Someone posted a picture of a Taco Bell employee apparently licking a stack of taco shells to the company's Facebook page Monday. The picture sent a wave of nausea across the internet.
The outrage was predictable but unfortunately so is this kind of behavior. There has been a rash of recent incidents at fast food chains.
So is this a new trend? Or is social media just finally spilling the beans?
IKEA is currently pulling its famous Swedish meatballs from stores in 14 European countries after horse meat was found in them. As a result the retail company reached out to American customers in order to reassure them that the horse meat will not be an issue in the U.S. This however is the latest in the tainted meat scandal sweeping Europe. But many Americans are still wondering if they should be worried about the horse meat making its way into the U.S. meat supply. This morning the Managing Director, Food and Safety Import Practice at Leavitt Partners, Dr. David Acheson weighs in.
Acheson says the chances that horse meat could be in the U.S. meat supply are low because of the “strict controls with the vast majority of our meat.” He also says that U.S. “inspection strategies and the robustness of our U.S. meat system” also serve as contributing factors.
Acheson who also served as the Fmr. Associate Commissioner of Foods of the FDA says while it is possible that horse meat has slipped into the U.S. food supply he still believes “the vast majority of beef that we’re consuming is beef.”
Regarding drug residues, Acheson says “if you take a low likelihood it's in [horse meat] anyway … and then the possibility that that horsemeat contains some cancer causing drug at some low level – let's put this in perspective of risk to the public and recognize that the safety side is low.”
Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been in the spotlight recently for taking a "food stamp challenge" at a time when a record 47.1 million Americans rely on the program.
Senator Jeff Sessions stops by Starting Point this morning to discuss the other side of the debate about the effectiveness of food stamps and to lay out what he sees as the downside of welfare.
"This month was a record increase in food stamp participation during a time when unemployment is declining," Sen. Sessions explains. "This program has been growing out of control at an incredible rate and there are a lot of people receiving benefits who do not qualify and should not receive them... Food stamps is a program that's been totally exempted from oversight and change."
Stony Brook University's Nicholas Fisher on safety concerns for radioactive bluefin tuna found near California.