• In the midst of closing stores, laying off employees, and reconsidering matching 401k plans, Starbucks purchased a $45 million corporate jet. [Seattle Times] • If you unfriend ten people on Facebook, Burger King will give you a free Whopper...
• A salmonella outbreak has sickened 388 people across the United States, sending some to the hospital and leaving officials scratching their heads trying to find the source. Sound familiar?. [Reuters] • An Alabama sheriff has been locked up in...
• Squirrel meat appears to be all the rage in the UK. Britons are happily munching away at gray squirrels (a North American invasive species) in order to save their beloved red squirrels, which, we must agree, are much cuter....
• Over Israel's protestations, the UN is qualifying the strike on Gaza as a humanitarian crisis: Not only are food and water supplies dangerously low, but people are scared to go outside to get what little is in stores. [AFP]...
• Three months into the trans fat ban, the vast majority of Boston restaurants are free of the dreaded substance. However, doughnuts and cakes still have a couple more months before they too must be trans fat free. Get 'em...
• A pair of caviar smugglers were apprehended in Italy, carrying about 88lbs of beluga caviar &mdash estimated cash value, $550,000. So what's to be done with the valuable, and extremely delicious, contraband? It's to be fed to the needy...
• Philadelphia's mayor just signed a law requiring fast food and chain restaurants to list calorie and fat levels in their dishes. [Forbes] • The NRA (no, not that NRA — we mean the National Restaurant Association) predicts a 2.5...
• The FDA approves two new types of diet sweetener: One for Pepsi, one for Coke. [New York Times] • Tough economic times like these can breed strange success stories. Witness, the booming business in used restaurant equipment [Dallas Morning...
• In a blow for famous foodies like Alice Waters and Michael Pollan, who had hoped to see someone with a background in progressive food policy as Secretary of Agriculture, Obama has appointed former Iowa governor and ethanol enthusiast Tom...
• China has explicitly banned 17 substances — like lye, formaldehyde, and boric acid — from being used as food additves. Helpful. [AFP] • Marion Nestle advises taking advantage of the presidential administration change to get your voice heard about...
• Call it the ultimate recession special: tending chickens is on the rise in Chicago. [Chicago Tribune] • It might be hard to stomach for those fond of Kanga and Roo, but kangaroos are a much "greener" bunch that cattle,...
• In case you were wondering what wines "single, handsome men" drink, the answer seems to be full-bodied reds. [Wall Street Journal] • McDonald's is taunting Starbucks with a billboard touting the virtues and low price of McDonald's espresso outside...
• A suicide bomber kills 55 people in an Iraqi restaurant Thursday in the deadliest attack in six months. [AP/SF Chronicle] • The tight economy affects businesses of all stripes, not least small-town restaurants, one of which is the subject...
• Pork isn't the only meat with a problem in Ireland — now three cattle herds have shown illegal levels of dioxin. [AFP] • Bird flu! The Hong Kong government has shut down all poultry farms and killed 80,000 chickens...
• Ireland has issued a recall of every single Irish pork product, thanks to higher-than-normal dioxin levels found in tested meat. [SFGate] • A huge study is underway that's looking for explanations for severe food allergies. [NYT] • Whole Foods...
• Consumer Reports has exposed some unexpected foods as being very high in sodium. (Twizzlers?! Really?) Concurrently, the AMA has some pretty sobering statistics about the number of deaths that could be prevented if Americans halved their salt intake. Yikes....
• China is finally planning to issue a blacklist of all food additive that might be tainted. [Associated Press] • The FDA would like you to know that they're doing a great job protecting you from tainted food. Look, they...
• Two Manhattan restaurant owners are arrested and charged with more than 400 criminal counts for labor violations. [NY Times] • Washington, D.C. bars and clubs will go for the gusto over the inauguration weekend, staying open 24 hours. [Washington...
• FDA: "So we've had some problems. We're getting better. Look! We're opening five offices around the world!" [US News] • There's melamine in Chinese eggs now. [BBC News] • Need some ideas for a Christmas gift for the food-obsessed...
• Sigh. China has doubled its count of babies who've died from melamine-related formula — it's now up to 6 — while over 300,000 have been made ill. [AP/Houston Chronicle] • On the upside, the Michelin guide just awarded three...