Man Poses As Denny's Manager, Cooks Burger

 

Wearing a maroon tie and with a briefcase in hand, James B. Summers, 52, strolled confidently into a Madison, Wisc., Denny's restaurant ready to start his first day of work as general manager. There was just one problem- he wasn't hired for the job. 

"He claimed he was the new general manager, that he had worked for the restaurant chain for 30-years and was starting his new job - right now," the police report stated. The restaurant's manager, Tracy Brant, suggested perhaps Summers had the wrong restaurant, but the self-appointed general manager refuted the idea. Brant closed the door to her office and called the corporate office while Summers got to work on his first "official" duty- cooking himself a burger and fries. After receiving confirmation from those higher-up on the food chain that Summers was lying, Brant confronted her new faux boss mid-meal and told him that his charade was over.

When police arrived, they found Summers walking away from the restaurant. He told officers there must have been a "paperwork goof-up." He returned to the restaurant so police could hear both sides of the story. Summers' ruse was not a grand slam. Police booked him on charges of fraud, possession of an electric weapon (a stun gun), disorderly conduct and possession of drug paraphernalia. As police escorted Summers out of the restaurant, he shouted, "This is why you don't dine and dash, kiddies!" MadOne

McDonald’s no longer using ‘pink slime’ chemical in hamburgers

McDonald's announced last week that, as of last August, is has stopped using ammonium hydroxide in the production of its hamburgers. MSNBC reports that the chemical, used in fertilizers, household cleaners and even homemade explosives, was also used to prepare McDonalds' hamburger meat. And while the announcement is making headlines, you may (or may not) want to know about some other unusual chemicals being used in the production of some of our most-popular foods: The International Business Times lists some other questionable chemicals showing up in our foods:

Propylene glycol: This chemical is very similar to ethylene glycol, a dangerous anti-freeze. This less-toxic cousin  prevents products from becoming too solid. Some ice creams have this  ingredient; otherwise you'd be eating ice.

Carmine: Commonly found in red food coloring, this chemical comes from crushed cochineal, small red beetles that burrow into cacti. Husks of the beetle are ground up and forms the basis for red coloring found in foods ranging from cranberry juice to M&Ms.

Shellac: Yes, this chemical used to finish wood products also gives some candies their sheen. It comes from the female Lac beetle.

L-cycsteine: This common dough enhancer comes from hair, feathers, hooves and bristles.

Lanolin (gum base): Next time you chew on gum, remember this. The goopiness of gum comes from lanolin, oils from sheep's wool that is also used  for vitamin D3 supplements.

Silicon dioxide: Nothing weird about eating sand, right? This anti-caking agent is found in many foods including shredded cheese and fast food chili.

The food industry uses ammonium hydroxide as an anti-microbial agent in meats, which allows McDonald's to use otherwise "inedible meat."

On his show, Jamie Oliver said of the meat treatment: "Basically we're taking a product that would be sold in the cheapest form for dogs and making it 'fit' for humans." Even more disturbing, St. Louis-based dietician Sarah Prochaska told NBC affiliate KSDK that because ammonium hydroxide is considered part of the "component in a production procedure" by the USDA, consumers may not know when the chemical is in their food. MadOne

More Americans than Chinese can’t put food on the table

The number of Americans who lack access to basic necessities like food and healthcare is now higher than it was at the peak of the Great Recession, a survey released Thursday found. And in a finding that could worsen fears of U.S. decline, the share of Americans struggling to put food on the table is now three times as large as the share of the Chinese population in the same position.

The United States' Basic Index Score, a Gallup measure of access to necessities, fell to 81.4 in September--even lower than the 81.5 mark it reached in February and March, 2009. The recession officially ended in June of that year, but the halting recovery hasn't provided a sustained boost to the number of Americans able to provide for themselves. The government reported last month that a record number of Americans is living in poverty.

Between September 2008 and last month, the share of Americans with access to a personal doctor plummeted from 82.5 percent to 78.3 percent. The share with health insurance fell from 85.9 percent to 82.3 percent. And the share saying they had enough money to buy food for themselves and their family dropped from 81.1 percent to 80.1 percent. Gallup's surveys are based on the phone and in-person interviews.

Meanwhile, Gallup found that just 6 percent of Chinese said there were times in the past 12 months when they lacked enough money for food for themselves or their family, compared to 19 percent of Americans. Just three years ago, those results were almost reversed: 16 percent of Chinese couldn't put food on the table at times, compared to 9 percent of Americans. Yahoo / MadOne

How Accurate Are Restaurant Calorie Counts?

Americans are eating out more than ever before, but can we trust the calorie counts on restaurant menus? A new study published July 19 in Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) suggests that these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, since 40 percent of the foods analyzed had more calories than stated on the menu. 19 percent of the time, the count was off by 100 or more calories, with one belly-busting side dish that contained upwards of 1,000 more calories than claimed on the menu. 

While many eateries do have trustworthy calorie counts, the US Department of Agriculture-funded study reported that the surprising rate of undercounts, especially for fattening foods, were hardly likely to be random error and could derail efforts to lose weight.  The researchers tested 269 randomly selected foods purchased at 42 restaurants in three states. MadOne
 

FDA finally admits chicken meat contains cancer-causing arsenic

After years of sweeping the issue under the rug and hoping no one would notice, the FDA has now finally admitted that chicken meat sold in the USA contains arsenic, a cancer-causing toxic chemical that’s fatal in high doses. But the real story is where this arsenic comes from: It’s added to the chicken feed on purpose! Even worse, the FDA says its own research shows that the arsenic added to the chicken feed ends up in the chicken meat where it is consumed by humans. So for the last sixty years, American consumers who eat conventional chicken have been swallowing arsenic, a known cancer-causing chemical. Until this new study, both the poultry industry and the FDA denied that arsenic fed to chickens ended up in their meat. The fairytale excuse story we’ve all been fed for sixty years is that “the arsenic is excreted in the chicken feces.” And what’s the name of this manufacturer that has been putting arsenic in the chicken feed for all these years? Pfizer, of course — the very same company that makes vaccines containing chemical adjuvants that are injected into children. Technically, the company making the Roxarsone chicken feed is a subsidiary of Pfizer, called Alpharma LLC. 

But even as its arsenic-containing product is pulled off the shelves, the FDA continues its campaign of denial, claiming arsenic in chickens is at such a low level that it’s still safe to eat. This is even as the FDA says arsenic is a carcinogen, meaning it increases the risk of cancer.
Oh, by the way, here’s another sweet little disturbing fact you probably didn’t know about hamburgers and conventional beef: Chicken litter containing arsenic is fed to cows in factory beef operations. So the arsenic that’s pooped out by the chickens gets consumed and concentrated in the tissues of cows, which is then ground into hamburger to be consumed by the clueless masses who don’t even know they’re eating second-hand chicken shit.

McDonald's to Replace Cashiers with Touch Screen Computers

McDonald's restaurants in Europe will soon be swapping the chain's legendary "service with a smile" with "service with a beep." European McDonald's restaurants are preparing to replace cashiers with touch screen computers at terminals where customers will be able to order up their hamburgers and fries and pay with credit cards. About 7,000 of the fast food franchise's locations in the United Kingdom will be fitted with the touch screen technology, which aims to make the McDonald's experience more convenient and accommodating.

The new terminals will also phase out cash as an accepted payment method, as the machines will only take credit and debit cards. No word yet on whether McDonald's in the United States will be next in line to replace cashiers with computers, but the addition doesn't seem to be part of the ongoing $1-billion makeover of the company's U.S. restaurants. Technews Daily