McDonald’s continues to tease most of the country, dangling the promise of garlic fries — not some caked-on garlic-and-puke-flavored powder but real garlic — then pulling them away, and now bringing them back, but only in the San Francisco area. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Owner & Seller Of 20 Lb. Lobster Not Thrilled That TSA Made A Celebrity Of Oversized Crustacean
Deserved or not, the Transportation Security Administration doesn’t usually get much affection on social media, so it must have been a nice change of pace for the TSA recently when it had a minor Instagram hit with a photo of a massive, 20 lb. lobster found in a cooler at a Boston airport. Alas, the TSA has not escaped criticism, as the man who owned this oversized crustacean — and the market where he purchased it — both say the airport security folks mishandled his future meal for the sake of a photo op. [More]
Get Your Omelet On: Eggs Prices Are At A Decade Low
They say you’ve gotta break a couple eggs to make an omelet, but with egg prices at the lowest they’ve been in about 10 years, you can probably afford it if a few extra end up on the floor. [More]
ABC News Settles ‘Pink Slime’ Defamation Case With Beef Company
Well, that was quick: Just a few weeks after Beef Products Inc. and ABC News squared off in the opening arguments of the trial over the broadcaster’s use of the phrase “pink slime” to describe an ingredient in some ground beef, the two sides have agreed to put the whole thing to rest. [More]
Neanderthals May Have Performed Their Own Dental Work 130,000 Years Ago
Tooth pain — cavities, chipped teeth, impacted molars — is not some discovery of modern man. In fact, new research suggests that our neanderthal predecessors may have tried to figure out ways to fix their aching teeth long before the dawn of human history. [More]
2 Years After Being Sentenced, Egg Execs Behind Massive Salmonella Outbreak Are Finally Going To Prison
In April 2015, a federal judge sentenced the father and son former executives of the inaccurately named Quality Egg — the company behind a salmonella outbreak that sickened around 60,000 people — to three months in prison, but neither of the two men have begun to serve their sentence, hoping the U.S. Supreme Court would see things their way. But now that the Supremes have snubbed the eggs-executives, it’s finally time for them to do their brief stints behind bars. [More]
Kroger CEO Says He’s Not Surprised By, Or Scared Of, Amazon Buying Whole Foods
With over 3,800 stores and more than $110 billion in revenue, Kroger is the second-largest retailer in the U.S., behind Walmart. Normally, a company of this size would not fret about Whole Foods’ relatively paltry 460 stores being sold off to a company whose bricks-and-mortar footprint consists mostly of a few bookshops. But because that buyer is Amazon, some are expecting Kroger to be worried. [More]
Oscar Mayer Wiener Drone Designed To Make It Rain Hot Dogs
It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, and it definitely isn’t Superman: Oscar Mayer is adding a drone to its Wienermobile fleet, one that the company says will drop hot dogs on hungry, Earthbound customers below — one wiener at a time. [More]
Amazon’s Likely First Move At Whole Foods: Bring In Warehouse Robots
When Amazon and Whole Foods announced that they were getting hitched in the corporate sense, the benefits for both sides were obvious. Amazon would acquire its way into a grocery distribution network and hundreds of stores with upscale customers, and Whole Foods would get a parent company at the forefront of retail technology. What’s likely to be first up for Whole Foods? Warehouse robots. [More]
SCOTUS To Hear Case Of Bakery That Refused To Make Wedding Cake For Gay Couple
The owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple back in 2012 will have his day in the highest court in the land, after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear his appeal. [More]
Is The FDA Doing Enough To Keep Problematic Personal Care Products Off Shelves?
When you slather that trendy beauty lip balm on or try a new shampoo for the first time, perhaps you’re under the impression that the federal government has a process in place that ensures that cosmetic or personal care product is safe before it touches your body. But the reality is that cosmetics manufacturers don’t have to obtain premarket approval before selling most new products — and whether or not they report adverse events related to those items is pretty much up to them. Some in the industry think it’s time for this to change. [More]
Some Taco Bell Customers Say Their Double Chalupa Is A Double Dose Of Nothing
Taco Bell has once again unleashed a fast food menu item that looks pretty appetizing (at least to Bell fans) in the marketing shots, but isn’t as impressive in the real world. But the particular problem with the new Double Chalupa seems to be that some Taco Bells are barely filling the item up with a single Chalupa’s worth of meat. [More]
Target Pulls Hampton Creek Products From Stores Over Food Safety Concerns
Target, a chain that’s popular because “upscale discount store” is apparently not an oxymoron, is a big seller of Hampton Creek’s vegan food products, including its not-mayonnaise Just Mayo. But now Target has reportedly pulled Hampton Creek products from its stores and even disabled cashiers’ ability to scan these items at checkout. [More]
Burger King, Tim Hortons Vow To Cut Back On Antibiotics In Chicken
Amid growing concerns about the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals, Burger King has joined the list of fast food chains that will scale back on the use of drugs that are medically important to human beings.
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Italian Airport Makes Exception To Liquid Limits For Pesto Sauce
It may come as no surprise that deep in the heart of pasta country, officials at the airport in Genoa, Italy, are offering a special culinary dispensation to anyone traveling with the city’s famed pesto sauce. [More]
Will Any Other Big Companies Make A Bid For Whole Foods?
Although Amazon announced last week that it would be buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, it’s far from a done deal. And in the time it takes to complete such a large merger, there could be a few other players who decide to belly up to the table and make a bid for the grocery chain. [More]