Is Chipotle farther away than your own kitchen? Probably, but that won’t matter now if you’ve got a hankering for the chain’s guacamole, because Chipotle revealed its recipe and instructions on how to make the good green stuff online Sunday morning. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Write An Essay, Win A Mortgage-Free Goat Cheese Farm With 85 Goats In Alabama
By 5.1.15
If there are two things we’ve discovered people really and truly go bonkers for, it’s writing competitions that reap rewards of property for the winner and goats performing jobs. Those two topics have come together in the story of an Alabama couple holding an essay-writing contest to decide who will win their fully functional, mortgage-free goat cheese farm — including its resident goat population of 85. [More]
Ohio Health Officials: Home-Canned Potatoes To Blame For Botulism Outbreak
By 4.29.15 — Updated: 5.23.17
Canning your own food at home is a fantastic idea for anyone who wants vegetables on-hand all year-round. But health officials are warning people to make sure they stick to proper canning techniques, after a batch of home-canned potatoes used to make potato salad was linked to an outbreak of botulism in Ohio that’s killed one person. [More]
Recalled Jeni’s Ice Cream Will Become Fertilizer, Provide Electricity
By 4.28.15
Food that’s recalled because it can be potentially dangerous to the public doesn’t have to go to waste. Jeni’s has to dispose of 535,000 pounds of ice cream, but they aren’t just tossing it all in a landfill. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the potentially listeria-contaminated desserts will instead go into an anaerobic digester, which provides electricity while it digests and produces fertilizer. [Columbus Dispatch] [More]
FDA Continues Crackdown On Dietary Supplement Ingredients, Notifies Makers Of 16 Products To Stop Sales
By 4.28.15
A week after the Food & Drug Administration heeded calls for action by scientists and health advocates by demanding that dietary supplement makers stop selling products with a speed-like ingredient, the agency sent another warning to 14 manufacturers asking them to cease the sale of several products with another possibly harmful stimulant. [More]
Tyson To Further Cut Back On Unnecessary Antibiotics Given To Chickens
By 4.28.15
Last year, Tyson, the nation’s largest poultry provider, announced it would cease using controversial antibiotics at its hatcheries, but left the door open for continued use of the growth-promoting drugs for birds as they matured. Today, the company is pledging to go even further by eliminating “human antibiotics” entirely from its flocks by Sept. 2017. [More]
We All Somehow Survived The 5-Hour Starbucks Register Outage
By 4.27.15
On Friday, people across the United States and Canada banded together to get through a crisis. Payment systems at corporate-owned Starbucks stores across the U.S. and Canada went down, leaving about 8,000 stores unable to collect money in exchange for food and beverages. While the crisis only lasted for one afternoon and evening, Starbucks managed to thrill customers by giving food and drinks away instead…and raised a lot of questions about the flaws in modern payment systems. [More]
Taco Bell Fritos-Shell Tacos Spotted In The Wild
By 4.27.15
Back in December, fans of snack chip-flavored taco shells got an enticing hint in a presentation to shareholders in Taco Bell parent company Yum! Brands. As part of a slide showing planned innovations, a taco in a small Fritos bag was shown under the words “Revolutionizing the taco.” A Fritos-shell taco? What madness was this? The crunchy corn shells have become reality, and Taco Bell is beginning to test them. [More]
Chipotle Says All Its Food Now GMO-Free
By 4.27.15
For two years, the Chipotle chain of restaurants has been labeling which of its menu items may contain genetically modified ingredients, and starting today the company says that all of its food will be GMO-free (while simultaneously acknowledging that GMOs may be completely safe). [More]
Starbucks Sales Are Up Because People Are Willing To Spend More On Pricy Menu Items
By 4.24.15
In the bid to part customers with their hard-earned cash, Starbucks is raking in the cash these days partly because people are willing to spend money on new, pricier menu items. As it turns out, hiking the price of a croissant is something we’re willing to deal with. [More]
Diet Pepsi Switches From Aspartame To Sucralose
By 4.24.15
As consumers slowly lose interest in diet beverages and in sodas overall, PepsiCo is out to follow changes in consumers’ sweetener tastes. One change is that people just aren’t into aspartame as much as they used to be, due to a combination of flavor and health concerns. As the quest for a palatable non-calorie sweetener continues, Pepsi is replacing aspartame wtih sucralose in their diet beverages. [More]
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Recalls All Products, Closes Scoop Shops Over Possible Listeria Contamination
By 4.23.15
For the second time this week, an ice cream maker has issued a voluntary recall of all products for fear they may be contaminated with listeria bacteria. While the first recall centered on major manufacturer Blue Bell Creameries, the most recent belongs to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which sells desserts at its own boutique stores and retail stores such as Whole Foods. [More]
Which Beauty Subscription Boxes Are Actually Worth The Monthly Fee?
By 4.23.15 — Updated: 5.23.17
Monthly subscription boxes are currently a hot category in retail: vendors exist that can send you curated selections of everything from pet treats to razors to healthy snacks to butt wipes. One popular subcategory of these boxes are beauty sample boxes, which send you trial-size versions of beauty products to enjoy, and perhaps buy full-sized versions later on. Beauty brands and consumers both love these boxes…but which ones offer the best value for your subscription fee? [More]
FDA Warns Makers Of Diet Supplements Containing Speed-Like Ingredient
By 4.23.15
Following calls for action from scientists and consumer health advocates, the FDA has sent warning letters to a handful of diet supplement makers demanding that they cease selling products that contain a speed-like ingredient. [More]
Taco Bell Will Launch Limited-Time Extra-Hot Sauce Packets
By 4.23.15
Do you like to slather your Taco Bell meals with hot sauce, but find the chain’s standard packets insufficiently hot? Great news: super-hot sauce, which they’re calling “Diablo,” will be available from Taco Bell beginning on May 5. The not-so-great news for hot sauce fans is that the new sauce is only temporary. [More]
CDC Investigators Link Current Blue Bell Listeria Outbreak To Illness From 2010
By 4.22.15
For the past two months, Blue Bell Creameries has grappled with an outbreak of listeria that has been linked to three deaths and at least 10 illness in four states. While the source of the contamination has yet to be determined, federal investigators now believe the issue has been ongoing for at least five years. [More]
Blue Bell Creameries Beefs Up Investigation Into Cause Of Listeria Contamination, Two More Illnesses Reported
By 4.22.15
Two days after Blue Bell Creameries voluntarily recalled all of its products, the 100-year-old business says it’s making progress in pinpointing the cause of a massive listeria contamination that has led to three deaths and at least 10 illnesses. [More]
Don’t Panic, But Chipotle Is Still Experiencing Rolling Pork Blackouts
By 4.22.15
For a few months now, Chipotle restaurants have been running low on carnitas, the slow-cooked pork shoulder that you can get as a meat filling in burritos. They pulled the meat from about a third of their restaurants after a supplier didn’t meet Chipotle’s “responsibility standards” for meat. Now the pork shortage has turned into a rolling blackout, with the meat rotating in and out of different restaurants according to supply levels. [More]
