Mara was shopping online at OfficeMax Depot (not the company’s actual post-merger name) when she found a package of the labels she needed at a great price. She headed to her local Office Depot store, believing that she would find the same labels at the same price at the store. Wouldn’t that make sense? Yes, it would make a lot of sense. Instead, the labels cost $28.80 more in the store, and employees wouldn’t price-match.. [More]
labels
You Can’t Claim Your Glue Is “Made In USA” If It’s Made From Imported Chemicals
By 2.2.16
While there’s no official pre-approval process for products labeled “Made In U.S.A,” there are federal standards for what that phrase means, and a company can get into trouble for slapping “Made In U.S.A.” on imported products — like the glue company accused of misleading consumers about where its sticky stuff comes from.
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Turkey Talk: What Do Labels Like “Young,” “Fresh” And “Natural” Actually Mean?
By 11.19.15 — Updated: 11.17.16
Whether you’re strolling down the supermarket aisle or perusing online grocers’ offerings ahead of Thanksgiving, you’re bound to see turkeys with a wide range of labels: “young,” “fresh,” “premium” and other distinctions that you may think you understand… but you probably don’t. [More]
Hampton Creek Explains To The FDA That “Mayo” Is Not Necessarily “Mayonnaise”
By 10.30.15
Hampton Creek, the company behind an eggless product called “Just Mayo,” has responded to the Food and Drug Administration’s warning that its product isn’t mayonnaise, and thus, shouldn’t be called “mayo.” That seems just fine by Hampton Creek, which recently responded to the FDA by agreeing with it. [More]
Target Sorry People Are Offended By Its “Trophy” T-Shirt For Women
By 7.22.15
A storm has been brewing recently on social media over a women’s T-shirt sold by Target that bears the word “TROPHY” across it. As in, a trophy wife, someone who is meant only to adorn the arm of another and look pretty. But Target says it’s just part of its collection for women of the marrying kind, and that it’s received an “overwhelmingly positive” response to the item. [More]
Parent Company Of Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff Will Include Nutritional Info On Beverage Labels
By 3.20.15
We know that the thought at the forefront of your mind while downing a shot of whiskey is “How many calories are in this?” It’ll be a lot easier to figure out now when drinking brands like Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff and Baileys, as parent company Diageo announced today it’ll include nutritional information on its products’ labels. [More]
Federal Agency Approves Powdered Alcohol For Sale In U.S. — But Your State Might Still Ban It
By 3.11.15
After reversing its initial approval of Palcohol last year, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has once again approved the powdered alcohol product, making it likely that it could appear on shelves in some stores this spring. [More]
Vermont Becomes First State To Pass A Bill Requiring GMO Food Labels
By 4.24.14
Yesterday, Vermont’s House passed a bill that will make the state the first in the country to require labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. All it needs now is the governor’s signature, and he’s expected to slap his John Hancock on it soon. [More]
Nutrition Facts Labels Getting First Makeover In Twenty Years… Eventually
By 1.24.14
Pick up any package of food at the grocery store, turn it around, and there it is: the ubiquitous, standardized nutrition label. It’s second nature at this point: we all know exactly what it looks like, and what we can expect to find listed on it. [More]
One Way Or Another, You’re Going To Pay To Use DYMO/Endicia’s Stamp-Printing Software
By 4.25.13
It seemed like such a good plan. For their small businesses, several of our readers use postage printers from DYMO. The software that goes with these printers comes in two versions: free and $10 per month. The free version requires users to round their postage up slightly; the paid version does not. Then the company dropped a new rule on customers: if they want to use the free version of the software, they have to buy their labels from DYMO. If they want to keep using cheaper third-party labels, they have to pay $10/month for the service. [More]
"Pure Chocolate" Does Not Exist, EU Court Rules
By 11.29.10
There’s no such thing as “pure chocolate,” says a European Union high court, and the phrase cannot appear on the front of candy packages. [More]
Ben & Jerry's Dropping "All Natural" From Labels
By 9.28.10
After the Center for Science in the Public Interest complained last month that “all natural” doesn’t include things like alkalized cocoa and hydrogenated oil, Ben & Jerry’s announced yesterday that it will stop using the phrase on its ice cream cartons. [More]
Consumer Reports Tastes Store Branded Foods, Finds Some Are Just As Good
By 9.7.10
Name brands exert a strong power over shoppers: 17% of us think name brand foods are more nutritious, even though there’s little nutritional difference between the two categories. Consumer Report performed taste tests on several food categories to determine whether name brands tasted better than store brands, and found that in some cases the store brands actually won. [More]
Sunglass Hut To Customer: Italy And China Are The Same, Don't Be Picky
By 8.31.10
Brett tried on a pair of “Made in Italy” Ray-Bans at a Sunglass Hut and liked them, but they were the display model so he had to come back to pick up his own a few days later. When he did, he discovered that the real pair he bought said “Made in China,” and in his opinion they felt lower quality. [More]
Artisanal Is The New Organic
By 7.13.10
There’s a burgeoning artisanal market in the U.S., where goods made by hand or in small batches–and marketed with lots of footnotes and descriptions of quality–are growing increasingly more popular. But why, and is it just a hipster lifestyle ingredient or an actual shift in the larger population? [More]
Arby's Is Expanding To Supermarket Shelves
By 6.15.10
Although the Arby’s spokeswoman who talked to the website Nation’s Restaurant News wouldn’t give specifics, she confirmed that in the near future you might see “packaged Arby’s items” in your grocery store. Sadly, it looks like these will be food items and not giant foam hats. [More]
How To Spot Fakes When Shopping For Green Products
By 5.17.10
If you want to buy environmentally friendly products when you’re out shopping, you’ll find plenty of options these days. The trouble is that “green,” like “organic,” is considered a very loose concept by lots of manufacturers. The Chicago Tribune put together a list of ways you can spot the fakes on your next shopping trip. Here’s an easy rule of thumb: the words eco, earth, green, friendly, gentle and kind are all frequently used to give the impression of being environmentally friendly, but they’re essentially meaningless marketing words. [More]
Microsoft Investigating Why Songs Are Disappearing From Zune Pass
By 2.8.10
If record labels decided to pull some of their songs from the Zune Pass service in the past couple of weeks, they did a poor job telling Microsoft about it. The company seems to be as in the dark as Zune Pass subscribers about why songs, albums, or entire discographies have gone missing. Ars technica reports that a Microsoft employee wrote on a Zune forum, “We are investigating your reported missing albums indicated in this post—and will come back to you as soon as we understand why they’re missing.” [More]
