On May 5, 2017, new federal regulations finalized three years ago will go into effect that require chain restaurants with 20 or more outlets to post calorie counts on their menus, as well as on food items sold in vending machines and snack bars. Before that happens, lawmakers in the Senate have introduced a bill to make a few revisions. What would those revisions mean for consumers faced with making mealtime decisions? [More]
Food & Personal Care
Soon-To-Be Proposed Sugary Drink Tax In Seattle Won’t Apply To Starbucks
By 2.23.17 — Updated: 6.7.17
Seattle could soon be joining the ranks of Philadelphia, Chicago, Boulder, CO, Albany and Berkeley, CA, and a handful of other cities in charging consumers a little extra when they purchase a sugary drink. But the home of Starbucks will reportedly provide some relief for java lovers, as coffee shops will be exempt from a proposed rule on sweet beverages.
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Taco Bell Ditching Naked Chicken Chalupa In March
By 2.23.17 — Updated: 2.24.17
Taco Bell dropped its fried chicken shell Chalupa on customers nationally less than a month ago and the fast food giant is already preparing to remove the Naked Chicken Chalupa from its menu in March. [More]
Over 126,300 Chicken Salad Bowls Recalled For Possible Listeria
By 2.23.17
A refrigerated pre-packaged salad makes a nice and healthy lunch, even if it has a few cheese curls on top as a garnish. It’s definitely not a healthy lunch if it can possibly make you sick with Listeriosis, and that’s the case for 30 tons of salad bowls that used cheese that’s part of the Deutsch Kase Haus recall. [More]
Evanger’s VP: Dog Food Recalled For Euthanasia Drugs Contained Horse DNA
By 2.22.17
An executive at pet food company Evanger’s, which recently recalled its own and Against the Grain beef canned dog food due to drug contamination, recently admitted to a Washington state newspaper that the recalled food contained horse DNA. The company has thus far blamed these issues on its meat supplier, but this is not the first time Evanger’s pet food has included an animal meat that wasn’t advertised. [More]
Warm Winters Mean Bad Maple Syrup Harvests
By 2.22.17
If you live in the northeastern United States, you’ve probably noticed that temperatures are warmer than usual for this time of year. While that’s great news for most people, it’s terrible news for maple syrup producers, who are coping with low sap production and cloudy syrup. [More]
McDonald’s Dropping Price On Sodas & McCafe Drinks In Effort To Lure In Customers
By 2.22.17
Your McDonald’s bill is about to get a bit cheaper, that is if you’re just purchasing beverages: The Golden Arches will reduce the cost of soda and coffee items starting in April. [More]
Kellogg’s Offering Pop-Tart “Pizza” & “Tacos” This Week At NYC Cafe
By 2.21.17
It’s the stunt restaurant that can’t stop stuntin’: Kellogg’s all-day cereal cafe in New York City is offering a menu filled with Pop-Tart stunt foods, including “pizza,” “tacos,” and “fries” — all made with the breakfast pastry. [More]
Dozens Of Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, & Carrabba’s Restaurants Closing
By 2.21.17 — Updated: 2.23.17
Following in the not so distant footsteps of chains like Bob Evan’s, Old Country Buffet, Ruby Tuesday, and Logan’s Roadhouse, Bloomin’ Brands — parent company to the Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s, Bonefish Grill, and Fleming’s Steakhouse chains — announced it would close dozens of locations. [More]
Chipotle Revamping Online Ordering With “Smarter Pickup Times”
By 2.21.17
Last fall, Chipotle said it would begin making improvements to its online ordering system as a way to entice customers to return to the fast casual restaurant following its public bout with food borne illnesses. Now, four months later, the company is finally implementing some of those changes and reducing online order wait times. [More]
PepsiCo To Revise Labels On Naked Juice Drinks Following Lawsuit
By 2.21.17 — Updated: 2.22.17
Last year, people who purchased Naked Juice drinks like “Kale Blazer” thinking that the main ingredient would be kale, or who bought Naked products labeled “no sugar added” believing the drinks were low in sugar, sued Naked’s parent company PepsiCo, alleging they were misled. Now comes news that PepsiCo has agreed to close the books on this dispute by using labels that more accurately reflect Naked’s ingredients. [More]
Burger King And Tim Hortons Parent Company To Acquire Popeyes
By 2.21.17
The first reports that Restaurant Brands International, the Canadian company formed by the merger of Burger King and Tim Hortons, was planning to pursue fried chicken chain Popeyes surfaced, appropriately enough, on Valentine’s Day. Now the company has officially announced that Popeyes has reached an agreement to join the family for $1.8 billion. [More]
Welcome To Happy Hour: There’s Now A Champagne Vending Machine
By 2.17.17
You can get just about anything from a vending machine nowadays: Snapchat glasses, meat, used cars, shoes, the list goes on. But if you find yourself in need of a libation for a celebration, you’re out of luck — unless you’re in Las Vegas, home to the country’s first Champagne vending machine. [More]
Pro-Marijuana Lawmakers Form First Ever Congressional Cannabis Caucus
By 2.17.17
Now that marijuana is legal in some form or another — whether for recreational or medicinal use — in 28 states, a bipartisan group of four lawmakers have joined forces to create the first Congressional Cannabis Caucus, aimed at reconciling federal regulations banning marijuana with states’ laws. [More]
Kraft Heinz Trying To Buy Unilever, Bring Your Ketchup And Mayo Under One Roof
By 2.17.17
Once upon a time, there was Kraft, home to blue-boxed mac-and-cheese and several other grocery store favorites. Then there was Kraft Heinz, bringing your ketchup and other condiments together with your cookies and cheese. And now, if Kraft Heinz gets its way, they might be joined by European mega-conglomerate Unilever, tying half your grocery store together under one big corporate umbrella. [More]
Grocery Industry To Let “Sell-By” Labels Expire
By 2.16.17 — Updated: 2.17.17
Late last year, we observed that while reforming food labels would be a great idea to cut down on food waste, the grocery industry needs no law or prompting from the government to actually make that happen. However, it could create its own standards without the government helping at all. [More]
Project Your Issues Onto Your Pet With Cat Wine
By 2.16.17
Unless this is your first day exploring this magical place we call the internet, you’ve surely heard of cat wine products — non-alcoholic, catnip water, essentially — that you can safely offer to your best feline friends. But do cats even like the stuff, or is it more about humans projecting their shi–, uh, issues, on their furry companions? [More]
Delta Bringing Back Free Meals In Coach On Some Routes
By 2.16.17
As it was foretold, so it has come to pass: After testing the idea out the idea for a few months, Delta Air Lines has decided to bring back free meals in coach — on some routes. [More]
