To many Chipotle customers, part of the reason for going to the restaurant chain is that you get to watch your burritos and bowls made to order right in front of you, but the company apparently needs to bring in new customers and thinks that adding drive-thru windows might help. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Free, $1.29, Same Difference When Papa John’s Gives You A Pizza
By 10.24.12
Jared is a regular Papa John’s customer, but please don’t judge him for that. He ordered a pizza online, and the driver got terribly lost. As an apology, they sent him a coupon for a free pizza that was more of a free* pizza. For no immediately clear reason, the coupon code made the pizza cost $1.29. [More]
The BK Bacon Burger Is A Disgrace To The Word ‘Bacon’
By 10.23.12
Burger King recently released a $1 bacon burger. Only a dollar and it comes with bacon? Excellent. In a typical case of fast food advertising vs. reality, though. the bacon isn’t quite as advertised. Matt tried the burger and found that the reality is quite pitiful when compared to the luscious bacon-stuffed bun shown in photos. [More]
FDA Incident Reports Link Monster Energy Drink To Five Deaths
By 10.23.12
Last week, a mother in Maryland sued the makers of caffeine-heavy Monster Energy drink, alleging that the beverage was not only behind the death of her teen daughter, but that the company knew of possible health risks and failed to warn consumers. [More]
Armed Robbery Suspect: I Was Mad At Mean Things CVS Worker Said About Another Thief
By 10.19.12
Why would a man allegedly confront a CVS employee with what looked like a handgun and run away? Simple. He says he was mad at the worker for talking smack about some other guy — not him, nope — who had robbed the store weeks before. So, duh, that’s why he came to avenge that other person’s good name who definitely, certainly was not him. Not because he wanted to actually hold up the store. [More]
Sprouts Are Out At Kroger
By 10.19.12
If you’re a fan of fresh sprouts and a Kroger shopper, you’ll have to choose between the two after this weekend, when the supermarket chain sells the last of the little green veggies, which are apparently a pain in the butt to keep clean. [More]
Documents: CVS Pharmacists Pressured To Put Customers In Auto-Refill Program
By 10.19.12
CVS has repeatedly denied accusations that the drugstore chain pressures its pharmacists into refilling customers’ prescriptions without their consent, but new documents show that the company expects pharmacists to push pharmacy customers into ReadyFill, its auto-refill program. [More]
CDC: Kids Sure Do Love Chewing On, Getting Sick From Detergent Pods
By 10.18.12
It’s no secret that little kids like bright, shiny colorful things, and that curiosity compels them to place these objects in their mouths. But since most children under the age of five are not yet versed in the possible harms of household chemicals, lots of them are popping bright, shiny colorful detergent pods into their waiting maws. [More]
Why Isn’t Jif’s Natural Peanut Butter Spread Labeled Just ‘Peanut Butter?’
By 10.18.12 — Updated: 9.26.13
Kate was confused at the grocery store. Side by side on the shelf were regular old Jif peanut butter and Jif’s “natural” peanut butter. Only the “natural” stuff was labeled “peanut butter spread,” while the standard, presumably less natural, Jif got to call itself peanut butter. “It makes me wonder, what about ‘natural’ makes it less than true peanut butter?” she wrote to us. “Why does it need to be called ‘peanut butter spread’, when traditional, sugar filled, [Jif] can be called ‘peanut butter’? Shouldn’t the natural product version be truer to the genuine article?” That would be the intuitive answer, wouldn’t it? It’s the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration that keep the “natural” variety of Jif from being declared plain old peanut butter. Here’s the relevant part of the FDA standards for peanut butter: [More]
Only Bad Things Can Happen When You Abandon Thousands Of Bottles Of Counterfeit Ketchup In A Warehouse
By 10.18.12
Taking huge, commercial-size bladders of Heinz Ketchup and repackaging it into smaller plastic bottles may not seem like that insidious of a scam, until you think about what else might be getting added to the sweet red goo — and what happens when you leave a few thousand bogus bottles of the stuff in a warehouse unattended. [More]
Has Your Pharmacy Automatically Refilled Your Prescription Without Asking? We Want To Hear From You
By 10.17.12
Since we began covering the allegations that CVS pharmacists are being pressured into automatically filling prescriptions without customers’ consent, we’ve heard from a few readers who have experienced this problem with their pharmacy — not just CVS. We’d like to see just how widespread the issue is, and that’s where y’all come in. [More]
CVS Under Investigation For Automatic Prescription Refill Allegations
By 10.17.12
After leaked e-mails seemed to indicate that at least some people at CVS have been pressuring pharmacists to refill customers’ prescriptions — without the patient’s consent — in order to meet sales quotas, federal and state regulators have begun investigating the drugstore chain. [More]
Pizza Hut Realizes That Offering People Money To Ask Presidential Candidates About Favorite Pizza Topping Is Remarkably Stupid Idea
By 10.15.12
At this week’s town hall-style Presidential debate, at least one of the questions asked by an audience member will be superfluous and about a topic many people deem unimportant. Luckily, no one will be taking Pizza Hut up on its request to ask the candidates whether they prefer pepperoni or sausage, after the restaurant chain realized that might be just a remarkably dumb idea. [More]
Florida’s Alleged Serial Used Enema Returner Has Been Apprehended
By 10.15.12
You can purchase disposable saline enemas with confidence: the man in Florida who would purchase, use, and return alarming quantities of them has been apprehended. Though in this context, an “alarming quantity” would be “more than zero.” The man’s federal indictment was just unsealed, and he was charged with, among other things, having “reckless disregard that another person would be placed in danger of death or bodily injury.” [More]
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Gives Local Manager A Ring To Thank Her For Doing A Good Job
By 10.12.12
You know how your aunt is always posting inspirational stuff on Facebook telling you to dance like no one is watching or whatever? Well you should also do a super awesome job at your place of employment even when you think no one is paying attention. Because they might be and then the CEO of Starbucks is calling you up to thank you and holy moly, that’s kind of a huge moment. That’s what happened to a Starbucks manager in San Diego earlier this month. [More]
8 Horrifying Things We Learned From Bloomberg Report On Inept, Ineffective Food Inspectors
By 10.11.12
During recent mass recalls of eggs and cantaloupe because of salmonella and listeria contamination, you heard a lot about FDA inspectors not catching this or that, and “How could no one notice all that filth?” Now a new report in Bloomberg Markets Magazine sheds a huge light at the sad state of food inspection in the U.S. [More]
Chances Are You’ll Never Have To Drive More Than 20 Miles To Find A Starbucks
By 10.11.12
Inspired by this now-classic map of McDonald’s clusters in the U.S., blogger and scientists James Davenport decided to map out as many of the Starbucks locations as he could find and discovered that 80% of the country’s population lives within a 20-mile drive of a cup of Starbucks. [More]
Polarizing Video Asks “What If Those Coca-Cola Bears Actually Drank A Lot Of Soda?”
By 10.10.12
For years, Coca-Cola has aired ads featuring adorable animated polar bears that just love to drink the brown beverage. But a new video — created by the ad genius behind commercials for Burger King and yes, even Coca-Cola — tries to use those bears to push a message about guzzling too much soda. [More]
