12 Million Pounds of Ground Beef Recalled Due to Salmonella Concerns

Even more ground beef recalled

Arizona meat producer JBS Tolleson has expanded a ground beef recall to include more than 12 million pounds of product that was packaged from July to September of this year, and sold under the Showcase, Cedar Farms, and Kroger brands. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service believes that the ground beef may be contaminated with a strain of salmonella. Some of the recalled ground beef may be frozen, so the USDA is recommending that consumer toss products in their freezers with the branding “EST. 267” stamped inside the USDA mark of inspection. A study showed that 246 people in 26 states have gotten sick from the beef since the summer. USA Today notes that the FSIS is still looking into the outbreak, and more ground beef could be recalled in the future.

The King snipes at McDonald’s in new stunt

And speaking of ground beef, rascally fast food titan Burger King has a new stunt wherein customers can get Whoppers for one cent if they order them using the company’s app at a location of McDonald’s (or within 600 feet of the Golden Arches). A new promotional video includes faux security camera footage of people ordering Whoppers at McDonald’s drive-thru windows (which technically isn’t how the promotion works, but it’s a somewhat amusing conceit anyway). The deal is available from now through next Wednesday.

And in other news...

• Gwyneth Paltrow and her Goop coworkers use the term “contextual commerce” to describe the way that they bombard their fans with newsletters, Instagram posts, podcasts, and live events. “We sort of made it up. It’s the why of why you’re buying something,” Paltrow tells the Wall Street Journal in a new profile. “It’s really about finding things that we love, whether it’s a restaurant down the street here or a face product or whatever, and we write about why we love it, and then it converts really well.” [Wall Street Journal]
• The results of a new study conducted by the World Resources Industry suggest that to combat climate change, humans need to find a way to grow more food on less land. Cutting back on meat would help with that goal. [New York Times]
• Fat Boy, a storied burger joint in Brunswick, Maine, is now on the market. A big “for sale” sign has been affixed to the 63-year-old restaurant’s marquee. [Boston.com]
• Kim Severson dives into the world of bakers who make sugar cookies as a form of therapy. “There’s something about the way the royal icing settles that is intensely calming,” says a Salt Lake City “cookier” Georganne Bell. “You can forget everything else for just a minute.” [New York Times]
• And finally, The Munchies crew checks out the new, long-awaited Taco Bell Cantina location in Times Square. The verdict: “It could be the most affordable — perhaps even the coolest —spot to grab a Corona in the vicinity of Times Square.” [Munchies]