Whether you actually read the labels on food or not, they exist to inform consumers of exactly what they’re about to eat. But that isn’t much help if you don’t understand why something is labeled a certain way in the first place. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture is planning on requiring beef that’s been mechanically tenderized to be labeled as such. Okay, great! But why should you care either way? [More]
Quality & Safety
Congress To Once Again Consider Legislation That Would Ban BPA From Food Packaging
By 6.4.13
Bisphenol-A (better known as BPA) is a chemical used in all manner of food packaging, in spite of numerous studies linking BPA to everything from increased risks of certain cancers to diabetes, reproductive abnormalities, heart disease, and maybe even childhood obesity. Since the FDA has decided there still wasn’t enough science to ban BPA from food packaging (though it later hedged on this ruling and banned BPA from baby bottles), lawmakers in Congress are having another go at a legislative effort to limit the use of BPA. [More]
Chrysler Says No To NHTSA Request To Recall 2.7 Million Jeeps
By 6.4.13
If you’ve read enough recall notices, you’ve probably seen that most of them say something like “Company X, in coordination with Regulator Y, have issued a voluntary recall of blah blah blah,” but sometimes regulators and manufacturers don’t agree about whether a product merits being recalled. Case in point: Chrysler’s decision to say no to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 2.7 million vehicles over fuel tank concerns. [More]
Hope You Don’t Get Lyme Disease Because There’s A Short Supply Of Drug Used To Treat It
By 6.4.13
It’s the outdoors season, when many of you go out into the wilderness and do various things with trees and wildlife and whatnot. Some of you will be feasted upon by deer ticks and some of those unlucky souls will contract Lyme Disease. It’s never a good year for that to happen, but this summer is particularly bad, as supply for a drug used in the treatment of Lyme Disease is running low. [More]
GM May Recall Additional 400,000 Vehicles Over Airbag Concerns
By 6.4.13
In the last year, General Motors has issued two small airbag-related recalls affecting a total of around 7,000 vehicles. But the folks at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration think that recall may need to be expanded a little bit… by around 400,0000. [More]
Ford Recalls 465,000 Model Year 2013 Vehicles Over Fuel Leak, Fire Concerns
By 6.3.13
Ford has issued a recall of nearly half a million model year 2013 vehicles over concerns about possible fuel tank leaks that could result in a fire. [More]
Fred Meyer Recalls Stuffed Chicken That Plays Excessively Loud Chicken Dance Song
By 6.3.13
Did you know that there’s an upper volume limit for how loud a noise-making toy can be before it’s considered a hazard to your hearing? It’s true. Despite what some toddlers’ parents might think, most toys that beep, talk, or play music don’t come close to the standard. One Easter toy sold at Fred Meyer stores does, though, and the chain has issued a recall to save everyone’s ears. [More]
Patrons Dining Blithely Upstairs Unaware That Restaurant’s Basement Is Flooded With Sewage
By 5.31.13
The scene: A bustling, popular Mexican restaurant near St. Louis, where upstairs, patrons are going about the business of dining. Cut to downstairs, where employees are trying to clean up a basement flooded with contaminated water and waste. Upstairs? Normal. Downstairs? Disgusting. Until an unrelated fire alarm went off, customers apparently had no idea of the dirty mess a few feet below their feet. [More]
If European Sunscreens Are So Great, Why Can’t We Buy Them In The U.S.?
By 5.28.13
As someone with skin that basically ignites upon contact with the sun’s rays, I’m always looking for a better sunscreen to aid me in my battle against the inevitable sunburn. Recently I heard about a product that was anecdotally called “miraculous,” but couldn’t find it in U.S. stores. I bought it from a British retailer online, and subsequently want to marry it. So if there are such great sunscreens in Europe and elsewhere, how come we can’t get them in the U.S.? [More]
Online Retailer Pulls Belts Because Radioactive Accessories Are Neither Stylish Nor Healthy
By 5.28.13
“Ooh, what are you wearing? You’re simply glowing.” That is definitely a compliment, unless, of course, the glow is coming from a radioactive material. One online retailer has had to withdraw a batch of metal-studded belts over claims that they were radioactive, and could cause harm to the wearer after 500 hours. [More]
VIDEO: Stadium Vendor Takes Sno-Cones With Him Into Bathroom Stall
By 5.23.13
If you’re skittish about eating at the ballpark, this video of a sno-cone vendor allegedly using the toilet while his product sits next to him on the bathroom floor probably isn’t going to help. [More]
Where’s The Beef From?: U.S. Regulators To Propose New Meat Label Requirements
By 5.21.13
Because not knowing where your food comes from means that your food could’ve come from an unsavory source (horsemeat, anyone?), the United States is supposed to propose new rules this week that would require any meat products to be labeled with the basics: Where an animal was born, what it was fed and where it was slaughtered. [More]
NTSB Pushing To Lower Drunken Driving Blood-Alcohol Content Threshold To 0.05
By 5.15.13
Right now around the country, if you’re in any of the 50 states and have a legal blood-alcohol content level of 0.08% or above, and you’re driving, you’re considered drunk and can be arrested and perhaps prosecuted for doing so. The National Transportation Safety Board thinks that threshold is too high, and has voted to recommend to states that they lower the BAC level to 0.05. [More]
Whole Foods Warns Of Mix-Up Involving Vegan, Chicken Salads
By 5.13.13
The thing about being a vegan is, you don’t want to eat any animal products. Not an egg, not a chicken, not a thing that is made from or by an animal. To that end, Whole Foods issued a warning to its customers last week, saying it had mixed up the labels on vegan and chicken salads at about 15 locations. Non-vegans could have an allergic reaction to the soy in the vegan salad, whereas vegans could react adversely to the egg in the chicken salad. And also the chicken. [via the Associated Press] [More]
If People Want To Drink Raw Milk, Should Dairy Farmers Be Able To Sell It To Them?
By 5.13.13
Let’s say you’re a dairy farmer in oh, how about Wisconsin, and you’re thirsty. You can go out to one of your cows, milk it, and drink what comes out. But turning around and selling it to customers craving raw milk, well in most states, that’s illegal. While food safety regulations are of the utmost importance to consumers, should you be able to purchase products like raw milk and drink at your own risk? [More]
Wrigley Gets Jitters About Caffeinated Gum, Pulls It From Market For Now
By 5.9.13
Two months after unveiling its Alert Energy caffeinated gum, and shortly after the Food and Drug Administration announced an investigation into products with additional caffeine, the folks at Wrigley have decided to pull the gum from store shelves, for now. [More]
Legislation Would Push FDA To Investigate Antibiotic Use In Farm Animals
By 5.8.13
As Americans grow more concerned that the antibiotics being provided to farm animals are resulting in new strains of pathogens that are resistant to these drugs, a group of Senators have introduced legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority to collect data about this controversial practice. [More]
China Investigating Yum Brands Because If The Meat Label Says Mutton, It Should Be Mutton
By 5.6.13
UPDATE: Yum says its Little Sheep hotpot restaurants in China aren’t part of the tainted mutton scandal. A spokeswoman says in part: “There is no evidence, none whatsoever, of any adulterated product anywhere in our system.” That being said, the company is going to make extra sure of that, out of an “abundance of caution.” [More]
