Ethic Soup

Want Extra Sugar, Sugar? Police Arrest Dunkin' Donuts Worker as Prostitute

Melissa Redmond, 29, got a job as an overnight employee at a New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts. Perfect! She didn't have to stand on a street corner in a 'tenderloin' neighborhood to make some extra cash.

QUICK PARKING LOT BREAKS

Instead, Melissa just took ten to fifteen minute breaks to make her money in the parking lot, after propositioning customers -- including a plain-clothes officer -- via the drive-thru window. 

"Cops cleverly dubbed their investigation "extra sugar," gathering info and watching over the premises for six weeks," according to New York Magazine, which asked: "But were they allowed to expense their late-night surveillance snacks?"

Taco Bell Spends Big Bucks To Fight Beef Lawsuit: 'Truth' Ads, Superhero Cartoons, Social Media

 

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

Earlier this week Ethic Soup told about a lawsuit here that claimed meat used in Taco Bell's products wasn't all beef -- wasn't even half beef, but only 35 percent, with additives accounting for the other 65 percent. Holy Cow! 

EATING BEEF IN INDIA?    

Uh, maybe this is in preparation for opening new stores in India, where eating beef isn't exactly popular. Right now, Taco Bell has only one location there -- India's first Taco Bell store at Mantri Square Mall in Bangalore. It opened in March last year and attracted 2,000 to 2,500 customer per day, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Taco Bell plans to open 100 outlets in India by 2015, aiming for $1 billion in sales.

TACO BELL U.S. SALES STRUGGLING

The move comes as the "...chain is struggling in the U.S. and sales in China, where Yum Brands Inc has expanded for 22 years, are slowing," the Wall Street Journal reported last spring.

DON'T MESS WITH SACRED COW

Listen up, Taco Bell. We're talking about Hinduism's sacred animal and 83 percent of India's population (1.16 billion people) are Hindu and see the cow as an animal to be esteemed, not eaten. You know this, right? Few people revere the cow like the world's adherents of Hinduism, reports PBS.

Where's the Beef Taco Bell? Whatcha Been Hiding, Huh?

 
"Red Meat" Copyright by Sharon McEachern

 

 WHERE'S THE BEEF, TACO BELL? 

That's the big question of the week, ever since the Beasley Allen Law Firm based in Montgomery, Alabama, filed a class action lawsuit claiming that most of Taco Bell's "taco meat filling" and "seasoned ground beef" is anything but beef.

Taco Bell serves more than 36.8 million consumers each week, according to its website, in nearly 5,600 restaurants in the U.S. That could mean a lot of bucks for expensive beef. A corporation could make a whole lot more money if they didn't use so much meat and just called it real meat.

Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum Brands Inc. , has been accused of false advertising. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court in California, on behalf of Taco Bell customer and California resident Amanda Obney. She does not seek any monetary damages, but asks the court to order Taco Bell to be honest in its advertising. Whoa! No moola? Just tell the truth?

The Taco Bell meat paste stuff contains close to 35 percent beef says the law firm, after having Taco Bell products tested. The firm reports that results found the beef that the Mexican fast food chain uses is only 35 to 36 percent beef. That's not good.

FLESH OF CATTLE

The USDA insists that beef is the "flesh of cattle" and any food labeled as "meat taco filling" should at least have 40 percent fresh meat. Geez, that's less than half, yet Taco Bell still can't 'meat' the requirement. 

 

Now Even Popcorn Has Caffeine: The Latest in Absurdities

  

If you're one of us who are chronically sleep-deprived, yet you've got a date to go to the movies -- sneak in your own popcorn. Bring your own, not just to save money (the difference between microwave popcorn and movie theater popcorn is up to $10, not to mention cokes to drink), but to stay awake!

POP GOES THE CAFFEINE

As a follow-up story to Ethic Soup's previous post, Caffeine Is In Everything: How Much Is In You, this story is about -- regrettably true -- caffeinated popcorn.

Just donate your body to drugs. After all, caffeine is the world's favorite drug and today manufacturers are putting it in every food, drink and medicine product they can -- and more and more people are being admitted to hospital emergency rooms for "caffeine intoxication." Oh, yes, it's a real medical condition. And, yes, it can kill you.

Remember when coffee-overdose hospitalized rock star Dave Grohl of Them Crooked Vultures and Foo Fighters? 

HOSPITALIZED BY CHEWING GUM

I thought it was a new low when I heard about an Italian boy in the hospital because he chewed a pack of caffeinated chewing gum. And, there is caffeine in candy bars, too. Oh, well, making money off of children, whether dangerous or not, is a long-held, American tradition. Right?

Chef Ethics: Julia Roberts Gains Weight Filming "Eat, Pray, Love" in Italy

Julia Roberts, known for being svelte, said that she did "Olympic carbo loading" while in Italy, filming the movie "Eat, Pray, Love."

PIZZA & PASTA EQUALS POUNDS

She gained about 10 pounds, she told innumerable (thousands according to a Google search) media outlets during a press push for the August 13 release of the movie.

The movie, made from a memoir of the same name written by Elizabeth Gilbert, is about Gilbert's year visiting Bali, Italy and India to find herself after a divorce and failed romance. However, Gilbert reportedly gained a lot more than Roberts -- 30 pounds.

FANS CRISS-CROSS WORLD

The best selling book is hugely popular, hovering at the top of the bestsellers' list for four years. In fact, thousands of readers, with the book tucked under their arms, are now traveling around the world to the same locations Gilbert writes about.

Gilbert actually secured a book contract that paid for a year of solo travel, to do whatever she wanted to do.

DO ITALY'S CHEFS HAVE ANY ETHICS?

This post is a follow-up to several Ethic Soup posts involving Italian chefs and their ethics.

Italian Investigators Think Naples Pizza Ovens Burn with Wood From Coffin Thieves

NAPLES COFFIN PIZZA-- Italian pizzerias in Naples are not going to put this wording on their menus. I doubt that customers would order pizzas that have shared space with dead bodies and coffins -- if they knew. But Naples favorite dish relies on smoke from hardwood-fired stoves for its renowned flavor.

Neapolitan pizza is traditionally baked using a stone oven and oak-wood fire. Oak is also the favored wood for coffins.

But then, all of the pizzas and some of the bread are being baked with cut-price wood purchased from a gang of coffin thieves operating in the Italian city Naples -- a notoriously lawless port.

Juror Gave Judge Sexy, Anatomical Chocolates: Death Penalty Case Appealed

HERE COME 'DA CHOCOLATES, JUDGE -- It's hard to believe. A juror gave the judge a gift of bawdy chocolates, at the end of a death- penalty case. And the bailiff too.

NAUGHTY CHOCOLATES

Did you know there are companies whose only business is to make sexy chocolates, molded into anatomically-correct human parts? Ears and noses are not the popular parts.

My Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Max had one of the really popular ones. They kept it in the refrigerator and brought it out at family reunions -- when the kids were out of the kitchen. Aunt Bonnie even knitted it something to wear to keep warm (inside the refrigerator). I got to see it when I was in high school, after Aunt Mary Lou whispered "Get it out." My adult relatives laughed and snickered and I was totally disgusted, what with my tender teenage sensibilities.

UNCOMFORTABLE SENSIBILITIES

These days, apparently a federal appeals court has similar sensibilities.  "No court that has reviewed this case has been comfortable with these gifts," Judge Charles Wilson wrote for the 11th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Who's Your Daddy? Drinking A Lot of Cola and Caffeine Lowers Sperm Count

WANNA COLA, DUDE? WHOA! DON'T WANNA LOWER YOUR SPERM COUNT! If you're like most guys, having plenty of sperm is important to you. 

Significant is the fact that a reduced sperm count increases the risk of eventually becoming infertile -- no future "Got any money Dad?" or "Come watch me quarterback the big game Pop."

REAL MEN

Real men may not care much for quiche, nor can many spell it; but, real men have lots of fertile sperm and hairy chests. One you can see without a microscope and one you can't. That's why men describe a manly man as having big balls. Balls, of course, are testicles; and, testicles are where the sperm reside.

Everyone knows that you don't mess around with  Mother Nature because it can mess up your sperm, like taking a bunch of steroids so you can have bigger, stronger muscles. That's a case of 'What you see is NOT what you get.'

WHAT LOWERS SPERM COUNT?

Men who smoke have a 13-17 percent lower sperm count than those who do not smoke. High alcohol intake can significantly reduce the sperm count and motility. Tight fitting clothes and prolonged periods of sitting can lead to a reduction in sperm count through excessive heating of the testes. So, switch to wearing boxer shorts.

Cannabis, cocaine and anabolic steroids all reduce the sperm count, affect motility and number of normal sperm. And now there's cola.

Danger! Danger! Don't Let Dogs Woof-Down Easter Chocolates.

DON'T GIVE-IN to that pathetic begging-look from your pet pooch when it comes to chocolates. Chocolate may be delicious for you and have antioxidants protecting you against cancer, but it's poisonous for you dog and could kill it. 

Easter is the time of year when there are copious amounts of chocolate around the house. It's everywhere. Remember that you must keep it away from dogs because sharing chocolate Easter treats with your dog could be a death warrant.

TOXIC FOR DOGS & CATS

Whoa! Chocolate is bad for cats too. We hear more about chocolate being toxic for dogs because apparently once they've eaten some, they crave it -- just like we humans -- and can really woof down a lot, fast. Or, as vets say, the problem is that dogs tend to gorge.

Cats, however, don't seem to have the same craving. You know how they can be finicky eaters. But not all cats are the same, just like kids. Regardless of who likes chocolate the most, it's poisonous for both domestic buddies.

Coffee Overdose Hospitalized Rock Star Dave Grohl of 'Them Crooked Vultures' and 'Foo Fighters'

'BELIEVE ME, IT'S NO JOKE' to paraphrase rocker Dave Grohl, when fans refused to believe that he was hospitalized by a coffee overdose. It was "caffeine intoxication," not the usual drug overdose by rockers.

CAFFEINE INTOXICATION

Not many people know about caffeine intoxication and those who have heard about it often don't give it credence. Yet, it's become a serious problem as more and more frequently people ask for help from poison control centers and hospital emergency departments because they are consuming more and more caffeine. Last year, Ethic Soup wrote the post, "Caffeine is in everything: how much is in you?" which has become one of our most frequently-read posts.

JOCKEY VIDEO TRUE

What happened to Grohl happened about a year ago. However, his band-mates from Them Crooked Vultures, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones, posted a jockey video online about the overdose just last week. In the video, they teased Grohl about his coffee addiction and many fans thought the hospitalization was in jest.