In this month’s recall roundup, we bring you self-amputating dolly hands, attack lamps, flaming dehyrators, and bats that can score a home run all on their own. [More]
Quality & Safety
DiGiorno And California Pizza Kitchen Pizzas Recalled Because Plastic Fragments Are Not Desired Toppings
By 5.3.13
People will eat just about anything on a piece of flattened bread and call it a pizza, but most of us draw the line at small plastic fragments. That’s why the Nestlé Pizza Company has issued a recall for some frozen pizzas made under the DiGiorno and California Pizza Kitchen labels. [More]
FDA Finally Solving The Burning Question Of Whether Antibacterial Soap Is Safe
By 5.3.13
You put it on your hands, wipe your utensils with it before they touch your food, slather it all over your body and generally dunk yourself in it throughout your life — but is antibacterial soap safe? Or rather, is its resident germ-killer, triclosan, ineffective or even not good for you? The Food and Drug Administration is working on an answer. [More]
A Rodent In Sheep’s Clothing? China Cracks Down On Crime Ring Selling Rat As Mutton
By 5.3.13
We thought our European brethren had it bad with the horsemeat brouhaha, but over in China, the meat scandal bar has been raised: Police have made 904 arrests as part of a crackdown on a crime ring that was allegedly selling rats and other small mammals as mutton. Cue intense shudder. [More]
FDA Approves Morning-After Pill For Anyone 15 And Older Without A Prescription
By 5.1.13
The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that the morning-after pill has been approved for girls and women 15 and older without a prescription, as well as putting it out on drugstore shelves instead of keeping it stashed behind the pharmacy counter. [More]
Tests: Ground Turkey From Antibiotic-Free Birds Less Likely To Harbor Drug-Resistant Bacteria
By 4.30.13 — Updated: 11.20.15
Most of us know that there may be potentially harmful bacteria on the raw meat we buy, but a new study appears to show a direct link between animals that have been provided antibiotics and the presence of pathogens that are resistant to drugs. [More]
Report: FDA To Lift Ban On Cured Meats From Italy
April 29, 2013
Have you been aching for that one taste-bud tantalizing pancetta you had while visiting Italy ten years ago, but which you couldn’t get because of FDA restrictions on the import of Italian cured meats? If so, here’s some good news. Reports indicate that the ban –which had previously been eased but still severely limited imports — will be lifted starting May 28. [via L.A. Times] [More]
Customer Finds Frog In Can Of Green Beans, Gets $50 For Her Troubles
By 4.29.13
We already know you can possibly find a wee little frog hanging out in your bag o’ salad, but what about in those tightly sealed cans of green beans you bought at the supermarket? [More]
Target Recalls 150,000 Giada De Laurentiis Lasagna Pans Because Lasagna Should Not Result In Lacerations
By 4.25.13
From knives to food processors, there are plenty of things in the kitchen that could cut you, but lasagna pans have historically been low on the laceration scale. But Target has now recalled nearly 150,000 of ceramic pans branded with the name of visage of celeb chef Giada De Laurentiis out of concern that they could break and cut the user. [More]
Aww, Shucks: Foodborne Illnesses Linked To Eating Raw Shellfish Are On The Rise
By 4.23.13
Now is probably not the time to be so selfish when eating shellfish: New numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say food-borne illnesses related to eating raw shellfish are on the rise. And it’s not because such seafood is becoming less safe, it’s likely due to the fact that we can’t stop gobbling shellfish down in large quantities. [More]
FDA Knew Lab Committed Research Fraud, Approved Drug They Tested Anyway
By 4.22.13
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration learned about potentially fraudulent work done on behalf of pharmaceutical companies by a contract research firm in Texas, they didn’t pull the drugs off the market. You might think, though, that they might hold off on approving new drugs based on testing that came from that lab. You would be wrong. [More]
FDA Just Says No To Generic, Crushable Versions Of OxyContin
By 4.17.13
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t want to make it too easy for people who might abuse the powerful painkiller OxyContin, and has such has declared that generic drug manufacturers cannot produce their own, crushable versions of the drug. [More]
Louisiana Company Recalls 468,000 Pounds Of Meat Over Listeria Concerns
By 4.15.13
There’s a whole lot of meat on the table after a Louisiana meat-packing company extended a recall of 468,000 pounds worth of roast beef, ham, turkey breast, tasso pork, ham shanks, hog headcheese , corned beef and pastrami. Quite an awful lot of sandwiches. [More]
Toyota, Honda & Nissan Recall 3.4M Vehicles Because Air Bags Need To Work
By 4.11.13
The thing about car air bags is it’s quite necessary that they deploy at the right time. Which is why the Japanese maker of safety gear is at the center of a recall of more than three million vehicles, scattered across the Honda, Toyota and Nissan brands. Those companies all have cars that could have defective airbag inflators, causing airbags to possibly deploy abnormally in a crash. [More]
FDA Approves Morning Sickness Drug It Pulled Off The Market 30 Years Ago
By 4.9.13
You don’t have to have ever been pregnant to understand one of the yuckiest drawbacks experienced by women — morning sickness, that awful time when lunch won’t stay down and the toilet is a mom-to-be’s best friend. Thirty years ago the Food and Drug Administration put the kibosh on a treatment designed to alleviate morning sickness, the agency is putting it back on the table now. [More]
April Food And Drug Recall Roundup – Potato Chips With Salt And Vinegar And Metal Fragments
By 4.9.13
Our monthly Recall Roundups have grown so expansive that we’ve had to separate them into two separate roundups: one for consumer goods, and one for consumables. In this edition of the Food and Drug roundup, dangers lurk everywhere, from uneviscerated herring to “all-natural male enhancement supplements” that are pretty much just Viagra. Yes, again. [More]
Graco Replaces Our Baby Swing That Had Electronic Freak-Out
By 4.8.13
Joshua and his wife moved their first child’s Graco Sweetpeace swing downstairs from storage in order to rock their adorable new son. They added fresh batteries to the two-year-old toy and fired it up. They were alarmed when the swing began to play music, the lights flashed, and the swing suddenly sped up, all without anyone touching the controls. Was the newest Joshua Jr. some kind of demon baby, or was the swing defective? Had other parents experienced the nightmare of having their newborns in a smoking rogue swing? Josh went online to find out. [More]
U.S. To Ramp Up Species Testing Of Food Imports Because Eating Horse Is Gross
By 4.3.13
For anyone who’s been terrified, grossed out or otherwise disturbed by the horsemeat scare over yonder in Europe, take heart: After assuring U.S. consumers that we’re not facing the same tainted food scenario, federal regulators are pledging to ramp up “species testing” on imported meats just to be absolutely sure Mr. Ed doesn’t land on the dinner table. [More]
