Jack likes to feed his small daughter little food pouches. They’re an easy, shelf-stable and portable way to get actual food substances into small children. His daughter loves them, but suddenly wouldn’t eat them. Ingredient change? Plain old little-kid fickleness? Maybe not. [More]
Quality & Safety
Google: Stop Using That Charger That Comes With Your New HP Chromebook 11
By 11.13.13
One of the selling points of the recently released HP Chromebook 11 was that the laptop could be charged using the same micro-USB chargers used for many non-Apple mobile devices. Alas, the chargers supplied with these new Chromebooks can get super-hot (something I can attest to first-hand) so Google and HP from temporarily pulled the computer for sale and told current HP Chromebook 11 owners to use any other UL-approved micro-USB charger to power up their laptops while the companies sort out a resolution with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. [via GigaOm and The Verge] [More]
Be Honest: You’re Facebooking While You Drive
By 11.13.13
There’s no formal study backing us up on this, but we’d guess that 100% of drivers (and Internet commenters) condemn people who text or check the Internet while they drive. Like many terrible, terrible habits, though, we humans condemn things that we ourselves do. A lot. According to a new survey by insurance company State farm, 24% of drivers admit to some kind of keyboard-related activity while driving. [More]
Salads And Wraps Recalled From Walgreens, Whole Foods, And Trader Joe’s
By 11.12.13
The bad news is that 181,620 pounds of chicken and ham salads sold in popular retail outlets like Walgreens, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s has been recalled due to possible contamination with E. coli bacteria. The good news, if such a thing is possible, is that this isn’t yet another iteration of the massive and scary Foster Farms salmonella recall from last month. [More]
FDA Looking To Close Loophole That Slowed Safety Warnings On Generics
By 11.8.13
Imagine for a moment the tale of two friends, Jim and Joe. Jim takes Gleemonex, which makes it feel like it’s 72 degrees in your head all the time. Joe takes a generic form of the drug, which we’ll call walmonex. If the folks who make Gleemonex realize there’s a problem with the drug, they can immediately slap a warning on the product before getting FDA approval, but if the makers of the walmonex discover that same problem, they currently have to wait for the FDA and the brand-name drug makers to review the issue. This loophole is, quite obviously, a bad thing for consumers. So it’s good news that the FDA is now looking to close it. [More]
FDA Working On A Plan To Completely Remove Trans Fat From Our Food Supply
By 11.7.13
While some restaurants proudly tout the lack of artificial trans fat in their menu items and grocery store aisles are peppered with items labeled trans fat free, if the Food and Drug Administration has its way, no one will have trans fat in any food. The FDA has apparently had it up to here with the stuff, and is starting a process that will take trans fat out of our entire food supply. [More]
Watch Out For E15 Fuel That’s Bad For Your Snowblower And Lawn Mower
By 11.4.13
In many parts of the country, it’s time to put your lawn mower away for the winter if you haven’t already. You should have run the equipment until the gas tank is empty before putting the items away for the year. What you may not know is that the gas you use all season long can damage your gardening gear if you aren’t careful, thanks to ethanol. [More]
Why Do So Many Calphalon, Vitamix, And Frigidaire Blenders Have Defective Blades?
By 11.1.13
Consumerist readers regale us with tales of Calphalon’s above-and-beyond customer service for their pots and pans, but the company is relatively new to the field of small appliances. How are they doing with that? The company has joined Vitamix and Frigidaire in having its blenders recalled because the blades sort of, um, blend themselves. [More]
Snoopy Sno-Cone Machines Recalled Because “Brass Rivet” Is Not A Very Tasty Flavor
By 11.1.13
LaRose Industries, the company that made the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine that your kid used once and is now sitting in a closet somewhere, has recalled the gadget over concerns that a brass rivet in the machine might fall into a shaved-ice treat. [More]
FDA: There Are Gross Things (Like Bug Parts) In 12% Of Imported Spices
By 10.31.13
It’s never going to be a fun read when a report from the Food and Drug Administration includes the words “pathogen,” “filth” and “insects.” Unless your idea of fun includes learning that 12% of the spices we import for food purposes are contaminated. [More]
Autopsy Shows Toddler Died From Consuming A Battery
By 10.30.13
A Las Vegas toddler died a few weeks ago, and the reason for his death wasn’t immediately clear. His illness began when he started coughing blood, and doctors couldn’t figure out what was making the child ill. The culprit wasn’t identifiable in an X-ray: a small coin-shaped battery. [More]
Court To Hear Arguments In Case That Could Allow Companies To Litigate In Secret
By 10.30.13
Companies don’t ever want the public to know they’re involved in lawsuits. This is one of the many reasons that a growing number of businesses now force consumers to agree to mandatory arbitration for resolving disputes; it keeps the fight out of the public eye and often doesn’t allow for multiple consumers to join their complaints. Tomorrow, a federal appeals court will hear arguments regarding a case that ultimately could give companies the ability to litigate cases under a veil of secrecy. [More]
Why Are Poultry Processing Plants Boiling Millions Of Birds Alive?
By 10.30.13
Most Americans eat meat, but that doesn’t mean that they want the animals destined for their plates to suffer a painful death. Yet U.S. Department of Agriculture records show that every year, almost a million birds are plunged into boiling water by accident because of small failures within the largely mechanized slaughter process. [More]
Reser’s Fine Foods Listeria Recall Now Includes 22,800 Pounds Of Lunch Meats
By 10.28.13
Mmm, listeria! Last week, Reser’s Fine Foods recalled 109,000 cases of refrigerated ready-to-eat salads, dips, slaws, and other items that you generally serve cold and don’t reheat enough to kill off all bacteria. Now they’ve expanded that recall to include meat-containing products like chicken and ham salad and baked beans with beef. [More]
Spoiler Alert: Kraft Recalls 735,000 Cases Of String Cheese Because It Might Go Bad Early
By 10.28.13
Kraft Foods Group isn’t stringing anyone along — pun intended, obviously — with a voluntary recall of certain varieties of Kraft and Polly-O String Cheese and String Cheese Twists. The problem is that no one likes eating processed cheese that’s past its time, and about 735,000 cases might be doing just that. [More]
FDA Proposes New Rules To Make Pet Food More Acceptable
By 10.25.13
Great news for animals who like non-poisonous food! Fresh on the heels of the Food and Drug Administration’s plea for help in solving the mystery of why pet treats imported from China have allegedly killed more than 600 dogs and a few cats, today the agency proposed new rules to protect animal food from contamination from microbes, toxic chemicals, and other scary contaminants. [More]
Your Wendy’s Chicken Sandwich Should Not Be Served Medium Rare
By 10.25.13
A frequent knock against fast food chicken is that it’s dry and overcooked. But a leathery slab of chicken would be preferable to this pink-in-the-middle sandwich some unlucky Wendy’s customer bit into. [More]
FDA Suggests Tightening Access To Painkillers Like Vicodin
By 10.25.13
Yesterday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that the rules regarding drugs with hydrocodone, which is often in painkillers like vicodin, be a lot tighter. It suggests that the drug be reclassified along the level of other opioid painkillers like oxycodone and morphine. [More]
