So it's the end days of 2015 /ck/ and I've been thinking about how a lot happened news-wise in food & cooking this year.
A few stories & trends were good, but a lot of others weren't. Therefore I thought I'd make a roundup ITT of notable stuff in 2015.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/43-washington-oregon-chipotle-restaurants-closed-after-e-coli-outbreak-n455166
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/12/chipotle-outbreak-illness-count-hits-514-as-cmg-stock-dives-below-500/
http://consumerist.com/2015/12/11/chipotles-bad-year-continues-with-closure-of-seattle-restaurant-for-repeated-violations/
One of the biggest stories was the fall from grace of Chipotle. Starting in July, their massive E. coli & Norovirus outbreaks have sickened over 500 patrons with at least 5 different strains of the bacteria confirmed as the fallout looks to continue into 2016. It has forced the closure of 43 restaurants, a reassessment of Chipotle's safety procedures, and has resulted in a 35% loss for the company's stock in less than 3 month which now sits at a 2-year low.
>>7217482
http://fortune.com/2015/09/25/blue-bell-listeria-recall/
http://lubbockonline.com/business/2015-04-22/blue-bell-dispose-8-million-gallons-ice-cream-after-recall
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dept-of-justice-investigating-blue-bell-for-deadly-listeria-outbreak/
As bad as the Chipotle situation was at least nobody has died from it, yet.
The same can't be said for the listeria-tainted Blue Bell brand ice cream case this year which killed at least 3 people, sickened many others, and caused the recall of more than 8 million gallons of ice cream across 23 states. Blue Bell was criticized for it's piece-meal recalls until DNA testing confirmed multiple product contaminations from multiple plants. It would eventually take a total shutdown and drastic overhaul of it's plants and practices costing more than $125 million and the layoffs 1,450 of its 3,900 employees and furloughing 1,400 more to address the problems before their products would be allowed by regulators back in grocers' freezers.
In fact, bacterial DNA matches to listeria in other outbreaks linked with Blue Bell go back to 2010 and internal documents show managers knew of contaminations at one plant since at least 2013. During the shutdown FDA investigators found condensation dripping directly into ice cream and unsanitary equipment at plants, and former workers told CBS that rainwater from leaky roofs would also drip onto the assembly floor with management unconcerned.
Two days ago, news broke that the Department of Justice has initiated an investigation into the situation.
>>7217483
http://www.thedailymeal.com/news/eat/salmonella-outbreak-causes-yet-another-massive-frozen-chicken-recall/071715
http://www.thedailymeal.com/news/eat/barber-foods-recalls-over-17-million-pounds-frozen-raw-chicken-due-contamination-salmonella
http://www.thedailymeal.com/news/eat/sanderson-farms-recalls-over-550000-pounds-chicken/092915
http://www.thedailymeal.com/news/eat/alert-tyson-recalls-more-52000-pounds-putrid-chicken/111715
Frozen poultry was especially hit hard this year.
Aspen Foods had to recall roughly 2 million pounds of fresh, frozen, and breaded chicken products between April and July over a salmonella outbreak. Around that same time, Barber Foods had to recall 1.7 million pounds of raw chicken products also due to salmonella contamination. In September Sanderson Farms had to recall over 550,000 pounds of chicken after metal shavings were found in them by a receiving wholesaler due to a malfunctioning ice machine. Tyson had to recall 52,000 pounds of Any’tizers pre-cooked hot wings over foul smells and possible adulterants in November.
Glad that piece of shit chain is gone. No more "awwmygawd I luv Chipotle <3 #teamguac". Now let's get the downfall of starbucks and mcdonalds started.
>>7217487
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/26/business/fda-says-eggless-spread-violates-mayonnaise-and-label-rules.html
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/26/the-american-egg-board-may-have-used-public-funds-to-conspire-against-hampton-creek/
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/10/23/egg-trade-group-ceo-resigns-vegan-mayo-scramble/
http://qz.com/576679/the-fda-decides-that-vegan-just-mayo-is-actually-mayo-after-all/
Earlier this year the FDA sent a noticed to Hampton Creek, makers of the popular vegan-mayonnaise "Just Mayo", calling on them to change it's misleading name since mayonnaise must contain eggs by definition.
It later came to light via FOIA requests of internal emails that the American Egg Board (AEB) was the one who tipped off the FDA. AEB has been in contact with Whole Foods grocery over the years in attempts to keep the product off the shelves. The USDA is now investigating the AEB for possible use of public funds to promote anti-competition. The AEB also worked with private company Unilever to file a lawsuit against Hampton Creek over their Just Mayo name but was retracted after public backlash last year. AEB's CEO resigned after the USDA investigation began in October.
Finally, Hampton Creek reached an agreement to keep their Just Mayo brand name while making labeling changes to the packaging to prominently state the product contains no eggs.
>>7217492
On the positive side, 2015 was a banner year for healthier and more natural ingredients.
http://www.eater.com/2015/12/16/10325684/papa-johns-antibiotic-free-chicken
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/subway-joins-list-chains-switching-antibiotic-free-meats-n447951
McDonald's, Subway, and Papa Johns, all committed to sourcing meat free of medically-important antibiotic use.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/05/26/taco-bell-pizza-hut-artificial-ingredients/27953829/
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/06/404626500/panera-is-the-latest-to-drop-artificial-ingredients-from-its-food
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-22/campbell-soup-to-cut-artificial-flavors-colors-by-end-of-2018
Taco Bell & Pizza Hut will remove all artificial flavorings and dyes from 95% of their menus (items like fountain drinks are spared). Panera Bread, and Campbell's Soup also followed suit.
http://consumerist.com/2015/04/20/kraft-to-remove-synthetic-colors-artificial-preservatives-from-original-mac-cheese/
Kraft announced they were removing artificial colors and preservatives from their Mac 'n Cheese.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/general-mills-eliminate-artificial-colors-flavors-entire-cereal/story?id=31899981
Even General Mills, makers of cereals such as Lucky Charms, Reese's Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch will do for their entire product lines by the end of 2017.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/19/387319835/chocolate-makeover-nestle-dumps-artificial-colorings
Nestle USA, makers of candy bars such as Baby Ruth and the Butterfinger, announced they will do the same all of their products.
http://time.com/4112083/hershey-chocolate-kiss-vanillin-ingredient/
Hershey's also announced they were transitioning to simpler ingredients back in February which resulted in, among other changes, swapping the artificial vanillin in their chocolate kisses & bars for the real deal.
>>7217493
http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/10/news/companies/diet-pepsi-no-aspartame/
Pepsi Co has also swapped the aspartame sweetener in their diet drinks for sucralose AKA Splenda
http://time.com/4141447/crystal-pepsi-comeback-2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAXLD2c18Ac
Also Crystal Pepsi apparently pulled a SURGE and has been ressurected from the early 90s.
>>7217496
http://qz.com/502816/us-egg-prices-are-at-their-highest-in-more-than-30-years/
Thanks to a super outbreak of Avian Flu that forced the culling of over 40 million chickens, the US saw the price of eggs, adjusting for inflation, rise to a more than 30 year high in 2015. In 43% of the country the price of a dozen eggs actually reached new record levels. There were also reports of some groceries rationing cartons to shoppers at the peak because of shortages. At one point the price of chicken meat was actually less per gram of protein than eggs themselves.
^This story in particular hurts me /ck/
This is a quality thread. Thank you for making a non shit post thread.
>>7217497
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/30/461483821/the-year-in-eggs-everyones-going-cage-free-except-supermarkets
Sticking with egg stories, almost all of the largest producers and consumers of eggs pledged to source from cage-free suppliers this year including:
Nestle
General Mills
Costco
Dunkin' Donuts
Jack in the Box
Starbucks
Subway
Arby's
Shake Shack
Compass Group (largest foodservice company)
Aramark (second largest foodservice company)
Sodexo (third largest foodservice company)
Carnival Corp. (the largest cruise liner)
Royal Caribbean (the second-largest cruise liner)
Grupo Bimbo (world's largest baking company)
Michael Foods (country's largest processed egg provider)
Rose Acre Farms (country's second largest egg producer)
and Rembrandt Foods (country's third largest egg producer).
Also McDonald's.
>>7217488
Starbucks seems to be here to stay but McDonalds has been on an international decline for the past 5 years.
>>7217504
http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/06/news/companies/mcdonalds-all-day-breakfast/
http://fortune.com/2015/12/09/mcdonalds-all-day-breakfast-sales/
That last company's commitment is significant since in mid-October McDonald's finally rolled out it's All-Day Breakfast Menu to fight declining sales and profits. Early reports show that it appears to be working, though we won't know for sure until their Q4 earnings are reported in January.
>>7217507
FOOD/NUTRITION SCIENCE TIME:
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/in-a-first-the-fda-clears-genetically-modified-salmon-for-eating-it-just-took-20-years/
In 2015 the FDA approved the first-genetically modified animal for sale in the human food supply. AquAdvantage Salmon takes the Chinook (King) salmon, the largest of the Pacific salmon species, and inserts a gene promoter from Ocean Pout, an eel-like fish, that prevents it's growth hormone from turning off in cold conditions creating super-large salmon. All of the salmon are female and sterile so no risk of wild genome pollution exists.
>>7217510
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/19/health/dietary-guidelines/
Early in 2015, the federal advisory report released in advance of an update to the US Dietary Guidelines (which occurs every 5 years) made headines when it said the cholesterol was no longer a nutrient of concern for over-consumption. That would reverse a decades-long policy prescription in US policy.
Other recommendations were less provocative: US diets are still deficit of vitamins A, D, E and C, as well as folate, calcium, magnesium, potassium and fiber. Recommendations also include eat meals low in saturated fat, added sugars and sodium.
>"Sources of saturated fat should be replaced with unsaturated fat, particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids. Similarly, added sugars should be reduced in the diet and not replaced with low-calorie sweeteners, but rather with healthy options such as water in place of sugar-sweetened beverages."
>>7217517
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/health/fda-gives-food-industry-three-years-eliminate-trans-fats.html
In June, the FDA finally brought the hammer down on trans-fats citing hydrogenated oils, the source of trans fats, were no longer “generally recognized as safe.” Partially hydrogenated oils are cheaper than saturated animal fats like butter and were long thought to be healthier.
They are formed when liquid oil is treated with hydrogen gas and made solid and have been linked to heart disease by increasing LDL (bad) cholesterol while lowering the HDL (good) kind. Already in decline, companies now have 3 years to remove them completely from the industrial food supply where they still reside in popular products like frostings, microwave popcorn, packaged pies, frozen pizzas, margarines and coffee creamers.
I like you Op also I had no idea bimbo was the worlds biggest bakery all those penguino rolls and sponchi mmm
>>7217520
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/26/hot-dogs-bacon-and-other-processed-meats-cause-cancer-world-health-organization-declares/
Back in late October the WHO released findings linking high consumption of processed meat to colon cancer and red meat as well. Of course since this is MURRICA the reported warning was widely ridiculed.
>>7217521
>>7217503
Glad some Anons are enjoying it.
>>7217528
http://recorderjournal.com/2015/12/18/kraft-and-heinz-merge-to-form-world-x27-s-fifth-largest/
http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/30/investing/budweiser-bud-light-sales-anheuser-busch-inbev/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/abinbev-sabmiller-merger-molson-coors-1.3313631
http://fortune.com/2015/12/08/ab-inbev-ceo-defends-merger-congress/
More Mergers happened in 2015
Kraft Foods combining with Heinz Co to form the world's fifth-largest food and beverage company. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the owner of Budweiser and Bud Light, has been buying up small micro-brewers. At the same time Molson Coors, which also bought SABMiller this year, also hopes to merge Anheuser-Busch InBev to get full control of roughly 26% of the U.S. beer market.
That's all of the big stories. Here's some smaller events and scandals which also occurred in 2015:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-states-attorney-jared-fogle-used-wealth-status-and-secrecy-to-exploit-kids/
http://www.tmz.com/2015/11/19/jared-fogle-sentenced-prison/
http://fox59.com/2015/12/10/jared-fogle-co-conspirator-russell-taylor-to-learn-punishment-in-court-thursday/
Back in July the former Subway-spokesman was investigated for CP. In court documents prosecutors alleged he both received and produced CP with the director of his charitable foundation focused of child health and fitness, the Jared Foundation, Russel Taylor. In addition he payed a "Finder's Fee" to prostitutes to arrange for minors with which he could have sex.
After pleading guilty, Jared's lawyers attempted to argue that he originally suffered from an eating disorder, and after losing weight his pathology turned to hypersexuality and mild pedophilia as an outlet.
Jared was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, 13 of which he must served before being eligible for parole. The Judge sentencing Jared also ordered him to pay $175,000 and forfeit $50,000 in assets, that's in addition to the $1.4 million in restitution—$100,000 to each victim Jared previously agreed to pay as part of his plea agreement.
Taylor was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
>>7217535
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015047-green-pea-guacamole
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/dining/defenders-of-peacamole-step-up.html
http://time.com/3944055/president-obama-guacamole/
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23youmightputpeasinguacamoleif
Much like that poorly photographed dress whose color nobody could shut up about, the debate over whether it was okay to add peas to guacamole after a recipe was published by the NYT encouraging it raged fast and hard in 2015. It was like you were questioning someone's religion, which even drew the President to comment on it.
>>7217541
http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/dining/2015/12/29/amys-baking-company-scottsdale-has-closed/71722292/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uPOGxUtZvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYoyXtAwqdA
Amy's Baking Company, co-owned by noted psychopath Amy Bouzaglo and featured prominently on the train-wreck reality series Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey in 2013, finally closed late this year after announcing they were shutting their doors in early July.
>>7217493
Oh what the fuck. Pizza is removing artificial dyes but keeping trans fats? KFC also stated they have no intentions in removing trans fats from their biscut. I was excited to hear the FDA decision to ban these fats but I doubt it will be one they enforce.
>>7217544
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/08/05/whole-foods-oops-asparagus-water-mistake/31152405/
Remember that one time when Whole Foods put 3 stalks of asparagus in a bottle of water and tried to sell it for $6 plus tax?
http://dallasfood.org/2015/12/mast-brothers-what-lies-behind-the-beards-part-1-tastetexture/
http://www.eater.com/2015/12/17/10432676/mast-brothers-chocolate-fraud-takedown
This one is a little inside baseball.
Brooklyn hipster chocolate makers Rick & Michael Mast are often credited with pioneering a new wave of US bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturing (despite companies like Scharffen Berger being around awhile before them). In 2015, a 4-part investigation found out that in the early years of their operation they in fact ordered pre-made chocolate from industrial French maker Valhorna (which honestly is about the best supplier you could choose if you were in fact not doing it yourself with imported cacao beans) which they remelted down to sell under their own label.
Keep in mind these are $25 7-oz. bars.
The owners denied it at first, and got a lot of shit for lying to their fans before finally admitting they did so in a released statement. Other boutique and small-batch chocolate makers believe this to be a black eye on their industry and detractors felt vindicated to see what they perceived as confirmation of overpriced chocolate consumers being ripped off ("No bar can be worth
that much").
>>7217549
I think they'll probably enforce it, and if they don't the companies will get sued as they are large targets.
>>7217553
http://www.eater.com/2015/3/20/8267405/starbucks-race-together-conversation-starters-ranked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaVk9S-ZZio
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/22/starbucks-ends-race-together.html
Starbucks earlier this year in a ham-fisted attempt to have a conversation about race designed special cups to promote racial understanding and put 1 of 10 racial conversation starters at their registers. The campaign, which also included full-age newspaper ads, was widely mocked as awkward and ridiculous and trashed shortly thereafter.
>>7217510
i actually had no idea that's what the modification was.
>>7217561
http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/252124-obama-administration-issues-controversial-labor-ruling
Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board issue a ruling that said employees could organize a union to bargain with the corporate HQ as a joint employer along with restaurant franchisees. It will be tied up in court throughout next year.
I can't find a good source for this, but Wal-Mart started offering $5 Hot-N-Ready Pizzas along side their Rotisserie Chickens to compete with Little Ceasar's this summer.
That's all of the notable /ck/-related stories and events I could think of that happened in 2015. If you have anymore please contribute them.
Also discuss.
>>7217576
Thanks for doing this OP, pretty cool even if I knew most of them already
Thanks for this thread OP. Good read.
>>7217561
>Starbucks earlier this year in a ham-fisted attempt to have a conversation about race designed special cups to promote racial understanding and put 1 of 10 racial conversation starters at their registers. The campaign, which also included full-age newspaper ads, was widely mocked as awkward and ridiculous and trashed shortly thereafter.
That's hilarious, OP. Thanks for the info dump!
What is up with Starbucks being in non-coffee related news?
>>7217532
rip in peace beer
Very entertaining thread. Thanks OP.
Cool thread op
>>7217724
They wanted a race war.
Great thread op, worthy of a sticky imo
OP here now that the ball has dropped and it's officially 2016 4chan-time, what are some /ck/ trends and stories you hope to see this year?
I personally want egg prices to go back down, and look forward to more groceries and restaurants purging artificial ingredients from their supply chains.
Also happy new year.
>>7219783
As high as egg prices might seem, they will only go up, especially with the move away from the battery-raised to free-range eggs. Do not be surprised to see them at double that in the next few years.
Time to invest in some egg futures.
>>7217510
>All of the salmon are female and sterile so no risk of wild genome pollution exists.
Where have I heard that before?...
2016 bump
>>7219874
>Time to invest in some egg futures.
You mean start raising chickens? The only reason I would ever want my own garden is to have a chicken enclosure for fresh eggs.
>>7220286
http://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffwilliams/2015/12/29/more-bacon-bison-salumi-food-trends-you-can-expect-to-see-in-2016/
http://www.startribune.com/what-s-cooking-a-roundup-of-food-trends-for-2016-from-eclairs-to-moringa/363831111/
http://www.denverpost.com/homegarden/ci_29319271/food-trends-2016-get-ready-achovies-umeboshi-plums
http://www.rgj.com/story/life/food/2015/12/28/food-trends-watch/77882092/
http://www.businessinsider.com/whole-foods-buyers-predict-the-biggest-food-trends-of-2016-2015-12
I've collected some web articles predicting trends "this" year. Some things they say to look out for, among others, include:
1. The end of tipping writ large which made minor news starting in NYC in 2015 as minimum wages rise & mandated health benefits kick in.
2. According to Whole Foods, grass-fed suppliers will move beyond meat to include milk, eggs, yogurt, butter, cheese, etc.
3. Like with the rise of microbreweries 2016 will see the rise of, I kid you not, Artisanal Sodas according to a survey of 1575 members of the American Culinary Federation by the National Restaurant Association.
4. Uber/Lyft-style models such as Grubhub & Eat 24 Hours's Hunger App for deliveries will take ordering out to the next level.
5. Apparently dry pasta sales are down, but spiralizers are up leading to the belief that 2016 will be a boom year for vegetable pastas like squash spaghetti.
6. Umeboshi plums & Seaweed will hit it big this year, as well as a resurgence of tiny fish such as anchovies and sardines for novel umami delivery vehicles.
7. Pinoy BBQ/Philippino Food will be the breakout ethnic cuisine of 2016 like Vietnamese was in recent years.
8. Millet grains will be the new starch en vouge as will alternative flours made from chickpeas and other legumes.
9. Broccoli leaves are apparently going to be the new kale.
10. Canned wine will come to prominence as consumers seek their refined alcoholic fixes in more portable and convenient packages.
>>7217482
Awesome read OP! Thanks.
>>7217724
That is hilarious. Starbucks being cringe as fuck.
Borneo, will you make a cool new thread soon?
>>7224225
They just want to connect with the youths
I've been busy with exams and eating trash, maybe ill make cookalong threads late January. Been meaning to tackle my saved recipes list for a while now.
>>7217507
wtf why did they put that between a scone?
>>7220097
Clever girl
>>7217482
neat
Breddy gud thread OP.
Here's to another year of memefoods.
>>7224569
It's a sausage biscuit.
>>7217576
>I can't find a good source for this, but Wal-Mart started offering $5 Hot-N-Ready Pizzas along side their Rotisserie Chickens to compete with Little Ceasar's this summer..
They're absolutely terrible. Red Baron tier. The cheese, especially, is garbage, and doesn't cover all the sauce. If you gotta buy a precooked 5 buck pizza, stick with Little Caesars.
I like thread, OP
Thread P gud
Yeah, thread
>>7217482
That actually happened to Costco chicken too.
>>7217507
I wish I could get their regular lunch/dinner menu during the morning hours instead.
