Help! Consumer Reports is run by mad scientists who subject hapless humans to their cruel experiments — all in the name of determining which bug repellent works the best. Ok, so the testers are paid professionals and the bugs are disease-free. It sounds more fun the other way, doesn’t it? [More]
gross
Bodies Found Stacked Like Firewood In Garage Of Maryland Funeral Home
By 5.5.10
Apparently the Chambers Funeral Home & Crematorium in Riverdale, Maryland had more bodies for its crematorium than it could handle, so it stored them in the garage–stacked in piles, with fluids leaking out. A state investigator discovered the stash during an inspection, although to be fair he was warned by an employee, “Don’t get upset about all the bodies in there.” [More]
The KFC Double Down: What A Restaurant Does When It Gets Desperate
By 4.19.10
It seems like the best promotional campaigns for KFC in the past few years have been on South Park, and that’s despite the fact that Cartman is the chain’s most vocal supporter. An AdAge article today points out that Chick-Fil-A has been eating KFC’s lunch for a while now, and so far every stunt KFC has pulled–name changes, PR-engineered recipe events, botched giveaways, getting Oprah’s blessing–hasn’t stopped the restaurant from losing customers.That’s right: your lack of interest in KFC is what created this bundle of cheesy fried-fried in the first place. [More]
Keep Your Hands On Your Urine If You Go To LabCorp
By 3.29.10
Mike was sent to LabCorp for some routine medical tests last week, and what he found was an understaffed, overcrowded dump where patients were arguing that their urine samples were missing, or in one instance stolen while the patient watched. This could just be one badly managed lab, but the Internet is swimming in LabCorp complaints around the country that all repeat the same problems. [More]
CDC And Celebrity Cruises Can't Figure Out Why Passengers Keep Getting Sick
By 3.16.10
Remember the diarrhea nightmare vessel that sickened 450 passengers a few weeks back? Once it got back home, Celebrity Cruises delayed the next trip by a day so that it could perform a “full cleaning.” It didn’t help much, though: CNN says that about 10% of passengers on the next sailing got sick, and about 19% of passengers on the current sailing are now sick. [More]
Visit NYC, Eat Breast-Milk Cheese
By 3.9.10
If you want to try human breast-milk cheese, make sure you stop in at Klee Brasserie in New York City the next time you visit. It’s made from the chef’s own wife, and he tells the New York Post, “It tastes like cow’s-mik cheese, kind of sweet,” and changes flavor depending on “what the mother eats.” His wife says, “The breast is there to make food.” Maybe, but I’m thinking this is a good way to shave a little off the cheese budget. [More]
Walmart: Just Take This Chicken For Free, We Don't Actually Sell It
By 3.1.10
Reader DW sent us a gross picture of some nasty gray ham from Walmart (see below) and also let us know that there is mysterious non-Walmart chicken showing up in the store. The people who work at Walmart don’t know where the chicken is from, but they will give it to you for free. [More]
Caribbean Cruise Ship Turns Into Diarrhea Nightmare Vessel
By 2.23.10
When gastrointestinal illness hits a cruise ship, there’s nowhere to run or hide, as nearly 450 passengers and crewmembers aboard the Celebrity Cruises ship Mercury have discovered. Celebrity Cruises says they they’re still investigating what caused the outbreak, but the symptoms include “upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea,” according to their spokeswoman. [More]
Our Top 13 Grossest Food Stories Of All Time
By 2.6.10
Tales of unacceptable food don’t just appeal to our more prurient interests. They do hit the “eww, can’t look away!” center of the brain quite squarely, but these stories do more than that. They give us an uncomfortable insight into the complexity of the Western food supply, how industrialized and automated food processing really is, and how underpaid restaurant staff can be really obnoxious sometimes. Fast-food employees in particular.
In that spirit of public education and outreach, here are 13 of the grossest food-related stories from the last four years and change of The Consumerist. Enjoy. Learn. Try not to vomit.
This post does contain pictures, but they’re tiny and it’s difficult to determine what’s in them. Well, mostly.
When Should You Freak Out About Critters In Your Food?
By 2.4.10
One frequent comment on posts such as Saturday’s ““This Weight Watchers Meal Includes A Free Frozen Frog” is that Americans are too far removed from where our food really comes from, and it’s unreasonable to expect that our food be 100% critter-free. Is it? [More]
This Weight Watchers Meal Includes A Free Frozen Frog
By 1.30.10
Noreen tells Consumerist that she made an exciting discovery yesterday. Her Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen meal, a fettucine alfredo dish that is supposed to be meatless, included a free protein-rich side dish. A tiny frog! [More]
Wash Your New Clothes In Case Someone Wore Them And Returned Them
By 1.21.10
Okay, honestly this sort of stuff doesn’t really bother me, but if you’re a neat freak or just enjoy making gross-out faces when it comes to biology, remember to always wash your new clothes before you wear them. Good Morning America tested some new blouses, pants, a jacket, and underwear to see what sort of grime they could find. Here’s a tease about the results: the term “vaginal organisms” is mentioned at one point. [More]
Don't Get Cat Vomit On Your Laptop
By 1.20.10
Tayler’s cat and Tayler’s MacBook Pro just had an unfortunate run-in. Does anyone have any advice on cheap ways to repair this laptop, or at least how to get the content off of it without paying hundreds of dollars? [More]
My Starbucks Caramel Macchiato Was Divided, Conquered
By 1.20.10
On his blog, Phillyman says Starbucks screwed up his Caramel Macchiato by pouring all the caramel into one cup, then placing the cup containing the rest of the drink inside the caramelized container. [More]
My Girlfriend Got A Raw Deal At McDonald's
By 1.19.10
Kain says he and his girlfriend went to an Illinois McDonald’s and were served a raw double quarter pounder with cheese. They snapped this photo with a cell phone camera. [More]
Safeway Sold Me Milk That Expired More Than A Year Ago
By 1.19.10
Tia says she bought some milk from Safeway, pictured here, that expired more than a year ago. She writes: [More]
FedEx Office Charges $40 An Hour For Dirty Unheated Meeting Room
By 1.6.10
When you rent a meeting space, should it have heat? Chairs that are clean and not broken? We think so! Reader Mark does too. FedEx Office doesn’t. [More]
NYC Anti-Soda Commercial Shows Man Drinking Tall Glass Of Fat
By 12.15.09
No. You do not want to watch this video. Just promise the New York City Department of Health people that you won’t drink sugary soda so much. Then we’ll all be healthier, happier people, and nobody has to watch this video. (Video is embedded below.) [More]
