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]
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Turkey Talk: What Do Labels Like “Young,” “Fresh” And “Natural” Actually Mean?
By 11.19.15 — Updated: 11.17.16
Tyson Recalls 50,000 Pounds Of Chicken Wings Because They Don’t Smell Right, Could Cause Illness
By 11.17.15
If those Tyson hot wings sitting in the freezer don’t smell quite right, then they might be part of the company’s latest recall of more than 50,000 pounds of cooked chicken wings that could cause people who eat them to become sick. [More]
Nearly 168,000 Pounds Of Ground Beef Recalled For E. Coli Contamination
By 11.2.15
Adding a few ingredients to ground beef can make for a delicious meal, but there’s nothing tasty about the addition of E. coli in your meat. For that reason, an Omaha company is recalling nearly 168,000 pounds of beef. [More]
Whole Foods Recalls Prepackaged Chicken Salad, Pasta Salad Over Possible Listeria Contamination
By 10.26.15
If your lunch today consists of that premade sandwich, wrap or pasta salad you grabbed from Whole Foods Market last week, you might want to come up with a backup plan: the health food chain recalled several of its deli products over a possible listeria contamination. [More]
Head Of Egg Board Steps Down After Anti-Vegan Mayo Crusade Revealed
By 10.23.15
To advertise entire categories of food, like “potatoes” or “beef” or “eggs,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture collects money from all producers of that commodity, which the Hass Avocado Board or Mushroom Council then uses to advertise those foods to the public. Now the CEO of the American Egg Board will step down a few months early after e-mails revealed that the American Egg Board was working to keep a new eggless mayonnaise product out of stores. [More]
Lawmakers Call On USDA To Reduce Farmers’ Reliance On Antibiotics In Chickens
By 9.8.15
Following a 17-month outbreak of salmonella poisoning that sickened at least 600 people around the country, a Dept. of Agriculture advisory committee will meet tomorrow discuss strategies for effectively controlling the spread of salmonella in poultry. In advance of that meeting, two members of Congress are calling on the USDA to take a three-pronged approach to fighting drug-resistant bacteria. [More]
90,000 Pounds Of Johnsonville Grillers Recalled Because Pieces Of Metal In Your Pork Can Ruin The Barbecue
By 9.3.15
If your Labor Day plans included throwing a few pre-made pork burgers on the grill you might want to check your brand of choice. That’s because, just in time for the holiday weekend, Johnsonville announced a recall of pork patties that may contain decidedly untasty metal fragments. [More]
5 Ground Beef Labels To Look Out For & What They Mean
August 24, 2015
So you’re eating burgers at a cookout with some friends. One pal asks the host, “Hey, is this ground beef organic?” The host smugly answers, “Of course, I only buy grass-fed.” “Oh, so it’s antibiotic free?” queries another buddy, to which the host replies, “Didn’t you hear me? I said it’s grass-fed.” What the host apparently doesn’t know is that he may be very mistaken. [More]
FDA To Hold Public Meeting, Seek Comments On Antibiotic Overuse In Farm Animals
By 8.20.15
For decades, livestock farmers inadvertently encouraged the development of drug-resistant bacteria by providing a continuous stream of medically unnecessary antibiotics to their cows, pigs, and chickens — primarily to end up with bigger animals — while the Food and Drug Administration kept the issue on the back-burner. Meanwhile, antibiotic-resistant pathogens sicken more than two million people in the U.S. each year, resulting in at least 23,000 deaths. Now that everyone from consumers to lawmakers to public health advocates to McDonald’s and even Walmart are starting to care about the topic, the FDA is starting to listen. [More]
USDA Providing $85M In Grants & Loans To Support Rural Broadband
By 7.21.15
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture might not be the first federal agency that pops into your head when thinking about broaband Internet connectivity, but this week the USDA announced a total of $85 million in loans and grants that it hopes will help farmers and other rural Americans bridge the digital divide. [More]
2 Million More Stuffed Chicken Breasts Recalled For Possible Salmonella
By 7.16.15
Hey, remember that recall of 1.7 million frozen stuffed chicken breasts and other chicken products for potential Salmonella contamination earlier this week? Hope you’re ready to check your freezer again, chicken fans! Another company that sells similar products has recalled 1,978,680 (let’s round that up to 2 million) pounds of its prepared chicken products. That is not a total of 2 million including the last recall: this is a separate recall for similar products. [More]
How Recalls Work (And Don’t) And Why They’re All So Different
By 6.8.15
Manufacturers — of all kinds — usually try hard to get it right on the first try. From banana muffins to bicycle helmets, it’s in a company’s best interests to make their products perfect. Not only is it better for their reputation and their business, but it’s less expensive, in the long run, and causes less trouble. Sometimes, though, something just goes wrong. [More]
Mechanically Tenderized Beef To Finally Be Labeled
By 5.13.15
More than a quarter of all beef sold in the U.S. is mechanically tenderized, meaning that machines with tiny little blades have been used to make the raw product more tender. But this step can also have the effect of driving surface pathogens deeper into the meat where they might not be killed during the cooking process. Since 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received reports of six outbreaks attributable to these products. Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was going to require labels for mechanically tenderized beef. Those labeling rules have now been finalized and will go into effect a year from now. [More]
1 Photo & 3 Quotes That Explain Why You Should Watch Tonight’s Frontline About Chicken & Salmonella
By 5.12.15
Over 1 million Americans get sick from salmonella every year. The bacteria, especially in more potent, drug-resistant forms, is responsible for the highest number of hospitalizations and deaths of all food borne illnesses; all in spite of increased anti-salmonella measures by the poultry industry. One giant chicken company was recently responsible for sickening more than 600 people in 29 states, while the federal government was virtually powerless in demanding a recall. [More]
Company Behind M&M’s, Snickers Endorses “Added Sugars” Label For Foods
By 5.8.15
Of all the companies to advocate for alerting consumers to added sugars, the country’s most famous candy maker would be probably be among the least likely. But yesterday, Mars Inc. — the company behind M&M’s, Snickers, Milky Way, and Twix — gave its corporate stamp of approval to the idea of limiting the use of added sugars and labeling those products that contain extra sugar. [More]
Beech-Nut Nutrition Recalls Baby Food That May Contain Pieces Of Glass
By 4.15.15
That last thing a parent wants to imagine is inadvertently feeding their child a small piece of glass. Unfortunately, that issue was all too real for one baby food manufacturer recalling nearly 2,000 pounds of baby food. [More]
Makers Of SmartCandy Warned About Possibly Misleading Nutrition Claims
By 4.13.15
The Attorney General’s office for the state of New York is cautioning the company behind “vitamin infused snack” SmartCandy that its advertising may run afoul of state and federal regulations, according to a letter obtained by Consumerist. [More]
White House Acknowledges Health Risk Of Antibiotics Overuse; Critics Say It Fails To Fully Address Problem
By 3.27.15
In a new White House report on antibiotic resistance, the Obama administration acknowledges the serious public health risk posed by the over-prescription and overuse of antibiotics, and details multi-agency plans to combat the problem. However, many critics of the report say that these plans fail to close a loophole that will allow farmers to continue using medically unnecessary antibiotics on farm animals (who consume 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S.) primarily for the purpose of growth promotion. [More]
