News
Meatpackers Face Trials Over Worker Pay
September 7, 2010 4:42 am | CommentsOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Three Nebraska meatpackers are headed to trials over how they pay their workers. In separate lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court, Nebraska Beef Ltd. in Omaha, Greater Omaha Packing Co. and the Tyson Foods Inc. plant in Dakota City are accused of violating state and federal wage and labor laws for years.
Former Egg Farm Workers Say USDA Ignored Complaints
September 7, 2010 4:40 am | CommentsDES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Agriculture Department employees worked full-time at two Iowa egg farms at the center of a salmonella outbreak and massive recall, but two former workers said they ignored complaints about conditions at one site. The USDA employees worked next to areas where roughly 7.
Funk Band War Tells Pepsi They Can't Be Friends
September 7, 2010 4:38 am | CommentsNEW YORK (AP) — Members of the original funk band War say they can't be friends with PepsiCo. They're suing the soft drink maker for more than $10 million, saying it did not negotiate with them to use their song "Why Can't We Be Friends?" in a new commercial. Even if PepsiCo and its agencies got rights from the music's publishers or anyone else who owns them, attorney Ken Freundlich and his co-counsel Max Sprecher said the company should have negotiated with the artists too.
Burger King Adds New Breakfast Items
September 7, 2010 4:34 am | CommentsNEW YORK (AP) — Burger King is introducing nine new breakfast items including blueberry biscuits and pancake platters and planning a major breakfast marketing blitz — all with an eye toward eating up some of McDonald's morning business. The chain said the move Tuesday is its biggest introduction of new items at one time ever.
Heinz Boosts 1Q Profit With Strong Asia Presence
September 1, 2010 4:48 am | CommentsPITTSBURGH (AP) — H.J. Heinz Co.'s fiscal first-quarter net income jumped 13 percent, largely on stronger sales in Asia. The foodmaker best known for its signature ketchup said Wednesday that it earned $240.4 million, or 75 cents per share, for the quarter that ended in late July. That's up from $212.
UN Says Global Food Prices Highest In 2 Years
September 1, 2010 4:41 am | CommentsROME (AP) — International food prices have risen to their highest level in two years, fueled in part by a drought in Russia that lifted the cost of wheat, a U.N. agency said Wednesday. The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its food price index shot up 5 percent between July and August.
China Imposes Tariffs On U.S. Chicken
September 1, 2010 4:39 am | CommentsBEIJING (AP) — China has imposed anti-subsidy duties for five years on imports of U.S. chicken products after concluding producers received improper support, the Commerce Ministry said Wednesday amid a string of trade spats with Washington. Importers must pay tariff rates ranging from 4 percent to 30.
Bottled Water Company Sued In Worker's Death
September 1, 2010 4:36 am | CommentsFRANKLIN, Ind. (AP) — The family of a woman who died after a pallet of bottled water fell on her at a Kroger store in central Indiana is suing the water bottler, arguing a new eco-friendly bottle design might have contributed to the accident. The lawsuit filed by the husband of 32-year-old Lori Keen is pending in federal court in Indianapolis.
U.S. Sues Michigan Dairy For Antibiotics In Cows
September 1, 2010 4:34 am | CommentsGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. is seeking a permanent injunction against a western Michigan dairy operation it says sold cows with illegal traces of antibiotics in their bodies. The Justice Department said Tuesday that Scenic View Dairy of Hamilton sold the cows for human consumption.
Muslims Meatpackers Sue Plants For Harassment
September 1, 2010 4:31 am | CommentsDENVER (AP) — Federal officials say Muslim Somali workers were denied prayer time and faced harrassment and termination at two JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Colorado and Nebraska. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made the allegations in lawsuits filed late Monday in U.
Striking Coca-Cola Employees Return To Work
August 31, 2010 4:51 am | CommentsSEATTLE (AP) — About 500 striking western Washington Coca-Cola employees who walked off the job Aug. 23 say they'll return to work Tuesday as a goodwill gesture. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Washington spokesman Bob Phillips said Monday the company has accepted the employees' offer to return.
Frozen Bars With Possible Typhoid Link Pulled
August 31, 2010 4:48 am | CommentsSANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — Paleta California Co. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., has recalled its mamey (mah-MAY') frozen fruit bar because of a possible link to a rare U.S. outbreak of typhoid fever. The company says the "Mamey Supreme Cream Bars" were distributed only in Southern California.
Starbucks Adds Flavors To Insta-brew
August 31, 2010 4:44 am | CommentsCHICAGO (AP) — Starbucks Corp. is debuting its latest caffeinated concoction — flavored instant coffee. The coffee giant said Monday it is adding four new, slightly sweetened varieties of its successful Via instant brew. The flavored instant coffee is the latest in a series of new products from Starbucks as it tries to find new ways to grow after years of overexpansion of its cafes.
Rodents, Maggots Found At 2 Egg Farms
August 31, 2010 4:41 am | CommentsWASHINGTON (AP) — Food and Drug Administration investigators have found rodents, seeping manure and even maggots at the Iowa egg farms believed to be responsible for as many as 1,500 cases of salmonella poisoning. FDA officials released their initial observations of the investigations at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms on Monday.
Product Tracing Is Key To Food Safety
August 31, 2010 4:36 am | CommentsThe recent Salmonella outbreak in eggs highlights a crucial need for an effective product tracing system. According to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific society focusing on the science of food, a product tracing system would make it possible to identify food-borne illness outbreaks earlier as well as contain the outbreak faster.
Baking Industry Leader To Share Vision At IBIE
August 31, 2010 4:28 am | CommentsThe American Bakers Association’s (ABA) Executive Leadership Development Committee (ELDC) and the Society of Bakery Women (SBW) today announced that Pat Callaghan, president of Pepperidge Farm Inc., will serve as a panelist at the “ELDC & SBW Baking Industry Leadership Forum,” to be held during the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) on Sept.
FDA To Inspect Large Egg Farms
August 30, 2010 4:47 am | CommentsWASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is planning to inspect all of the country's largest egg farms before the end of next year following the massive recall of tainted eggs linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened as many as 1,500 people. An Obama administration official says inspectors will visit about 600 large egg farms that produce 80 percent of the nation's eggs.
Getting 'Ballsy' At The World Testicle Cooking Championship
August 30, 2010 4:45 am | CommentsOZREM, Serbia (AP) — In a remote Serbian mountain village, they're cooking up delicacies to make your mouth water — or your stomach churn. At the seventh annual World Testicle Cooking Championship, visitors watch — and sometimes taste — as teams of chefs cook up bull, boar, camel, ostrich and even kangaroo testicles.
8,500 Pounds Of Beef Recalled
August 30, 2010 4:39 am | CommentsCargill Meat Solutions Corp., a Wyalusing, Pa. establishment, is recalling approximately 8,500 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O26, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. The product subject to recall includes: [ View Label ] 42-pound cases of "GROUND BEEF FINE 90/10," containing three (3) - approximately 14 pound chubs each.
Govt. Deems Gulf Seafood Safe, Now Consumers Decide
August 30, 2010 4:34 am | CommentsOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Shawn Mattiuz, manager of the Hapuku Fish Shop in Market Hall, a collection of upscale food purveyors in Oakland's bustling Rockridge district, has been watching the Gulf seafood saga play out in the ice-cooled trays of his display cases. For a few days after the oil spill turned into a crisis this spring, demand stalled as "everybody freaked out," he said.
