Now that 29 people, 26 of whom are children, have been confirmed sick from E. coli in contaminated I.M. Healthy brand soy butter, at least we know which company actually made the recalled products. A Food and Drug Administration inspection of the facility earlier this month found insects, dirty and broken equipment, and general filth. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Dunkin’ Donuts Franchises Settle Lawsuits Over Butter Substitute
By 3.31.17 — Updated: 4.5.17
When you ask for a buttered bagel, what do you mean? Do you want a spread made from the milk of cows, or would you be fine with any spreadable facsimile thereof? A man who wanted the former sued Dunkin’ Donuts last year after getting a bagel that was slathered in butter substitute, and will now receive a settlement in the case. [More]
Panera Launches New ‘Clean’ Beverage Line, Will Post Calorie And Sugar Info At Soda Fountains
By 3.31.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Panera announced plans today to extend its “clean” food philosophy to its self-serve beverages… sort of. The chain will post calorie and added sugars information on all of its drinks, including soda fountains, perhaps encouraging customers to try a new line of iced teas and lemonades that will launch next week instead. [More]
McDonald’s Plans To Offer Fresh Beef Burgers In Most Locations Next Year
By 3.30.17
In pockets of stores throughout Texas and Oklahoma, McDonald’s has been replacing its frozen beef patties with fresh meat for about a year. Now the fast food goliath says a majority of its stores nationwide will be serving up the non-frozen patties by mid-2018. [More]
Carl’s Jr. Is Replacing Bikinis With Burgers In New Ad Campaign
By 3.30.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
For Carl’s Jr., selling food has long meant selling sex, with ads featuring women in skimpy bikinis and cutoff shorts chowing down on juicy burgers. The chain has decided to go with a more direct approach, and will now focus on using actual burgers to sell burgers. What a novel idea. [More]
Panera & Chipotle Are Totally In A Fight Right Now
By 3.29.17
Don’t think fast food companies are taking consumers’ preference for “clean” food seriously? Just look at the war of words that has erupted this week between Chipotle and Panera Bread. [More]
Company Behind “Bleeding” Meatless Burger Wants To Bring It To The Masses
By 3.29.17
More than two years after we first heard about a veggie burger designed to “bleed” juice made from plants, the company behind it is ramping up to put its meatless offering in front of more consumers. [More]
Yum Brands CEO: Robots Will Take Over Fast Food Jobs In Next 10 Years
By 3.29.17
Working in the fast-food industry can be hard work for little pay, and now employees have to worry about their job security as well. Fast food remains popular, but one prominent CEO predicts that within the next decade, more work in fast food restaurants will be taken over by robots. [More]
Raw Oysters Linked To Norovirus Outbreak In Seattle
By 3.29.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
There could be something extra lurking in shellfish folks have been eating in Seattle, and it’s not a tasty mignonette: Health officials say they’re investigating a possible norovirus outbreak after multiple reports of people falling ill after eating raw oysters. [More]
Olive Garden Is Betting On Healthier Fare To Bring Back Customers
By 3.29.17
When you think of Olive Garden, you likely imagine heaps upon heaps of pasta(often covered in a cream sauce) and a neverending march of cheese-dusted breadsticks — essentially, the opposite of health food. But the chain is betting one of its newly revamped lower-calorie pasta dishes will help turn around slumping sales. [More]
Man Says Leaking Waffle House Grease Is Damaging His Actual House
By 3.29.17
While living next door to a breakfast restaurant might sound like a dream come true to some, the neighbor of a Waffle House in Alabama says it was more of a nightmare, claiming grease and sewage from the business has leaked onto his property and damaged his home. [More]
Waze Wants To Take Your Food Order Along The Way
By 3.28.17
Waze, the GPS navigation and real-time traffic app owned by Google, is free to download and to use, supporting itself with ads. Now the company is making those ads even more tappable, sending customers right to the ordering app for one of its advertisers, Dunkin’ Donuts. [More]
AmazonFresh Pickup Will Deliver Groceries To Your Car
By 3.28.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
After reports last year that Amazon had its sights set on expanding its grocery business to curbside delivery, the company has officially announced it’s testing a new service called AmazonFresh Pickup. [More]
After 141 Years, Major League Baseball Has Its First Official Hot Dog
By 3.28.17
Visit any baseball stadium in the country and you’ll likely hear cries of “Hot dogs heeeeere! Got your hot dogs heeeeeere!” But while encased meats are as ubiquitous at ball games as peanuts and cracker jack, Major League Baseball has never raised one hot dog above the rest as its official wiener in its 141 years. Until now. [More]
In Effort To Win Back Customers, Chipotle Menu Now Free Of Preservatives
By 3.28.17
Amid Chipotle’s effort to win back customers who may have strayed because of that whole food borne illness nightmare, the company has been trying to improve the customer experience. The company’s latest attempt to regain consumer trust involves removing all preservatives from its entire food menu. [More]
Coca-Cola Plant In Northern Ireland Closed After Human Waste Found In Some Cans
By 3.28.17
When people talk about the ingredients in Coca-Cola that are cause for concern, they’re usually talking about things like high fructose corn syrup and caffeine — not human waste. [More]
José Olé Frozen Taquitos Recalled Due To Possible Rubber And Plastic Pieces
By 3.27.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
When mass-producing packaged foods, one of the goals is to keep pieces of the processing equipment out of the food. A plant that makes José Olé products came up short of that aspiration, resulting in a recall of 17.5 tons of taquitos that could contain pieces of plastic and rubber. [More]
Honest Co. Replaces Under-Filled Dish Detergent Bottles With Accurate Ones
By 3.24.17
We know when we go shopping that containers will usually have a bit of empty space at the top, a phenomenon called slack fill. In the case of Honest Co.’s popular dish detergent, bottles were under-filled by about 10%, and may have contained less detergent than stated on the label for years. [More]
