Over the years, we’ve written about several people — including a certain Dark Knight — who committed crimes at a drive-thru window, but here’s a story of someone using this window to escape from a man who had kidnapped her. [More]
Food & Personal Care
FDA Approves First Pre-Surgical Breast Cancer Drug
By 9.30.13
While many of the hundreds of thousands of people who are diagnosed each year with breast cancer go through radiation or chemotherapy before surgery, until now drugs aimed at treating breast cancer were not FDA-approved for use in the pre-surgery stage. [More]
Sunday Is National Coffee Day, Which Means Free Coffee If You Know Where To Look
By 9.27.13
You may scoff at the notion of “National Coffee Day,” but it’s one of the few holidays that (A) doesn’t require you to buy a card, throw a party, or decorate, and (B) results in free coffee for people willing to seek it out. [More]
Cantaloupe Farmers Plead Not Guilty To Charges Linked With 2011 Listeria Outbreak
By 9.27.13
It seems like only yesterday we were eying every cantaloupe with suspicion in the midst of the listeria epidemic that sickened at least 100 and killed 33 people in 2011. It’s been two years since the Food and Drug Administration said it believed the outbreak was due to dirty equipment at cantaloupe farms, and now those melon farmers are pleading not guilty on charges linked to the outbreak. [More]
Jury: No Damages For Allegedly Rat-Infested Lemonade
By 9.26.13
How does a dead, decomposing rat end up in a can of frozen lemonade? It doesn’t, argued Coca-Cola, parent company of Minute Maid, defending itself in a civil lawsuit in New Hampshire this week. A woman claimed that the frozen lemonade she bought for a party contained a rat with a side helping of maggots, and the experience has left her unable to buy frozen food. [More]
Lawsuit: Dead Rat In Frozen Lemonade Gave Customer PTSD
By 9.25.13 — Updated: 9.26.13
Two years ago, a woman in New Hampshire preparing for a party poured out a can of frozen Minute Maid concentrated lemonade and found a festive flavoring aid already inside the can. It was a dead, decomposing rat and a bunch of its maggot buddies. A rat? How does a rat end up in a container of frozen lemonade? The woman’s case went to trial this week, and now it’s up to a jury. [More]
McDonald’s Hopes You Won’t Notice Its Pumpkin Spice Lattes Are Not From Starbucks
By 9.25.13
If you’re one of those people who are sick, absolutely fed up with all things Pumpkin Spice Latte related, stop reading right now. For all of you who never get sick of finding new ways to ingest the stuff, McDonald’s would like it if you tried out their “new” McCafe pumpkin latte. [More]
McDonald’s Clubhouse Quarter Pounder Sounds Nice, Wants To Eat Itself
By 9.24.13 — Updated: 9.8.16
It’s old news that McDonald’s is testing a new variation on the Quarter Pounder, the super-fancy “Clubhouse Quarter Pounder,” in a few counties in the Miami area. What struck us about this new burger wasn’t its contents, but the food styling in this photo. A bacon strip looks like a human tongue licking its lips in the universal cartoon symbol for “yum.” Is it supposed to be clever? It’s creepy. [More]
40 Attorneys General Agree: E-Cigarettes Need To Be Regulated Like Tobacco
By 9.24.13 — Updated: 12.5.13
The use of electronic cigarettes is growing rapidly, not just among tobacco users seeking a smoke-free alternative, but also among those who’ve never smoked but still want to experience the effects of nicotine. Concerned about this relatively unregulated (at least compared to tobacco) market, the attorneys general of 37 states — plus AGs for Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — have written to the FDA asking for more regulatory controls on the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes. [More]
Burger King Unveils New Lower-Calorie French Fries: “Satisfries” (Get It?)
By 9.24.13
The thing about french fries is that they’re pieces of potato, fried in oil, dipped in whichever substance you choose (ketchup, mayo, chocolate ice cream, oh my) and gobbled up by fry-loving Americans across this great land. But what if they packed less of a caloric punch? Burger King thinks it has what you want with its new “Satisfries.” [More]
Chipotle Debuts Bacon-Free Pinto Beans Two Years After Porkgate
By 9.23.13
Two years after the event I just decided to call Porkgate prompted Chipotle to explain that no, its pinto beans were not vegetarian and in fact contained bacon, it seems the burrito chain is whistling a more vegan-friendly tune. Consumerist reader Tim snapped the above evidence that at least at his local Chipotle, change is on the menu. [More]
Real-Life Cheeseburger Pizza Sightings In UK Rather Disappointing
By 9.19.13
Yesterday, we shared the news that the grease-filled sunflower known as the Cheeseburger Pizza made its way from Pizza Hut Middle East to Pizza Hut UK. We focused on its awesomeness and calorie content, but as with all heavily-promoted fast foods, the real question is this: how terrible does it look in real life? [More]
New Law Would Modernize Nutrition Labels, Clarify Terms Like “Healthy” & “Natural”
By 9.19.13
While food production has gotten more sophisticated and complex, and we now know much more about how the human body is affected by a wide variety of ingredients, there haven’t been any changes to the food labeling provisions of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act since 1990, and some sections of the law have not been updated since 1938. So in an effort to bring nutrition labeling into the 21st century, lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would require clear front-of-package labeling while clarifying when companies can use marketing buzz words that may be misleading. [More]
Coca-Cola Apologizes For Vitamin Water Cap Message Of ‘YOU RETARD’
By 9.19.13 — Updated: 9.8.16
A Vitamin Water promotion in Canada played bilingual Mad Libs, pairing a word in English with a word in French for what were sure to be hilarious results. The end product was not so hilarious when the paired words were “you” in English and the French word for “late.” A woman whose younger sister has autism and cerebral palsy opened up the “YOU RETARD” bottle, and was offended. [More]
Pizza Hut’s Cheeseburger-Stuffed Crust Menace Spreads To United Kingdom
By 9.18.13
Almost a year and a half ago, the unholy spawn of a pizza and a platter of cheeseburger sliders arrived in Pizza Hut outlets in the Middle East. It’s a stuffed-crust pizza, but with little mozzarella-topped burgers embedded in the crust. The whole thing looks like a grease-filled sunflower. [More]
Walgreens Moving Eligible Employees To Health Insurance Exchange
By 9.18.13
Walgreen Co., the parent company of Walgreen’s, is joining the “Let’s change our health care” party, right after Trader Joe’s announced it’d be giving employees money to purchase their own health insurance on the exchange system. The company announced today that it will send eligible employees shopping for coverage instead of using a company-backed system. [More]
Starbucks CEO Asks Customers To Please Leave Guns At Home
By 9.18.13
For years, Starbucks has been stuck in the middle of the debate over whether businesses should let customers bring guns into stores in states and municipalities where it is legal to openly carry a firearm. CEO Howard Schultz had previously called it a “difficult, fragile” situation but said the company was not going to change its longstanding policy of following whatever the local laws allowed. Then last night, he issued an open letter to customers, asking them to please leave their guns at home. [More]
PepsiCo Thinks Its Drinks Aren’t Smelly Enough, Wants To Add Scent Capsules
By 9.17.13
Have you ever cracked open a bottle of Tropicana orange juice and thought to yourself, “I would drink so much more of this juice if it smelled even more orange-y”? Probably not, but the folks at PepsiCo are seeking to patent technology that would arouse the customer’s sense of smell from the moment the container is opened. [More]
