited to hear the coffee-chain is opening an actual restaurant, complete with omelets and a croissant burger, next month in Los Angeles. [More]
