If you missed your chance to buy Starbucks’ $200 silver keychain that acted as a $50 gift card during the 2014 holiday season, you have another shot at stainless steel glory. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Blue Bell Creameries Recalls All Products After More Ice Cream Samples Test Positive For Listeria
By 4.21.15
It has not been a great couple of weeks for Blue Bell Creameries, and it’s just gotten worse: A month after the company issued a recall of certain ice cream treats believed to be linked to an outbreak of listeriosis — a recall that kept expanding — the company is now pulling all products off the shelves after two more ice cream samples tested positive for listeria. [More]
Taco Bell’s Founder Originally Intended To Start A Burger Empire
By 4.20.15
If you drive to Downey, CA, you can find the oldest existing McDonald’s eatery and the currently vacant building that housed the first Taco Bell. And the tie between the two famous fast food names goes deeper than that. It was in the parking lot of the very first McDonald’s that the man who would eventually create the Taco Bell empire dreamt of a fast food empire stretching from coast to coast. [More]
The Description Of Starbucks’ New S’mores Frappuccino Makes My Teeth Hurt
By 4.17.15
Without even having tasted Starbucks’ newest flavor promotion, the S’Mores Frappuccino that’s heading to stores for the summer, my teeth have already made up their mind about this thing, and boy, are they worried. [More]
Taco Bell Denies Its Loyalty Program Will Be Called “Taco Baller” Despite Trademark Application
By 4.16.15
How many soft tacos and burritos have traveled down your gullet without anyone ever recognizing the event? The number might be inestimable for some, but starting soon, Taco Bell customers will be able to mark each food occasion by way of a new customer-loyalty program the company is rolling out sometime this year. [More]
New York Fines Domino’s Franchise Owners $970K For Violating A Slew Of Labor Laws
By 4.15.15
Four franchise owners operating 29 Domino’s franchises and a former owner of six resturants in New York state will have to fork over a hefty wad of cash — $970,000 — to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office, to settle a slew of charges involving labor law violations. [More]
Beech-Nut Nutrition Recalls Baby Food That May Contain Pieces Of Glass
By 4.15.15
That last thing a parent wants to imagine is inadvertently feeding their child a small piece of glass. Unfortunately, that issue was all too real for one baby food manufacturer recalling nearly 2,000 pounds of baby food. [More]
Tobacco Companies Sue FDA Over Cigarette Packaging Guidelines
By 4.14.15
For more than 5 years, the FDA has had authority to regulate tobacco products, and last month, the agency issued guidance to the tobacco industry about when cigarette makers must seek FDA approval on changes to packaging. The country’s largest tobacco businesses now believe the FDA is overstepping its authority and violates their rights to free expression. [More]
FDA To Health Food Companies: The Word ‘Healthy’ Has An Actual Meaning
By 4.14.15
Kind bars are quite tasty, but are they healthy? Sure, they’re made from ostensibly healthy ingredients like nuts and dried fruit, but some bars also have ingredients like chocolate and peanut butter. The Food and Drug Administration sent the company a warning letter about their use of the word “healthy” to describe their snacks on the label. [More]
Egg Executives Sentenced To Three Months In Jail For Role In 2010 Salmonella Outbreak
By 4.14.15
Last year, an Iowa egg company linked to a 2010 salmonella recall that sickened more than tens of thousands of people agreed to fork over $6.8 million in fines for shipping old eggs under false labels. Now, two former executives at Quality Egg have been sentenced to three months in prison, after facing up to a year for the parts they played in the outbreak. [More]
More Than 220 Fall Ill On Two Separate Royal Caribbean Operated Cruise Ships
By 4.13.15
Just two months after the first cruise-related norovirus outbreak occurred on a Royal Caribbean vessel, two more of the company’s ships – this time traveling along the west coasts of California and Mexico – have reported a virus has led to illness in more than 215 passengers and crew members. [More]
Remembering When America First Met, Fell In Love With Pizza
By 4.13.15
In The Time Before Pizza, or as I like to call it, America’s Dark Days, people didn’t have easy access to the delicious, doughy, cheese-and-tomato discs many of us love today. Those who did were mostly limited to the descendants of Italian immigrants, say wise pizza historians, until soldiers abroad in World War II discovered the mouth magic that is a good slice of pizza. [More]
Some McDonald’s Locations Exchanging Free Egg McMuffins For Taco Bell Breakfast Receipts
By 4.13.15
If you’re the kind of person for whom a second breakfast is a matter of course, you might want to consider moving to northeastern Pennsylvania in the next few days: Some McDonald’s locations there have been offering up free Egg McMuffins this month in exchange for Taco Bell breakfast receipts. [More]
Italian Pizza Association Threatens To Sue McDonalds Over Happy Meal Commercial
By 4.13.15
There appears to be a bit of a war brewing between Italian pizza makers and McDonald’s after the fast food company aired a commercial depicting a child overjoyed to receive a Happy Meal over pizza at a local pizzeria. [More]
Makers Of SmartCandy Warned About Possibly Misleading Nutrition Claims
By 4.13.15
The Attorney General’s office for the state of New York is cautioning the company behind “vitamin infused snack” SmartCandy that its advertising may run afoul of state and federal regulations, according to a letter obtained by Consumerist. [More]
Nice People Doing Nice Thing For Fellow Starbucks Customer Explain Why They Couldn’t Be Nice Faster
By 4.10.15
Proving that heroes can come in every shape, size and age, an elderly couple not only returned a man’s wallet after he’d left it at Starbucks, but wrote a note to him explaining why they weren’t able to catch up with him in time, and expressing concern that he’d been upset when they saw him walking off without it. [More]
FDA: Antibiotic Use In Farm Animals Grew In Spite Of Regulation
By 4.10.15
Back in 2012, the FDA banned “extra-label” non-medical use in animals for the cephalosporin class of antibiotics, which are commonly used to treat humans for pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and other maladies. Not only did this restriction fail to curb the use of cephalosporins, but a new FDA report shows that the drug use increased following the ban. [More]
Burger King Fires Employee Caught On Camera Cursing At Customer Over A Refund
By 4.9.15
While dealing with customer complaints is never a fun experience for anyone in the service industry, lashing out isn’t going to help things, especially now that anyone with a smartphone can be a filmmaker. A Burger King franchisee in Louisiana says its fired a worker who was caught on tape cursing at a customer who’d asked for a refund. [More]
