Bear with me folks, as I’m currently writing to you through a liquid veil of salty tears: sometimes, when countries aren’t getting along, they impose trade sanctions on each other like import or export bans on certain foods. Which is sad for people in those countries who can’t get their favorite grub. But it’s also sad when tons of premium cheese gets bulldozed and/or incinerated, the victim of trade spats between Russia and Western nations. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Study: Ordering Pizza Online Adds Up When It Comes To Calories And Cash
By 8.6.15
The appeal of ordering food online is obvious — it’s easy, you don’t have to talk to anyone and it’s perhaps less likely that your order will get screwed up with the list of toppings, extras or instructions entered in with your own two hands. But summoning grub with the touch of a button, especially ordering pizza, really stacks up the calories and drains the wallet, a new study says. [More]
Checkers Is Really Sorry About That Video Of Burger Bun Wiped On Kitchen Floor
By 8.6.15
After the Internet went nuts over a YouTube video showing a Checkers employee deliberately dropping a bun to the kitchen floor, then rubbing it around for a second before continuing to make a sandwich, the fast food chain has finally issued a statement, claiming the bun was never served and the employees involved are no longer working there. [More]
Iowa Taco Bell Closed For Decontamination Due To Meth Components In Utility Room
By 8.5.15
At least one Taco Bell employee may have been planning to cook more than Quesaritos inside the building, according to local police in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Police say that two men were responsible for the “active meth-making ingredients” found in a utility room at the restaurant, but don’t know for sure whether the men actually cooked any methamphetamine in their makeshift lab. [More]
Hipster Dad Version Of Hamburglar Fails To Sell McDonald’s Sirloin Burgers
By 8.4.15
The updated version of the Hamburglar, a classic McDonald’s character, had one job. He was supposed to sell “third-pounder” sirloin burgers to children of the ’70s and ’80s who grew up with the Hamburglar as part of the McDonaldLand marketing ensemble, and who are now young adult “foodies.” Yet the appeal to nostalgia and his snazzy hamburger tie weren’t enough to draw customers in to try the burger he was promoting. [More]
DOJ Sues Supplement Makers Over Mislabeling, Failure To Follow Good Manufacturing Processes
By 8.3.15
When people buy dietary supplements, they do so assuming that the product in the pill, powder, or liquid actually is what it claims to be, and that the amount you’re taking is correct. The U.S. Department of Justice has accused three supplement makers of being careless with what went into their products –– or, in bureaucrat-speak, “misbranding” and “not complying with the FDA’s current good manufacturing practices.” [More]
CDC: 358 People In 26 States Confirmed To Have Cyclosporiasis From Cilantro
By 8.3.15
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration imposed a partial import ban on cilantro grown in Mexico after an outbreak of the parasitic gastrointestinal illness Cyclosporiasis was traced to specific fields and processing facilities in that country. So far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, government agencies have been able to confirm 358 cases of the illness, in 26 states. [More]
Kraft Recalling 36,000 Cases Of Cheese Due To Packaging Choking Hazard
By 8.3.15
True story: I had a friend in college who often wanted a snack while we were out and about on weekend nights guzzling Milwaukee’s Best Light. To curb her cravings, she’d often stick a few Kraft singles cheese slices in her purse, conveniently wrapped in plastic for individual snacking opportunities. Alas, that same convenient packaging is at the heart of a new voluntary recall from Kraft, over concerns that people could choke on the plastic wrapping. [More]
Package Of Spinach From Sam’s Club Comes With Free Frog
By 8.3.15
A woman in California was not pleased when she prepared a salad for dinner and saw a small, speckled frog nestled between the spinach leaves. Sure, people sometimes pay good money to have frog legs for dinner, but those frogs are usually, you know, purpose-raised. And cooked. [More]
Woman Sues Starbucks For $2 Million Over Drink Allegedly Tainted With Chemicals
By 7.31.15
A Utah woman has filed a $2 million lawsuit against Starbucks and several employees claiming she was given a drink that contained a cleaning solution. [More]
Class-Action Suit Accuses CVS Of Overcharging Customers For Generic Drugs
By 7.31.15
The country’s second largest pharmacy chain is the latest party in a class-action lawsuit that accuses CVS of deliberately overcharging hundreds of thousands of patients for generic prescription drugs. [More]
FDA Warns About Mixups Between Drugs With Similar Names
By 7.30.15
Here’s a scary thought: dangerous medication mixups could begin at your doctor’s office. The FDA put out a warning today that they’ve received reports of mixups between similarly-named drugs that do very different things. The FDA urges patients and caregivers to know what the drug they’re supposed to be taking looks like, and alert medical providers if the drug that they receive looks different. [More]
Alcohol-Serving Taco Bell Will Abide By Hour Restrictions, Staff Security Guards
By 7.30.15
Don’t even think about getting a bit unruly at the soon-to-open boozy Taco Bell, because you’ll be under the watchful eye of a security guard. [More]
Subway Launches New Mobile Payment, Ordering Options
By 7.29.15
Now that nearly every American has a smartphone permanently fixed to their hand, a long list of restaurants including Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Taco Bell and Dominos have upped their mobile presence by way of ordering and payment apps, and now one of the largest chains in the country is joining the ever-growing list: Subway. [More]
Kroger Recalls Garlic Powder, Cinnamon, Pepper & Fake Bacon Over Salmonella Risk
By 7.28.15
If you’ve bought any Kroger-brand seasonings (and/or fake bacon bits) recently, listen up: The nation’s second-largest supermarket chain has issued a recall affecting four different products that may be tainted with salmonella. [More]
Unsanitary Growing Conditions Lead To Partial Import Ban On Mexican Cilantro
By 7.27.15
Bad news for cilantro lovers: U.S. officials have implemented a partial ban on imports of the herb after health officials linked hundreds of illnesses to cilantro growing in feces- and toilet paper-covered fields in Mexico. [More]
Prosecutors Recommend Life Sentence For Peanut Co. Exec Involved In Salmonella Outbreak
By 7.24.15
Stewart Parnell is the former owner of Peanut Corporation of America, the company behind a salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds and killed nine people in 2008 and 2009. Last year, a federal jury convicted him of knowingly shipping tainted peanut butter, and this week prosecutors in the case recommended he receive a life sentence for his crimes. [More]
