Chicken processing company Foster Farms is not having a good year. Just two days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture lifted last week’s suspension for a cockroach infestation, Foster voluntarily shut down operations at its Livingston, CA, plant Sunday, while continuing to come under fire from consumer advocates. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Taco Bell Franchisee Doesn’t Tell Social Security About Dead Mom For 23 Years, Collects $200K
By 1.13.14
In the process of dealing with the death of a parent, it might be forgivable if you overlook some paperwork and the Social Security folks send out a benefits check meant for the deceased. But when you deliberately hide this death for two decades while collecting nearly $200,000 that doesn’t belong to you, you’re probably going to jail. [More]
Bag Of Frozen Spinach Comes With Free Bird Head
By 1.9.14
Poultry and spinach go well together, but that doesn’t mean that a Florida woman was happy to see that her frozen spinach came with some free meat. Mostly because it came in the form of the tiny skull (eyes included…well, one eye) of an unidentified bird. [More]
USDA Shuts Down Chicken Processing Plant Because Gross, Cockroach Infestation
By 1.9.14
When you hear about a big salmonella outbreak that’s sickened hundreds, you know there’s got to be a problem somewhere along the supply chain. But hearing the words “cockroach” and “infestation” linked to a chicken processing plant is just so… real. And gross. Which is why the U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down a plant in California, saying live cockroaches running around at such a place are not good for public health. [More]
CVS Valentine’s Display “Keeps It Sweet” With Candy, Flowers, Condoms, Plan B, Toy Handcuffs
By 1.8.14
It surfaced on Twitter: a “romantic Valentine’s display” at a CVS store somewhere in southern New Jersey with a very pragmatic take on what customers might need for a special evening. On the shelf: cupcake-shaped bath bombs, roses, picture frames, condoms, a variety of personal lubricants, a dose of Plan B, some “male enhancement” supplements, and toy handcuffs. Hmm, some of those things don’t seem appropriate. [More]
Man Likes His Burger So Much He Comes Back For Seconds — And To Rob The Burger King
By 1.7.14
We’ve all had that gustatory moment when you realize that this thing you’re chewing? It’s so freaking good, you just need to come back and order another one. But one no good, very bad consumer took his trip for seconds to another level by returning to not only order another burger, but also to rob the Burger King. You know, as long as he was already there. [More]
Mountain Dew Cheetos Are Now A Reality…In Japan
By 1.6.14
Strange and magical things come out of Frito-Lay Japan. Things that we in Frito-Lay’s home country never get to see. The latest bit of corporate synergy/snack food horror to hit shelves across the Pacific? Mountain Dew flavored Cheetos. [More]
Your Guide To Proposed Laws & Regulation That Could Help Consumers In 2014
By 1.3.14
2013 is gone, a collection of memories never to be dealt with again. Next week, the 113th Congress returns for its second session, ideally to enact legislation throughout 2014, some of which could help consumers if they were to become law. [More]
Pizza Hut Offering 50% Online Ordering Discount To Mark Anniversary Of Internet Ordering
By 1.3.14
Pizza Hut is awfully proud of its claim that the pizza chain is responsible for the very first Internet purchase ever made. And now to mark that mushroom, pepperoni and extra cheese pizza back sold 20 years ago in 1994, Pizza Hut is offering 50% off online pizza orders through January 10. [More]
Starbucks Decides That The World Needs A Caramel Flan Latte
By 1.3.14
Is there any dessert food that hasn’t yet been turned into a latte or coffee flavor by Starbucks and its competitors? We’re exaggerating only slightly there, but there’s now one more themed item on the menu at Starbucks: the Caramel Flan Latte. [More]
Woman Survives On Nothing But Starbucks Food For A Year
By 1.2.14
At least one woman is likely very relieved that it’s now 2014, after she stuck to her pledge to only eat food purchased from Starbucks for her three meals a day, every day in 2013. That’s a lot of nut boxes and pressed breakfast sandwiches. [More]
Pret A Manger Customer Not Pleased With Free Frog In Her Salad
By 12.31.13
Isn’t it a good thing when you get a bonus item with your lunch? Not when that bonus item is a dead, uncooked frog hanging out in the middle of the bowl. That’s what a Wall Street Journal staffer allegedly found in her bowl at a Manhattan Pret-a-Manger. It was a tuna salad. Not a frog salad. We cannot emphasize this enough. [More]
What Happens To Pizza Huts When They Are No Longer Pizza Huts?
By 12.31.13
Anyone who has ever seen a Pizza Hut knows what a Pizza Hut looks like. Worldwide, people recognize that wacky trapezoidal roof, even though new Pizza Huts no longer have them. What happens, though, when a Pizza Hut closes down or moves, but the building remains? What about other global chains with instantly recognizable building formats? These buildings have not-terribly-secret second lives, if you know where to look. [More]
Consumerist’s Most Popular Stories From 2013
December 31, 2013
2013 ends in a few hours, and in the year since we last popped champagne corks and pretended to know the words to “Auld Lang Syne,” we’ve posted more than 5,000 stories to Consumerist, covering everything from Wall Street to Capitol Hill to the drive-thru lane. Some of these posts attracted a few more readers than others. [More]
Brewpub Shows Starbucks “The F Word” After Legal Demand To Stop Selling “Frappicino” Beer
By 12.31.13
Still stinging from yet another legal defeat against a small New Hampshire coffee company over the “Charbucks” brand, the Starbucks legal team appears to be going after lower-hanging fruit, sending a cease-and-desist letter to a small Missouri brewpub that dared to sell something called Frappicino beer. [More]
Coming Soon: Vending Machine Calorie Counts
By 12.30.13
The Affordable Care Act doesn’t just mean highly entertaining conversations over dessert amongst your relatives this holiday season. There’s one new requirement that’s been sort of overshadowed by health insurance exchanges and electronic medical records: companies that own more than 20 vending machines will have to post calorie counts for the items they sell. [More]
Maybe The Domino’s Delivery Guy Spotted In Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Line Is Just Sick Of Pizza
By 12.30.13
Let’s say you like pizza. Because really, who doesn’t? But perhaps if it’s your job to be around pizzas all the time, bringing them hither and thither and wherever paying customers want them delivered, you might kinda get sick of the pie scene. There’s no law saying you can’t patronize other fast food establishments, but it’s still pretty funny to see the Domino’s guy cruising through the Taco Bell drive-thru line. [More]
FDA Gives OK To New Coca-Cola-Backed Sweetener That Claims To Taste More Like Sugar
By 12.30.13
Because we all want sweet things but don’t want to accept that eating too many sweet things can make us fat, the world’s largest producer of stevia says it has gotten the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration to start using a new version of the sweetener that it developed with the folks at Coca-Cola. [More]
