Have you been counting the days until Burger King’s terribly creepy “King” mascot re-appeared in the brand’s ads? It seems unlikely that any potential customers missed the King, and he’s possibly been slumming behind the counter of a Taco Bell since his spots stopped airing in 2011. Here’s your warning: the King is coming back to your television. Sorry. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Foster Farms, Company Behind Salmonella Outbreak, To Cut Down On Antibiotics It Shoves Down Chickens’ Throats
By 6.1.15
Foster Farms is one of the country’s largest poultry, cranking out millions of birds each week. It’s also the company behind a recent outbreak of drug-resistant salmonella that sickened more than 600 people in 29 states. Today, the company has changed its antibiotics policies so that its chickens will no longer be fed medically unnecessary drugs. [More]
This McDonald’s Asks Drive-Thru Customers To Bend The Laws Of Physics
By 5.29.15
McDonald’s is trying all kinds of new things to attract younger customers and sling fries at them, but we’re not so sure about their plan to increase drive-thru traffic in the United Kingdom by bending the laws of physics. “Please use both lanes to place your order,” a new sign says. Both? [More]
Dear Sonic: Please Don’t Store Any More Hamburger & Hot Dog Buns Next To The Toilet
By 5.29.15
Imagine you’re at a fast food joint and you’re taking your young child to the bathroom. Of all the possible things you could find in the lavatory, one of the least-expected would probably be whole trays of buns for hamburgers and hot dogs. [More]
Swiss Cheese Has Been Losing Its Holes, And Now Science Knows Why
By 5.29.15
The 21st century has not been kind to the trademark texture of Emmental cheese. To Americans, that’s Swiss cheese: the stuff with all the holes in. But the holes have been vanishing and the cheese becoming smoother over time. Scientists determined to find out why. The answer? Modern cheese is just too clean. [More]
3 More Toxic Salad Beetles Show Up In Canada And Texas
By 5.28.15
It turns out that fleeing to Canada won’t keep you safe from the Salad Beetle Scourge. You may remember the Iron Cross Blister Beetles turning up in organic salads and packages of leafy greens across the United States. We learned today of three more discovered in different parts of North America, two of which were in Canada. [More]
This Former Pizza Hut Is Now The Liquor Hut
By 5.28.15
Pizza Huts are distinctive buildings. They’re so distinctive that there’s really nothing else like a Pizza Hut in the chain restaurant landscape. They have steep mansard roofs, brick exterior walls, and trapezoidal windows, and it takes significant renovation for them to not look like Pizza Huts anymore. That’s why we appreciate when new occupants surrender to their destiny and just call their new venture a “Hut.” [More]
NYC Officials Set On Rooting Out Errant Food Vendors Who Don’t Post Prices
By 5.28.15
It started with one vendor accused of selling $30 hot dogs to unwitting tourists, but now New York City officials want to make it clear that food carts must have their prices listed for customers to see if they don’t want the long arm of the law to come knocking. [More]
Taco Bell Confirms It’s Testing Delivery Near College Campuses Because Obviously
By 5.27.15
When the folks at Taco Bell sat down to think about where they could find a population likely to want fast food Mexican fare delivered to their doorsteps, they likely didn’t have to work that one out for very long. After earlier reports that the chain might be testing delivery, Taco Bell confirms it’s trying things out in certain likely areas, namely college campuses. [More]
Delta Air Lines Pilot Gets Pizza Delivered To The Plane For Passengers On Delayed Flight
By 5.27.15 — Updated: 2.9.17
Following on the heels of Delta Air Lines’ decision to serve free pizza to make up for a smoke-filled cabin — because feeling mad/sad/annoyed while eating hot cheese is a near impossibility — a Delta pilot ordered pies delivered to a plane full of passengers delayed by bad weather. And apparently, this is all part of a new pizza policy at the airline. [More]
Hormel Gobbling Up Applegate Farms For $775M
By 5.27.15
In a sign of the times, Hormel Foods Corp., the maker of Spam, is trying for that natural foods feeling and has decided that buying Applegate Farms for $775 million is the way to achieve it. [More]
Burger King Testing Hot Dogs And Corn Dogs Because Why Not
By 5.26.15
Last year, we began to question reality when we learned that Burger King was offering hot dogs and hamburgers for breakfast. We came to accept this over time: after all, what makes a valid breakfast varies by culture and from one person to another. Yet Burger King is now testing non-breakfast hot dogs here in the United States for some reason. [More]
Taco Bell, Pizza Hut Ditching Artificial Flavors By End Of 2015
By 5.26.15
The menus for Taco Bell and Pizza Hut will soon include fewer ingredients listed under your favorite meal, as the two fast food restaurants announced Monday that they plan to ditch artificial colors and flavors by the end of the year. [More]
Oh, Good: Four More Reports Of Iron Cross Blister Beetles In Salads
By 5.26.15
Last week, we shared the mildly disturbing news that four different people in three states had found a particular species of potentially toxic beetle in their organic salads. Those were just the people who found their way to a bug-identification community on Reddit: how many more beetles were out there lurking in America’s salads? The answer, we learned this weekend, is at least four. [More]
Walmart To Require Meat Suppliers Provide Data On Antibiotics Use
By 5.22.15
Antibiotics used on farm animals account for more than 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S., and many of these drugs are medically important to the health of human beings. The overuse of antibiotics results in the development of drug-resistant pathogens, thus making the antibiotics less effective and requiring more potent drugs. Some of the nation’s biggest buyers of meat are making the switch toward purchasing antibiotic-free meat (or meat that is only given drugs not deemed medically important to humans), and today Walmart said it will begin collecting and sharing data on the antibiotics used by its meat suppliers. [More]
McDonald’s Now Threatening To Sneak Into Your Kitchen, Steal Your Food
By 5.22.15
Five years ago, we warned you that before long, “artisanal” would become the new “organic,” and companies would adopt it in their marketing. The prediction came true, and companies like McDonald’s and Arby’s are advertising “artisan” mass-produced meat products. In advertising their artisan grilled chicken products, McDonald’s may be taking their “we use real food, honest” thing a little too far. [More]
Taco Bell Tests Return Of Beloved Beefy Crunch Burrito
By 5.22.15
The Beefy Crunch Burrito is a Taco Bell menu item that periodically reappears on the menu. It has developed a cult following because of these sporadic appearances, sort of like the McRib. Now it’s part of a “throwback burrito” promotion that the chain is testing in Louisville, which is how we learned of the strange subculture obsessed with this product. [More]
CDC Links Salmonella Outbreak Reported in 9 States To Sushi Made With Raw Tuna
By 5.22.15
Raw seafood might be delicious, but there’s always that chance that it could make you sick: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that while it hasn’t conclusively determined the cause of a recent salmonella outbreak that’s spread to nine states and infected up to 53 people, it could be linked to sushi made with raw tuna. [More]
