Poor frogs. We keep accidentally scooping them up and serving them in our food. The latest case of a free frog found where it wasn’t supposed to be is a very strange one: a woman in Minnesota says that she found a petrified frog in her box of pasta. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Farm Animals Can Get Over-The-Counter Antibiotics That Humans Need A Prescription For
By 12.15.15
If you get sick and need an antibiotic, you’ll also need a prescription because these medically important drugs shouldn’t be used willy-nilly. But if you’re a cow, pig, chicken, or fish, you can get many of those same antibiotics without any prescription whatsoever at any number of retail and online stores. [More]
Pepsi’s New Hello Goodness Vending Machines Offer Only “Healthy” Options
By 12.14.15
PepsiCo wants consumers to know that it is taking their health seriously, and to demonstrate that, the company says it plans to install vending machines offering only healthy products around the country. [More]
Family Suing Burger King After Woman Suffers Seizure While Trapped In Burger King Bathroom, Later Dies
By 12.11.15
The family of a New York City woman who died after being trapped in a Burger King bathroom is now suing the fast food chain, claiming that her death could’ve been prevented if restaurant employees had had a way to circumvent the door’s lock. [More]
Yum CEO Would Rather Pizza Hut Be More Convenient Than Have A Better Product
By 12.11.15
Pizza Hut has been fighting for a slice of the marketplace pie with a weapon that’s turning out to be rather ineffective namely, a complete menu revamp that added a bunch of new crusts, drizzles, toppings and doodads to their regular slate of pizzas. That whole idea of trying to compete with a better product is not the way to go, Yum Brands CEO Greg Creed says. Instead, Pizza Hut should focus on being more convenient than its rivals. [More]
Legislation Would Require Liquid Nicotine Come In Child-Proof Packages
By 12.11.15
Legislation to ensure children aren’t able to get their little hands on tasty-looking – but poisonous – liquid nicotine has made it past one hurdle: the Senate unanimously passed the measure yesterday, indicating widespread support for the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act of 2015. [More]
Chipotle Has Been Making Customers Sick Since The Summer, Company Says “There Really Wasn’t A Pattern”
By 12.11.15
Although Chipotle CEO and co-founder Steve Ells apologized yesterday to customers who have gotten sick from eating at the chain recently — whether from E. Coli or norovirus — it’s worth remembering that there are some folks who’ve had to wait a bit longer for that mea culpa. [More]
Chipotle’s Bad Year Continues With Closure Of Seattle Restaurant For Repeated Violations
By 12.11.15
Not even two months after Chipotle temporarily closed 43 restaurants in the Pacific Northwest amid an E. coli outbreak that resulted in 52 sick customers in nine states — and the same week that a Boston Chipotle had to be shuttered after being linked to around 80 illnesses — the burrito chain has had to shutter a Seattle eatery after being repeatedly flagged for serious health violations. [More]
FDA’s Voluntary Guidance Failing To Curb Antibiotic Overuse In Farm Animals
By 12.10.15
Two years ago, the Food and Drug Administration — after decades of delay — paid lip service to the idea of reducing the use of medically important antibiotics for growth-promotion in farm animals, by asking the drug makers to voluntarily stop selling antibiotics specifically for that purpose. Critics called the FDA actions pointless while the drug and beef industries weren’t bothered in the least. And now, by the FDA’s own numbers, we can see why. [More]
Chipotle CEO Apologizes For Making People Sick: “We Are Going To Be The Safest Place To Eat”
By 12.10.15
After Chipotle customers all over the country have fallen ill from eating at the chain’s restaurants, founder and co-CEO Steve Ells says he’s sorry the restaurant has caused so many to become sick, and promised to implement new food safety guidelines to help prevent such outbreaks from happening in the future. [More]
Boston College Now Reports 120 Students Sick, Possibly From Chipotle (But Not E. Coli)
By 12.9.15
After another day of student health center admissions and disease incubation, Boston College now reports that 120 of their students are sick with vomiting and nausea. The majority report that they had recently eaten at a Chipotle restaurant near the campus over the weekend, proving either that they contracted the illness there, or that college students are very fond of Chipotle and norovirus happens is very contagious. [More]
6 Things You Should Know About The Use Of Antibiotics On Farm Animals
By 12.9.15
We’ve written a lot over the years about the overuse of antibiotics in livestock and how this can help create the drug-resistant “superbugs” that sicken millions, and kill thousands, every year — in the U.S. alone. It’s a complicated issue and the solution involves more than just buying the occasional organic chicken from Whole Foods. [More]
Chicken Wing Crime Exposes Pervasive, Disgusting Black Market For Meat
By 12.9.15
Yesterday, we learned about a father-and-son team of crooked cooks who teamed up to illicitly order and re-sell $41,000 worth of chicken wings from their employer’s wholesale supply accounts. Yet who buys wings from the Back of Some Dude’s Truck Meat Market? It turns out that there’s a market for ill-gotten meats, and other restaurant owners receive occasional offers of chicken or shrimp from the back of a truck. [More]
Return Of Crystal Pepsi Confirmed, But You Can’t Actually Buy It (Yet)
By 12.9.15
A few months ago, the word on the street was that Pepsi was bringing back a carbonated ’90s icon, Crystal Pepsi. The clear-caffeine-free beverage lives in our collective memory a a product that was briefly very popular and then disappeared the following year. Pepsi has announced that the product will come back as part of a giveaway to promote the company’s rewards app, Pepsi Pass. [More]
UPDATE: Chipotle Closes Boston College Location To Investigate After Nearly 80 Students Become Ill
By 12.8.15
UPDATE: Health officials Boston College now say that nearly 80 students have become ill after eating at a campus-area Chipotle restaurant that has since been temporarily closed. [More]
Chipotle E. Coli Outbreak Expands To Three More States
By 12.4.15
Hours after Chipotle said it was bracing for additional illnesses to be linked to an ongoing E. coli outbreak, health officials confirmed that the contamination now spans nine states — three more than previously reported. [More]
Chipotle Bracing For More E. Coli Cases, Revamps Food-Supply Standards
By 12.4.15
Chipotle is preparing for the worst when it comes to a six-state E. coli outbreak: anticipating that additional cases and more states may enter the contamination fray. [More]
