#food-safety

#food-safety

You can never have too much of a good thing, the saying goes. For months now, Americans treated protein that way. What started as a fringe supplement used mostly by "gym bros and fitness-obsessed teens," as Consumer Reports journalist Paris Martineau put it, has transformed into a full-blown mass-market wellness movement. There's protein pastas, protein cereals, protein sodas, and even Starbucks protein cold foam.

So I nearly spit out my smoothie when I read that a new study from Consumer Reports found that many popular protein powders also contain more lead per serving than their experts advise consuming in a single day. The plant-based protein powders tended to contain the highest lead levels, while animal and whey-based options tended to be on the lower side.

Making your own beef jerky not only saves money but also allows you to fully customize the flavor of your snack. In this recipe, written with developer Michelle McGlinn, the beef is marinated in a sweet and spicy hot honey and ancho chile sauce, then dehydrated in the oven until chewy and pliable. The best part? Though a dehydrator is useful for many foods, you don't need it to make jerky.

Even though buffets can be annoying (so annoying that fights have broken out over crab legs), there are still expectations on guests and mistakes you want to avoid. One of those is that you shouldn't sample dishes in line. You're at a buffet, which means you can take as much or as little as you like whenever you like. If there's an item you're not sure you want, take a small portion back to your table to see if you like it.

Nate's Fine Foods of Roseville, California, recalled thousands of cases of linguine, fettucine, penne and other pastas sold to large producers of heat-and-eat meals and pasta salads on Sept. 25, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration notice posted Thursday. The move came after tests showed that pasta made by Nate's Fine Foods contained the same strain of listeria found in chicken fettucine Alfredo and meatball linguine products linked to an outbreak that has killed four people and sickened 20 since August 2024.

"On Sunday, October 5th, around 7 p.m., at the location on 1310 Surf Ave, my husband bit into what he initially thought was a hard onion, but it turned out to be a blade inside his food," Abbey told AMNY. "Once he spit it out, we saw the blade and notified the employees." "The manager stated that the hot dogs are not made there and claimed there was no way they came from their location," she added. "He suggested it could have come from the onions or the mustard dispenser."

A family claims they found a razor blade inside their order from Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs in New York City. A short video posted on TikTok appears to be taken outside the company's flagship location in Coney Island, Brooklyn. In the video, a man can be seen taking a bite of a hot dog and revealing what appears to be a razor blade. He then hands the plate over to the woman who is recording.

In the video, an unseen narrator opens a bag of Lipton lemon-flavored green tea - normally, you would never open your tea bag, so it's unclear what prompted this. The narrator proceeds to pour out the loose tea and begins to point out tiny shapes, claiming are "worms," despite nothing moving over the course of the video. The narrator also says it's not a fluke, as "several bags and several boxes" that they've opened are the same.

Texans love steak. What other state has politicians putting forth plans to declare an official state steak? Texas Representative Ken King wants to name the Tomahawk Steak the official steak of Texas, so it comes as no surprise that Texans are 14 times more likely to call steak their state dish than chili, according to NewsWire, and it's their top pick for grilling by a wide margin.

There's a horrible waste of food that could feed so many people. Whether it's from restaurants, hospitals, or stores. When I worked in a kitchen, I took the leftover food to shelters. My manager told us all not to let anyone know I did this or where the food was from. The owner's son was against donating food. (Yes, I understand the fear of being sued if someone gets sick.)

Sriracha is made from a mixture of chili peppers (typically red jalapeño), acidic distilled vinegar, umami garlic, sugar, and salt. Like most chili-pepper-based hot sauces, sriracha is hardy and durable, but not immune to quality degradation over time due to prolonged light and air exposure. Still, dark red tones (even to the point of bordering on dark red-brown) aren't necessarily signs that your sriracha has turned.

Desserts are best when shared, but baking your favorite sweet treats often yields a fair amount of leftovers. From the olden days of leaving pies to cool on the windowsill or modern variations of setting out a tray of cupcakes to nosh on sporadically, it's a common practice to leave desserts on the counter for better ease of access and enjoyment. Though you might be used to slicing a piece of creamy cake for yourself, you might not be aware that pastries which include dairy elements are better when stored in the refrigerator. This is both to keep the dairy ingredients at a proper temperature and to avoid risking your sweets becoming unsafe to eat.

Once you've taken care to cut the outer peel from a fresh pineapple, you might just find some brown spots from the leftover peel, which are commonly referred to as "eyes." Albeit unsightly and unpleasant in taste and texture, the simplest way to remove these eyes while reducing food waste is with the use of a spoon. This is the quickest and easiest method that will leave the most fruit intact.

If you live in the area around the Gulf of Mexico and you bought some fish recently, you could be subject to a major seafood recall. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a recall for nearly 100,000 pounds of catfish fillets, which the agency says were produced without any federal inspection. In the September 15 announcement, the agency says these catfish products were shipped to both restaurant and retail locations in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

It depends a little exactly what you put into it, but a dry rub made from ground spices should last up to a year when stored correctly. Spices don't tend to go bad in the traditional sense but do lose their flavor over time. However, if you do see any signs of mold or an unpleasant smell, it's a sign that something in the mix has spoiled and needs to be thrown out.

You may not think of flour as raw, but that's just what it is. No part of the process of harvesting, grinding, bleaching, or packing most types of flour heats it enough to kill bacteria that may be present; cooking it takes care of that. But if you don't cook your flour before consuming, you're putting yourself at risk of food poisoning from Salmonella or E. coli, according to the FDA.

Everything is going great, and as you polish off an appetizer, your server arrives with your entrée in hand. You pick up your cutlery, preparing to dig in. But, as you're about to take your first bite, something catches your attention - dried, crusted food remnants on the edges of your plate, that clearly isn't a part of your scrumptious meal. You quickly scan the rest of your plate, the rim of your class, and your fork in hand, and wonder, "Is my dinnerware dirty?"

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But we also have to be careful of how we store our sugar. A preservative in and of itself, sugar doesn't expire on its own. But if it's exposed to air, it meets moisture, and that moisture can turn its fine granules into hard clumps and also introduce bacteria - two deal-breakers for using that sugar again. Plus, exposed sugar is basically a cordial invitation to pests.

The kitchen counter is often the place where we leave foods that don't need to be refrigerated. Unfortunately, we might not know exactly which foods are safe to leave out and which ones are not. Correct food storage and safety is something we all need to get clued up on to prevent foodborne illness and food poisoning. Proper storage can also help food maintain its quality for longer, thus preventing food waste.