Food and Drug Administration

How to Cook Cicadas: A Guide to Eating Your Way Through the Invasion

All over the Northeast and South, people are preparing for the emergence of 13-year and 17-year cicadas. According to Mother Nature News, these loud but harmless creatures have been living underground since the mid-'90s, lying in wait for the opportunity to fly about and mate like crazy for two mo ... More >>

Holy Mackerel Wormwood Imperial Stout: A Beer That Gets You High?

If you cannot find a bag of chronic this 4/20, there is a beer on tap at The Mack House that could at least aid you in your quest to get high. The beer is Wormwood Imperial Stout. It is brewed with the same plant, or artemisia absinthium, from which the highly alcoholic drink absinthe is distilled ... More >>

Beaver Privates in Your Ice Cream?

Just when you thought it was safe to eat ice cream..We recently came upon a list of "eight ingredients you never want to see on your nutritional label" on menshealth.com. As we perused the usual suspects -- sodium nitrates, food dyes, partially hydrogenated oil -- we came across an additive that sou ... More >>

Oregon Saying No to Frankenfish: Florida Senate GMO Labeling Bill Waiting to be Added to Agriculture Committee Agenda

Genetically Engineered or Genetically Modified Organisms are one of the most contentious issues facing the food world right now. After last week's Monsanto Rider was snuck into the budget bill, a vast majority of the population is pissed with the government's ties to the biotech industry. Like ... More >>

Frankenfish Rejected From National Retailers: Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and More

Frankenfish has been swimming its way closer to your dinner plate for quite some time now. While you were recovering from your post-holiday hangover or taking advantage of major savings on that flat-screen TV on December 26, the FDA concluded that Frankenfish -- i.e., AquaBounty Technologies' AquaAd ... More >>

Tonight: Food & Water Watch Meeting about Genetically Engineered Foods

By now, most people are aware of the controversy surrounding genetically engineered (GE) foods. You know: giant tomatoes designed to taste super-sweet, corn that naturally repels insects, and virus-resistent papayas. As debate continues over the safety of our nation's genetically modified grain ... More >>

E-Cigarettes: Danger or Healthy Alternative?

Ex-Smokers Organize to Keep Electronic Cigarettes on the Market, Easily Accessible

This week, New Times reported on the electronic cigarette business, which is currently booming but faces a crossroads this April, when the Food and Drug Administration is set to release proposals on how it will regulate the industry. A Wells Fargo analyst who studies the tobacco industry told us tha ... More >>

Frankenfish Salmon Swims Closer to Your Plate

A genetically modified salmon, ominously dubbed the Frankenfish, recently took another step from the farm to your plate. The Food and Drug Administration last week released an environmental report on the impact of the AquaAdvantage salmon, developed and patented (yes, patented) by Massachussets-bas ... More >>

Nestle Issues Nationwide Recall of NESQUIK Powder

Moms, before making an after-school snack for your kids, check the UPC code on your NESQUIK Chocolate milk powder.Nestle and the FDA have just announced a voluntary nationwide recall on many varieties of NESQUIK Chocolate Powder drink mixes. The company is removing the products from store shelves af ... More >>

Florida Woman Finds Live Frog in Her Salad

It's dinner time and you break out the bag of delicious fresh greens for a nice healthy salad. Suddenly you see something pink inside the bag of lettuce. You look closer and see a tiny little amphibious hand. Then you see movement. Grossed out, you lose all your good feelings about vegetables.Read a ... More >>

Killer Halloween Candy? No, Really — This Stuff Can Be Deadly

Halloween. The one time of year everyone wishes they were dead. Well...better make that undead...as in vampires, zombies, mummies, and other eternal creatures of the night.In spite of all that talk of dead people and monsters, Halloween is basically a pretty benign, family-friendly holiday. You dres ... More >>

Will Your BBQ Make You Sick? Here's A Helpful Infographic To Save The Day

Though technically we're one of the few places in the country where we can barbeque year round, tradition dictates that summer is prime grilling season.There's something about a barbeque....The smell of meat smoking, the clink of a cold beer bottle being opened, the laughter of family and friends ge ... More >>

Pain-Pill Manufacturer Testing Oxycodone on 6-Year-Olds

Drug manufacturer Purdue Pharma is now testing its proprietary formula for OxyContin on children as young as 6, according to the Daily, in what appears to be a bid to extend the life of a patent set to expire next year.OxyContin is a formulation of oxycodone, the opioid that for years was the scourg ... More >>

Florida Congressmen Stand Up Against Regulation of Fat Cigars

People are always whining about how Congress doesn't do anything, pointing out annoying "statistics" like that its approval rating is at negative 3 percent or whatever. But Republican Rep. Bill Posey and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson are doing something, don't you worry. They're taking a noble stand i ... More >>

Three More Plead Guilty in Million-Dollar Toilet Paper Ripoff Scheme

A million-dollar scheme in Palm Beach involving bogus government toilet-paper regulation is slowly... unraveling.Three men pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiracy charged linked to their involvement with FBK Products LLC, which sold a septic tank treatment they claimed helped break down "sec ... More >>

AIDS Healthcare Foundation Worried As FDA Inches Closer to Approving Drug That Might Prevent HIV Transmission

Last week, a committee of experts recommended that the Food and Drug Administration approve the first drug for protecting against HIV transmission.On the surface, it sounds like great news. But as The Pulp reported in January, some doctors have serious concerns that the pill is not as effe ... More >>

Gluten Intolerant? Master Baker Tries Hookworm Cure

​A couple years ago, Mark Bittman wrote about the recipe for no-knead bread from maverick baker, Jim Leahy of Sullivan Street Bakery. Suddenly everyone from Martha Stewart to The Amateur Gourmet were making it, and home bakers from Oregon to South Florida were following along. Because of this incr ... More >>

Florida Law Makes Serving Local Fish an Increasing Challenge

Florida Anti-Vaccine Group Ignores Facts, Says It's Not Anti-Vaccine

​The Health Regulation Committee on Wednesday voted seven to zip in favor of SB 1116, a proposal to give parents of sixth-graders information on the human papillomavirus vaccine, which helps protect females from cervical cancer. As discussed yesterday, the original version of the bi ... More >>

A Drug That Sort of Prevents HIV Transmission: What Could Go Wrong?

​Imagine a drug that could stop the spread of HIV. People could screw whomever they wanted however they wanted and sleep peacefully knowing that the virus wouldn't soon be waging an all-out assault on their immune systems. It sounds like a quick fix to one of history's most pressing public he ... More >>

Three Plead Guilty in Scam Based on Government-Regulated Toilet Paper

​Question: How much money can three Palm Beach County scam artists make by convincing old people there are new government regulations that ban traditional toilet paper?Answer: Around $1 million, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.Mary Moore, 54, Joseph Nouerand, 52, and Christopher Lincoln, 4 ... More >>

Americans Want Safer Food, Often (Literally) Eating Crap

Mike Licht (NotionsCapital.com) via Creative CommonsNothing is safe, nothing is sacred.​

FDA Ban on Gays Donating Blood: Parent Complains, School District Grins and Bears It

Flickr: BWJones​If you've ever donated blood, you've probably noticed a prominent question on a pre-donation questionnaire: Have you had intercourse with someone of the same sex since 1977? If so, yer outta luck, pal. The law, which has been repeatedly challenged and upheld since its imposition in ... More >>

Meat Glue, the Sequel: Experiments in Liverwurst Pork Chops and Burger-Encrusted Duck (PHOTOS)

Jeff Stratton​Last week, we told you about meat glue -- what is, what it does. Is there anything it can't do?Even as scientific minds caution chefs about the unknown dangers of sticking a slice of smoked turkey on a sirloin, cooks across the country are going crazy trying to best each other in th ... More >>

FDA Shocker: Four Loko Not the First Beverage to Combine Caffeine With Alcohol

Not that original.​You'd think that the problem with sickly sweet, carbonated, high-alcohol energy drinks would be (1) that they're disgusting, or (2) that the hangovers are hellish. And you'd be right on both counts. But the Food and Drug Administration believes there's another problem: That cons ... More >>

Sick of Salmonella? Chiquita's New Salad Wash Wards Off Bacteria

Now with less salmonella.​Seems like every few months, we're hearing about a salmonella or E. coli scare. Lettuce, tomatoes, eggs, and more are seemingly becoming gateways to pathogens in our food system.Leave it to food science to strike back. Chicago-based producer Chiquita announced Friday that ... More >>

Eating Around the Blog-o-Sphere

Got an interesting post or bit of news to share? Email it to Charlie and we'll include it in Eating Around the Blog-o-Sphere.Jan Norris grabs some tips from Art Ginsberg, AKA Mr. Food, on how to make a great brisket. South Florida Beer Blog hips us to the Beer Snob Pub Crawl, a beerventure conducted ... More >>

Former Executive Blew Whistle on E-Cigarette Maker From Weston Now Being Investigated by AG

FlickrE-cigarettes are in the strange position of suing to prove they're a tobacco product.​A Weston-based company called Smoking Everywhere wanted an executive who could go to battle against the FDA and U.S. Customs, which had teamed up to ban the import of e-cigarettes. But by hiring Ray Story i ... More >>

OMFG, It's the KFC Double Down -- Updated

​Update: I just received word that the nutrition education director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Susan Levine, has issued a letter to Yum! Brands Inc. (operators of KFC) urging the chain not to advertise the Double Down to children. The letter claims the fat-laden sandwic ... More >>

Kick the Bottle

As the containers and costs mount, in South Florida and beyond, plastic is played out

Week's Top Food-Related Headlines

Miracle Fruit: The Untold Story

Sobriety in a Bottle

Is Prometa the greatest innovation in addiction treatment history or 21st-century snake oil?

The Muscle Men

Inside the "Rejuvenation Centers" at the heart of the nation's largest illegal steroid and HGH operation

Sushi Advisory

Spice Guys

Feel the burn at India Palace

ADM: Supermaggot To The World

Letters for July 12-18, 2007

Take This Job and Shove It

Drunk on Power

Give the DUI Guy What He Deserves

Far From Benign

Is South Florida's most notorious pimp peddling a fake cancer cure?

Letters for November 3-9, 2005

Here's Lookin' at You

A Delray company implanting people with microchips looks to the bright Orwellian future

The Law on Raw

Shizen

Blood Trade

Two companies wage a never-sanguine war for your bodily fluid

Go Away Jose!

That old exploding ketchup trick

I Want a New Drug

Users call it G, Scoop, Goop, EZLay, Georgia Home Boy, or just plain old GHB. What's it like? Euphoric… and potentially deadly.

The Doctor Will Sell You Now

Supplied by Rexall Showcase of Boca Raton, doctors and other distributors are pitching alternative forms of medicine that may not work in ways that may not be legal

Weird Science

The Life Extension Foundation claims it'll add years to your life with pills and cancer profiles. As long as you have the money.