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Perhaps it’s just me, but I can’t help but to feel that this officer was looking for someone to toss into the clinker:

UNION CITY, Ga. - A McDonald’s employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges because a police officer’s burger was too salty, so salty that he says it made him sick.

Kendra Bull was arrested Friday, charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and freed on $1,000 bail.

Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who “tried to thump the salt off.”

On her break, she ate a burger made with the salty meat. “It didn’t make me sick,” Bull told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But then Police Officer Wendell Adams got a burger made with the oversalted meat, and he returned a short time later and told the manager it made him sick.

Bull admitted spilling salt on the meat, and Adams took her outside and questioned her, she said.

“If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?” said Bull, who has worked at the restaurant for five months. She said she didn’t know a police officer got one of the salty burgers because she couldn’t see the drive-through window from her work area.

Police sent samples of the burger to the state crime lab for tests.

City public information officer George Louth said Bull was charged because she served the burger “without regards to the well-being of anyone who might consume it.”

(Source)

News flash, stuff like this happens all the time. The cooks in restaurants do this all the time, something goes wrong in the process and they attempt to salvage it instead of tossing it out. I can’t say I blame them either. But really, if the burger was too salty would you have kept eating it or would you have brought a complaint to the management’s attention immediately? This is McDonald’s after all.

Tequila, it’s that nasty-strong alcohol that you and your friends in college always knocked back, shot after shot, on dares to see who could keep a straight face the longest right? Then again, maybe it’s just the drink you’ve never liked straight but can tolerate in mixed drinks, or perhaps it’s just the chaser to your beer? Not necessarily so. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of tequila, and as you have probably already surmised, they all differ in alcohol content, taste, and quality. If you’ve ever knocked back a shot of of generic Jose Cuevo and been fortunate enough to linger over a shot of Corazon Anejo then you know that’s not the entire truth of it, in fact, you’re doing the liquor a grave injustice.

Like all drinks there are your standard bar fare and then there are your top-shelf brands. What, you didn’t know there was such a thing as top-shelf tequila? Then you really need to check out The Tequila Guy. Not only will you learn more about this drink, but you can also find some great recipes. Got a question that isn’t addressed on the site? Just ask, they’ll be happy to answer it!

It doesn’t matter if you’re fortunate enough to own a beautiful outdoor fireplace, bricked grill, or even just your cheap under ten dollars grill from Wal-Mart. The fact is that the summer is coming to an end and you need to enjoy it while you can. So bust out the materials and try this sizzling recipe:
Jerk Steak Kabobs With Pineapple Salsa
The hot Caribbean coating on the meat is the perfect foil for our cool tropical salsa. If you like, flame-cook pineapple wedges next to kabobs.

Ingredients:

• Pineapple Salsa:
• 2 limes
• ripe pineapple, rind removed, cored, and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 jalapeño chile, seeded and minced
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• Jerk Steak Kabobs:
• 2 green onions, minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
• 1 boneless beef top sirloin steak, 1 1/4 inches thick (1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1 1/4-inch cubes
• 4 long metal skewers

Directions:

1. Prepare Pineapple Salsa: From limes, grate 1/2 teaspoon peel and squeeze 2 tablespoons juice. In medium bowl, mix lime peel and juice with remaining salsa ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes about 4 cups.

2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, mix all kabob ingredients except steak and skewers. Add steak cubes and toss to coat well; let stand 15 minutes to marinate.

3. Thread steak cubes on skewers. Place skewers on grill over medium heat; cook 8 to 10 minutes for medium-rare, turning occasionally. Serve kabobs with salsa.

Each serving kabobs only: About 295 calories, 34 g protein, 10 g carbohydrate, 13 g total fat (5 g saturated), 0 g fiber, 102 mg cholesterol, 650 mg sodium.

Each 1/4 cup salsa: About 20 calories, 0 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 0 g total fat, 1 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium.

For more tasty recipes to try please see this article. It’s actually pretty rare that the recipes offered up by MSN are actually worth trying and this is one of those few times.

BEIJING - China executed a former director of its food and drug agency Tuesday for approving fake medicine in exchange for cash, illustrating how serious Beijing is about tackling product safety, while officials announced steps to safeguard food at next summer’s Olympic Games.

The measures include ensuring athletes’ food is free of substances that could trigger a positive result in tests for banned performance-enhancing drugs. Many of China’s recent food woes have been tied to the purity of ingredients, flavoring, artificial colors and other additives.

During Zheng Xiaoyu’s tenure as head of the State Food and Drug Administration from 1997 to 2006, the agency approved six untested drugs that turned out to be fake, and some drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.

(Full Article)

So apparently the people responsible for the unsafe food and products flowing from China are finally being held responsible, it’s about frigging time. I love this part though:

…illustrating how serious Beijing is about tackling product safety, while officials announced steps to safeguard food at next summer’s Olympic Games.

Um no, I doubt it has anything to do with them being serious about safety and tackling it head on. The Olympic Games is a big event and money maker for the country hosting it. China has to make an effort to appear as though they are concerned with safety and taking measures to ensure the safety of athletes now before the games draw any closer. Otherwise a new venue will definately be insisted upon by the other competing nations.

I seem to recall a recent event that had, at first, only dog owners switching from regular dog food to Premium dog food and then when the situation worsened cat and dog owners alike began to make their own pet food in order to ensure their pet’s safety. Hundreds of pets were affected and an international fuss was caused over this but China did little in way of taking measures then. And that was far from the only incident too.

I’m thinking Zheng Xiaoyu is just one of many who need to be executed.

You know sometimes I think the FDA is really on the ball and other times I have to wonder if they’ve got their heads stuck up you-know-where. This is one of the former.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter last month that said Redux was illegally marketing the drink as a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement. May 4 was the deadline for the company to respond.

This seems a bit extreme to me. While granted, I don’t care much for the name I can’t help but feel that the FDA was being just a tad paranoid with this stance. Taking statements like “Speed in a Can,” “Liquid Cocaine” and “Cocaine — Instant Rush” from the official website and claiming that the manufacturers were deliberately trying to sell the product as an alternative drug seems ludicrous. For me, I understood those comments as being descriptive slang. How many times have you heard someone offer you something as a pick-me-up as “liquid speed” or “should be illegal”? It’s hardly cause to wave a red flag at.

“Of course, we intended for Cocaine energy drink to be a legal alternative the same way that celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex,” Ivey said. “It’s not the same thing and no one thinks it is. Our product doesn’t have any cocaine in it. No one thinks that it does. We think it is most likely legal in the United States to ship our product.”

Apparently when it comes to working with the FDA sir you have to check your sense of humor at the door. Your consumers got the difference and even those, like myself, who just heard of the product caught the joke as well. The stuffy-suits apparently missed the memo.

You know after all this fuss from the FDA now I want to go out and buy this drink.

Article Source