Like avoiding eye contact with that vague acquaintance from work — the one you have absolutely nothing to say to — who ends up in your train car on the way home, it’s inevitable. You’re going to probably end up looking at Starbucks’ new calorie count postings because they’re there, you know they’re there, and it’s better to just get it over with. Say hello to the future. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Time To Face The Mochafrappuchocalatte Music: Starbucks To Post Calorie Counts
By 6.18.13 — Updated: 1.4.16
Is Brand Perception Tricking Our Brains Into Not Thinking About What We’re Tasting?
By 6.13.13
Most of us have seen hidden-camera tricks where some unwitting subject raves about what they are eating because they have been told it’s a certain brand or from a well-regarded restaurant, only to find out it’s a generic frozen dinner from the supermarket. What if these people aren’t necessarily pretending to like the food? A new study shows that brands may make us so predisposed to an opinion that we don’t use the part of our brain that helps to make such judgements. [More]
Burger King Customer Claims She Found Razor Blade In Cheeseburger
By 6.12.13
A California woman appears to have gotten lucky, noticing that her Burger King cheeseburger contained an unpleasant surprise before she took too many bites. [More]
Walgreens To Pay $80 Million In Settlement Over Black Market Painkillers
By 6.12.13
Walgreens — or, as known by its proper name, Walgreen — has agreed to pony up a whopping $80 million to settle claims by the government that it was negligent in allowing painkillers to end up on the black market. It’s the largest settlement in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and is the result of an investigation into a distribution center in Florida that had been receiving a high number of prescription pain meds from six pharmacies in the state. [More]
Appeals Court Hears Arguments On NYC’s Fizzling Big-Soda Ban
By 6.11.13
It’s been three months since a judge tossed out New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces, calling the regulation “arbitrary and capricious.” Today, a state appeals court panel heard arguments for and against the ban, but it doesn’t look good for Mayor Mike. [More]
Okay, Juice Box Mold Is Gross, But It’s Disturbingly Common
By 6.11.13
We can’t say for sure, but it’s a fair guess that the anxious parent who headed straight to the emergency department after finding a dollop of slimy mold in her daughter’s juice box is not a regular Consumerist reader. If she were, she would know that terrifying mold blobs are a regular occurrence in packaged food, especially juice. [More]
Costco Offering Free Hepatitis Vaccines To Customers Who Purchased Recalled Berries
By 6.7.13
We told you earlier this week about a hepatitis A outbreak in several states that authorities had linked to a berry mix sold at Costco stores. Now comes news that the warehouse chain is offering free vaccines to those who have eaten the recalled berries. [More]
From The Shameless To The Egregious, We Grade The Product Placements In 12 Ad-Packed Movies
By 6.7.13
You’ve probably seen the 30-second TV ads promoting that new 2-hour commercial for Google starring those two actors from that other movie that people really liked eight years ago. We’d like to think product placement has sunk to a new low, but every time we’re convinced that advertisers have hit bottom, someone throws them a more powerful digging implement. [More]
Court Gives Females Of All Ages Permission To Buy Generic Emergency Contraception
By 6.6.13
There’s been a bit of a back and forth between the courts and the White House recently over who can buy what kinds of emergency contraception, or the morning after pill. The Food and Drug Administration had approved the one-pill brand name Plan B for any women 15 or older, which didn’t apply to other forms. But now a federal appeals court says girls of any age can buy two-step generic versions without prescriptions while the federal government appeals a judge’s ruling that any females can get Plan B, regardless of age. [More]
Why Should I Care If The Beef I Buy Has Been Mechanically Tenderized?
By 6.6.13
Whether you actually read the labels on food or not, they exist to inform consumers of exactly what they’re about to eat. But that isn’t much help if you don’t understand why something is labeled a certain way in the first place. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture is planning on requiring beef that’s been mechanically tenderized to be labeled as such. Okay, great! But why should you care either way? [More]
If You Don’t Want That Drink You Just Ordered, Don’t Throw It At The Taco Bell Employee
By 6.5.13
It’s not a good week for Taco Bell employees. First, one particularly mouthy worker was caught on camera apparently licking a stack of hard taco shells. And now comes the case of the so-called Taco Bell Tossers: Police say three customers ordered up some grub and drinks, and then promptly threw the liquid back in the faces of the drive-through workers. [More]
Domino’s Would Have Us Believe It’s Working On Pizza Delivery Drones — The DomiCopter
By 6.5.13 — Updated: 9.8.16
Is this the world we live in now? Fast food chains spitting out PR stunts like hands-free Whopper holders just to get our atten– oh my gosh, what? A pizza delivery drone? That’s gotta be real, right? Maybe not? In any case, darnit, we’ve fallen for it yet again with Domino’s new “DomiCopter,” capable of delivering two pizzas at a time via unmanned aircraft. [More]
Congress To Once Again Consider Legislation That Would Ban BPA From Food Packaging
By 6.4.13
Bisphenol-A (better known as BPA) is a chemical used in all manner of food packaging, in spite of numerous studies linking BPA to everything from increased risks of certain cancers to diabetes, reproductive abnormalities, heart disease, and maybe even childhood obesity. Since the FDA has decided there still wasn’t enough science to ban BPA from food packaging (though it later hedged on this ruling and banned BPA from baby bottles), lawmakers in Congress are having another go at a legislative effort to limit the use of BPA. [More]
Taco Bell In Process Of Firing Taco-Licker, Crosses Heart And Swears Shells Were Thrown Out
By 6.4.13
The saga of the Taco Bell taco-licker (as opposed to Mr. Banana Grabber) continues, with the fast food chain announcing today that the employee now infamous for dragging his tongue along a stack of taco shells has been suspended and is going to be looking for work elsewhere soon. [More]
Hope You Don’t Get Lyme Disease Because There’s A Short Supply Of Drug Used To Treat It
By 6.4.13
It’s the outdoors season, when many of you go out into the wilderness and do various things with trees and wildlife and whatnot. Some of you will be feasted upon by deer ticks and some of those unlucky souls will contract Lyme Disease. It’s never a good year for that to happen, but this summer is particularly bad, as supply for a drug used in the treatment of Lyme Disease is running low. [More]
Today’s Amazing And Revolting Foods: Ravioli Pizza And Deep Fried Doritos Locos Taco
By 6.4.13
One thing that we love here at Consumerist is bringing you the latest in disgusting/amazing food news, and we include fast food in that statement. Two new and exciting food products caught our attention today, one served in a restaurant and the other is a do-it-yourself project from an adventurous blogger. Both will make your arteries clench when you read about them, so that’s good. These items are the ravioli-topped pizza and the deep-fried beer-and-bacon-battered Doritos Loco Taco. [More]
Health Officials Link Hepatitis Outbreak In 5 States To Costco Frozen Berry Mix
By 6.3.13
Although there’s no official recall announcement yet, if you’re currently chomping on a Costco frozen berry blend called The Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend, you should know that health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say a five-state outbreak of hepatitis could be linked to the product. [More]
Taco Bell Now Investigating Taco-Licking Photo
By 6.3.13
Hours after many Consumerist readers woke up to the photo of a Taco Bell employee rubbing his tongue across a stack of taco shells, the fast food chain has released a statement regarding the caught-on-camera incident. [More]
