Yesterday, we reported how Seattle-based coffee seller Zoka Coffee had received a warning letter from the FDA regarding an April inspection that discovered more than a few rodent feces. After the story was posted, Zoka reached out to Consumerist to give its side of the story. [More]
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FDA Warns Seattle-Based Coffee Company That Rat Poo Is Not Part Of A Seasonal Blend
By 9.29.11
UPDATE: Both Zoka and the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture have responded to Consumerist regarding the situation.
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Over-The-Counter Asthma Inhalers To Vanish From Store Shelves By End Of Year
By 9.22.11
If you or someone you know uses Primatene or any other over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler for asthma, the clock is officially ticking before they disappear off store shelves. The Food and Drug Administration announced today that, in an effort to cut down on products using ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, these inhalers will no longer be available after Dec. 31. [More]
FDA Scolds Big Corn For "Corn Sugar" Ads & Websites
By 9.16.11
For more than a year, the folks at the Corn Refiners Association have been making a very public push to rebrand the controversial but widely used high fructose corn syrup as “corn sugar,” telling consumers that “sugar is sugar.” But newly uncovered correspondence between the Food and Drug Administration and Big Corn show that regulators aren’t exactly thrilled about the new name. [More]
6 E.Coli Strains Added To Beef Ban List
By 9.13.11
The government is adding six more, relatively rarer, strains of E.coli to the list of banned beef. Meat mongers are balking. [More]
Botox Now Approved To Keep Your Overactive Bladder Wrinkle-Free
By 8.24.11
Before it became a party favor passed around by the vanity-obsessed set, Botox was considered to have several non-cosmetic therapeutic purposes, many involving the treatment of muscle spasms. And today it was announced that the popular wrinkle-fighting drug has been approved for use by some people suffering from overactive bladder. [More]
Tobacco Companies Sue FDA Over New Warning Labels
By 8.17.11
In an effort to get the Food and Drug Administration to shut down its plans to slap graphic new warning labels on tobacco products, four large tobacco firms have sued the government. Big tobacco contends the labels will cost too much to print and will infringe on their rights to free speech. [More]
What If Food Labels Looked Like This?
By 8.1.11
Maybe the real reason Americans are so fat is because our food labels are so ugly. If they were easier on the eye to read, maybe more people would read them and make better eating choices. That was the idea in mind behind a recent design contest at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Journalism aiming to give the standard government-mandated food label a much-needed makeover. The winning entry uses colored boxes for each ingredient that are sized in proportion to how much of each is inside the package. [More]
Some Endocet Recalled For Having Double The Acetaminophen
By 6.28.11
Bottles of the pain-killing drug Endocet are being recalled because they erroneously contain 650 mg of acetaminophen while their label says 325 mg. While no injuries have been reported, consuming more acetaminophen than prescribed can lead to liver toxicity. [More]
FDA Unveils New Tobacco Warning Labels For Teens To Laugh At While They Smoke
By 6.21.11
Last fall, the Food & Drug Administration announced they would be requiring tobacco packaging to carry larger and more graphic warning labels. And because our governmental agencies move like quicksilver, it only took about seven months for the FDA to finalize the nine images that will soon decorate your pack of Kools. [More]
FDA Announces New Labeling Standards For Sunscreen
By 6.14.11
Earlier today, the Food and Drug Administration announced new labeling guidlines for sunscreen in an effort to make it clear to consumers which products offer the best chance of keeping your skin from turning into shoe leather. [More]
German Sprouts Not Deadly E.coli Culprit, Initial Tests Show
By 6.6.11
German sprouts are not the cause of the deadly e.coli outbreak that has killed 22 and sickened over 2,000, according to initial tests of samples from a farm that a German agriculture minister had earlier named as the epicenter. The retraction is only the latest in a series of confusing finger-pointings and “cucumber slurs,” and has left European consumers afraid to eat a salad. [More]
"Super-Toxic" E.Coli Strain Kills 18 In Europe
By 6.3.11
A virulent strain of antibiotic-resistant E.coli has left 18 dead in Europe, left over 1,800 sick, and touched off a continent-wide scare against all produce, suspected to be the source of the infection. [More]
FDA: Diabetes Drug Avandia To Be Pulled From Retail Pharmacies In November
By 5.19.11
For several years, prescription diabetes medicine Avandia has been at the center of a debate about whether the medication’s heart attack risk was high enough to pull it from pharmacies. Now, nearly eight months after the FDA announced it would be introducing strict restrictions on its sale and use, the agency has finally gotten around to announcing the specifics of those restrictions. [More]
Government Proposes New Guidelines For Marketing Food To Kids
By 4.28.11
Earlier today, an interagency working group consisting of folks from the Federal Trade Commission, Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and the Dept. of Agriculture, issued a set of “proposed voluntary principles” it hopes the food industry will ultimately adopt in its marketing to the youth of America. [More]
Delta Warned About Mice Feces On Plane
By 4.21.11
Most people are worried about a seatmate that takes up more than their fair share of the seats, but on one Delta plane they should be more concerned about a far tinier co-passenger. CNN reports the FDA has sent Delta a warning letter (read it here) about mouse droppings “too numerous to count” onboard one of its planes. [More]
White House: Docs Need Training Before Prescribing OxyContin & Other Painkillers
By 4.19.11
Too many doctors are writing unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers like OxyContin and fentanyl, says the White House. That’s why the administration is looking to push through legislation that would require training for physicians who wish to write prescriptions for these drugs. [More]
Johnson & Johnson's Prescription Drugs Stink Too: 57,000 Bottles Of Topamax Recalled
By 4.15.11
If you thought Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Labs division — the folks behind all of these recalled over-the-counter drugs — was the only branch of the company capable of creating stinky meds, you were wrong, as J&J has announced a recall of two lots of its prescription anitconvulsant Topamax for that now-classic “uncharacteristic odor.” [More]
