Toxic Levels of Arsenic Found in Popular Juice Brands

How much arsenic is too much? Federal limits don’t exist.

As you know, arsenic is a poison, and there are big concerns about arsenic in popular fruit juices that you may be drinking.
The investigation reports that10 percent of juice samples, from five brands, had total arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards. Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen.

Juice from bottles, cans, and juice boxes tested.

Five samples of apple juice and four of grape juice had total arsenic levels exceeding the 10 ppb federal limit for bottled and drinking water. Levels in the apple juices ranged from 1.1 to 13.9 ppb, and grape-juice levels were even higher, 5.9 to 24.7 ppb.

As for lead, about one fourth of all juice samples had levels at or above the 5-ppb limit for bottled water.

APPLE JUICE

The following brands had at least one sample of apple juice that exceeded 10 ppb:

Apple & Eve
Great Value (Walmart)
Mott’s

And the following brands had one or more samples of apple juice that exceeded 5 ppb of lead:

America’s Choice (A&P)
Gerber
Gold Emblem (CVS)
Great Value
Joe’s Kids (Trader Joe’s)
Minute Maid
Seneca
Walgreens

GRAPE JUICE

For grape juice, at least one sample from Walgreens and Welch’s exceeded 10 ppb. At least one sample of grape juice exceeding 5 ppb of lead came from:

Gold Emblem (CVS)
Walgreens
Welch’s

Arsenic-tainted soil in U.S. orchards is a likely source of contamination for apples, and finding lead with arsenic in juices that we tested is not surprising. Even with a ban on lead-arsenate insecticides, “we are finding problems with some Washington state apples, not because of irresponsible farming practices now but because lead-arsenate pesticides that were used here decades ago remain in the soil,” says Denise Wilson, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Washington who has tested apple juices and discovered elevated arsenic levels even in brands labeled organic.

200-pound third grader taken from family

An Ohio third-grader who weighs more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care after social workers said his mother wasn’t doing enough to control his weight.

This is the first time state officials have put a child being put in foster care because of a weight-related issue.

A spokeswoman says the county removed the child because caseworkers saw his mother’s inability to reduce his weight as medical neglect.

How To Deep Fry Your Christmas Turkey

With Christmas just around the corner, Tim Hayward shows us how to deep fry a whole turkey using a propane gas burner, a coat-hanger and a saucepan lid. This process reduces cooking time to about 45 minutes.

We thank the Guardian for the video and they caution everyone: "This is a potentially dangerous procedure. Make sure you follow Tim's safety tips and heed his warnings, especially the one about the 30 foot flames and only attempting this outdoors."

Former world's fattest man begs for NHS operation to remove folds of skin

A British man who at one time was the fattest in the world is pleading with the NHS to remove unsightly flaps of flesh after he managed to lose more than half of his body weight.

Paul Mason, 50, who weighed 60 stone (14 pounds per stone) two years ago, had gastric bypass after he was told he was going to die.
But as you can see in the photos, he has been left with lots and lots of excess skin after all the weight loss.
Mr. Mason now wants an operation to remove all that hanging skin from his stomach, arms and legs, and wants others to pay for it.


The National Health Service is refusing to perform cosmetic surgery because they want him to maintain a stable weight before it can even be considered.

But Mr Mason, who has already cost the system £1million (1.5649 million U.S. dollars) says "I just need a little bit more help. I feel like I have been just left high and dry."
"I need this operation to be able to get my life back, to be able to get back into society. It is stopping me living a reasonable life."

The former postman, used to consume 20,000 calories a day and wasn't able to perform his job as a postman when his weight got in the way.
He was transferred to a sorting office, where he was fired and sent to jail for six months for stealing from customers letters.

In 2009, Mr Mason underwent a £30,000 operation, paid for by the NHS, limiting the amount he could eat.

This new surgery will cost around £1,500 to £6,000 if he decides to pay for the surgery himself. (fat chance)

His health care costs taxpayers around £100,000 a year and it is now over £1million over the past 15 years

Maybe it's time for Paul Mason to put up his own money where is mouth is.

Invite me to dinner and I'll forgive you, Paul Young tells TV chef

Eighties pop star Paul Young says he will forgive TV chef Gino D'Acampo for burgling his home him 13 years ago - as long as he is invited to dinner.

D'Acampo (photo below) broke into his home, stealing a £4,000 guitar collection and much-prized platinum disc.


D'Acampo, 35, often appears on This Morning and has a daytime ITV show with Melanie Sykes.
But at age 21-year-old (when he was a waiter) he robbed Young's house.

As a result, the chef was convicted in 1998 and served two years in jail.

Paul Young now says, "I don't hold it against him. He said it was bad and he apologized, and I did get most of the stuff back." "Maybe he needed his wrist slapping and he got that. He said he was in a terrible place at that time and wanted to turn his life around."

Since the eighties Young has been creating a second career in cooking, with successful appearances on MasterChef and Hell's Kitchen.



He said he had seen D'Acampo's rise to fame but never thought of going public: "I take it with a pinch of salt really. You've got to have a sense of humour. He wanted to meet to say his apologies. I thought that was nice, then he went into I'm A Celebrity and I thought, 'Ah, now I know why.'

"I decided to do the gentlemanly thing and not say anything. I just said, 'I hope I get an invite to your new restaurant.' I don't know if he's got a restaurant, but if he has and he's not invited me then I'm pissed off. He and I should do something stupid like collaborate on a show or book."

Young is releasing his own cookbook. He said: "Cooking has almost become on a level with music for me. I think there are parallels with food and music."

Judge: Levi Roots didn’t steal recipe..but he's a liar

Levi Roots is a Reggae Sauce millionaire.
He repeatedly claimed the recipe was handed down by his grandmother, and that it had been voted the world's best jerk barbecue sauce, and had been the "taste of Notting Hill Carnival" since the early 1990s.
Roots, 53, was sued for £600,000 by Tony Bailey, and financial adviser Sylvester Williams for stealing the recipe and breaking a deal to sell the sauce together.

The judge rule that Levi Roots did not steal the secret recipe from a former associate and friend.
But recognized in court that Levi had Labout the product several times on TV's Dragons' Den.

The judge said Roots "regards the truth as an optional extra".

But despite a ruling that the stories were "false representations", the judge tossed Bailey's claim that it was his recipe. The judge added: "There's nothing special either about the ingredients or the methodology of making them into a sauce."

Levi Roots has thrown the Grandma story down the stairs and now says he created the sauce from a basic jerk recipe and the Dragons' Den lies were just "marketing".

Roots said: "I was promoting the sauce. I was just trying my best to promote the sauce in the best way possible. I didn't think they would use the story, but it would be about the taste."

Here's a sample of the questioning Roots had to answer:

When asked about the claim that it was his grandmother's recipe, he admitted that this was also untrue.

Roots said: 'My way of trying to market the sauce when I started out was to put in all my experience with people in my life and my family.

'I was trying to create the flavour that my grandmother used to cook for me. How she used to do what she called relish.

'I was trying to recreate that flavour and that is the reason why my grandmother is on it. I thought it apt to put her legacy in there.'



Read aloud, in court, from the transcript of Roots' appearance on Dragons' Den, which convinced entrepreneurs to invest in the product to the tune of £50,000.

Levi was asked: "'You were saying that you had been successfully selling Reggae Reggae sauce for 15 years, is that right?'

Roots replied: 'It's my connection to Notting Hill Carnival was more what I was talking about. This was my marketing ploy.'

Again asked: 'But the sauce didn't have a 15-year reputation?'

Roots said: 'It's not about sauce, it's about Levi Roots. It [the carnival stall] was only popular because it was a Levi Roots stall.'

He also admitted lying in his first cookbook by denying his gangland past.

But he said: 'I was desperately trying to tell my story in a cookbook, which was totally unrelated to what I was now, and I found it very difficult to tell the story.

'I wouldn't say it was a lie - I was trying to market myself at the time. I was trying to market myself as Levi Roots.'

He admitted having a business agreement with Williams, but said it had been abandoned before his appearance on Dragons' Den.

Roots added: 'Since Dragons' Den I realised what I have become to the public. It's become much more than just a sauce.

'The whole thing about Levi Roots has become so important, especially for black African Caribbean people.'

Hey Levi, we wonder what you have become to the public now?

Pakistani woman kills husband - boils body

Boil boil toil and trouble.
Police have arrested a woman in the Pakistani city of Karachi because she killed her husband, then chopped his body into pieces and boiling him/them trying to get rid of the evidence.


Above photo: her cooking tools.

42-year-old Zainab Bibi (above photo) told authorities she killed her husband because he assault her 17-year-old daughter from another marriage, and she was boiling mad.


Bibi's landlord found her at the stove, cooking the flesh from her husband's arm and leg. Pictured, kitchenware from the scene is taken away for examination

She said she sedated her husband by mixing sleeping pills in his tea and strangled him with rope. She and her nephew allegedly cut up her husband and boiled the flesh.
Police say the neighbors complained about a bad smell coming from her home, so they investigated.
As a result they also arrested the nephew.

Turkey crashes into restaurant window on Thanksgiving day

We take you next to Pennsylvania.
A 15 pound wild turkey chose Thanksgiving to fly into an Eat'n Park restaurant, crashing and shattering the glass.

Penn Hills police said the turkey didn’t survive impact when it collided with the window and wound up inthe dining room.
The restaurant was closed at the time.

The police investigation concluded that the turkey may have been roosting in a nearby tree when it “got up this morning and went for his morning flight and flew into the window.”

Good work officers.

Woman purchases turkey with 2007 expiration date

A Nashville woman was somewhat shocked to discover that she had purchased a turkey that had expired four years ago.

Libby Spires bought the out-dated turkey from Apple Market.

"I was shocked because it said November 23, 2007," she recalled. "I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I can't eat this turkey!'"


She went on to say, "I don't know why I didn't look [at the date when I bought it]. I was just busy. I didn't look at it then, but it's the first thing I did when I took it out of the freezer today."

Spires returned the old turkey to the store and received a complete refund.

She said after she got her refund she purchase a turkey for Thanksgiving at a different store, and this time she would check the expiration date.

Apple Market's General Manager Ken Osborne did not want to speak on camera, but said he was horrified about what happened.

In a statement, he said, "This is an honest mistake. We donate unused food to needy families and area churches. I don't know how this was mixed up. It never should have happened."

We aren't sure what donating food to needy families or churches has to do with any of this, but we hope he isn't suggesting that they have been donating old birds around town.

Osborne said that not only customers should check expiration dates, but he is going to urge his employees to do so as well.
May we suggest that needy families and churches do the same.

Despite the slip-up at the store, Spires said she will still continue to shop at the location.

Officials do say that frozen turkeys should remain fresh up to three years past their sell by date.

Happy Thanksgiving

From all of us here in the Voodoo Kitchen, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.
So, Eat, Drink and be Merry!

50 shoplifters hit 7-Eleven all at once

As you can see on the surveillance video, a mob of 50 people simultaneously shoplifted from a Silver Spring, Md., 7-Eleven.

When the police arrived at the store around 11:20 p.m. they saw people gathered in surrounding parking lots and on side streets, but dispersed when police arrived on the scene.

The shoplifters were teens and young adults, taking items like snacks and drinks.

Is it any wonder no one wants to start a business in these neighborhoods?

EU bans claim that water prevents dehydration

After three years of intense investigating EU officials have concluded that there is no evidence to prove that drinking water hydrates anyone.
Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from claiming that water does hydrates, and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the law, which comes into force in the UK next month.

Critics said the EU was defying science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.
“The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.
“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”

The Department for Health disputed the new law. A spokesman said: “Of course water hydrates. While we support the EU in preventing false claims about products, we need to exercise common sense as far as possible."
A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control.
Now the EFSA verdict has been turned into an EU law.

Ukip MEP Paul Nuttall said, “I had to read this four or five times before I believed it. It is a perfect example of what Brussels does best. Spend three years, with 20 separate pieces of correspondence before summoning 21 professors to Parma where they decide with great solemnity that drinking water cannot be sold as a way to combat dehydration.
“Then they make this judgment law and make it clear that if anybody dares sell water claiming that it is effective against dehydration they could get into serious legal bother.

Rules banning bent bananas and curved cucumbers were scrapped in 2008 after causing international ridicule.
We believe this law deserves just as much ridicule.

New York waiters arrested for stealing credit card numbers

Seven waiters at some of New York's best steakhouses were arrested for stealing the American Express card numbers of rich customers and using them to buy expensive, luxury items.



High-tech "skimmers" which fit into the palm of a hand have been used to captured customers' credit card numbers at high-end restaurants in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

The two indictments, with a total of 172 criminal counts for the 28-member ring, which includes seven waiters, 10 shoppers, several organizers and a handful of customers who bought the luxury goods knowing they were stolen.
The cards targeted were those with a high-limit or unlimited American Express credit cards. These included the "black card," which assured that the ring could make purchases without fear of automatic red flags with American Express.
After the waiters skimmed the credit cards, the numbers were then used to manufacture phony credit cards, complete with embossed numbers and the names of the customers whose cards were skimmed.
An army of shoppers, with the cards, were sent to stores such as Jimmy Choo, Cartier and Neiman Marcus to purchase handbags, shoes and other items, according to the indictments. The items were resold for profit.
Search warrants turned up more than $1 million worth of watches and more than $1.2 million in cash, among other items.
The charges range from grand larceny to enterprise corruption, New York State's equivalent of racketeering. The alleged ringleader, Luis Damian Jacas, 41, faces more than 135 felony counts in all.

Man hits his mother with a ham during an argument

It's the most wonderful time of the year, or at least that's how the song goes.
But we turn our attention to a Tennessee man who apparently hit his mother with a ham during an argument in their home.

Emanuel Cordell Kennedy, 37, (above photo) was arrested after he threw a ham at his mother as she was walking down the hall.
Kennedy is saying he did not intend to hit his 55 year old mother?


Regardless, he ruined a perfectly good ham, and for that he should serve time.

Thawing that Turkey

Here's some info on thawing turkeys in the refrigerator.
We thought you might find this chart helpful.

Thief falls through Albertson's ceiling

An Albertson’s supermarket in Garden Grove California was evacuated after a would be burglar fell through the ceiling and landed near a cash register.
It was around 9:30 p.m. when a female shopper saw a man’s leg coming from the ceiling.
The customer then told the store’s manager, before the guy suddenly fell to the ground with a crash, by the checkout lane.

It's believed the man was attempting to steal copper wiring from the supermarket roof.

Waitress Says She Was Fired For Tea Party Bracelet

A Crystal Lake waitress says she was fired because she wore a Tea Party bracelet to work.

Megan Geller, 23, says wears the bracelet with the words “Don’t Tread on Me,” the phrase that appears beneath the iconic snake on the yellow Gadsden flag, and which is often seen and heard at Tea Party rallies.

Geller says a couple she was serving at the local Outback Steak House were offended and complained.

Geller said her mother got the bracelet at a Tea Party event, and a couple dining at the restaurant did not like it and asked for the manager.


After Geller was fired, a group rallied in front of the Outback Steakhouse, waving American and Gadsden flags and accusing the restaurant of violating her free speech rights.


Outback has a different story. They say Geller was inattentive to diners at two tables and say that if the bracelet had been a problem, managers would have told her to remove it.

FISH YOU MAY NOT WANT TO EAT

Fish You Shouldn't Eat

Check this out from Yahoo.
Interesting info that may make you think twice about the fish you purchase.
Click on to the link above.

The Occupiers and Whole Foods

In their desire to make a statement, their efforts destroy what others have achieved.
In Oakland, this Whole Foods store becomes the latest victim of the movement.

Herman Cain refers to Michele Bachmann as ‘tutti frutti'

In the GQ interview, Mr Cain was asked which flavour would best suit his 2012 GOP rivals.
While we find the question strange, Herman Cain decided to answer it, and here's his response:

He said Mitt Romney would be ‘plain vanilla’


Rick Perry is ‘rocky road’



and Michele Bachmann as 'tutti frutti'


In the interview, Mr Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, also said that the more toppings a man has on his pizza, the more masculine he is.
He branded those who skip the meat and just have vegetables on their slice ‘sissies’.

But he said: ‘The more toppings a man has on his pizza, I believe the more manly he is… Because the more manly man is not afraid of abundance.
‘A manly man don’t want it piled high with vegetables! He would call that a sissy pizza… I love the sausage, the mushrooms. Love it.’

I'M A Celebrity's Freddie Starr taken to hospital after eating a camel toe

Freddie, 68, collapsed with a severe allergic reaction to the variety of food choices.

We aren't quite sure how the hit ITV show works, but we know it's popular.

Freddy was voted to do the Greasy Spoon Bushtucker Trial by thousands of the show's 12.5 million viewers.

He ate a five-course meal including the camel's toe, a rotten egg, mealworms, mice tails, pig's anus and turkey testicles.

But two hours later Freddie, (who apparently isn't real smart) who underwent heart surgery last year — said he didn't feel well and stumbled when he tried to sit down.


Did we mention that heart patient Freddy is also a heavy smoker?

He was taken to a hospital on Australia's Gold Coast and immediately underwent tests. (for stupidly no doubt)

There have been growing fears for Freddie's health since he arrived in Australia.
He was visibly out of breath at the airport and spent the day chain-smoking at his hotel. But he says there's nothing to worry about.


This coming from a guy who once ate a hamster.

Paralyzed in his sleep: Drunk university Student falls from bed

Even though alcohol has health benefits, there are times when it has it's problems.

When 20 year old Kei Usami, a university student went to sleep drunk, he woke up in hospital paralysed from the neck down.
It seems the drunk Kei fell four feet from his dorm bed, hitting his head so hard that he fractured his spine.



Surprise, surprise, a law suit has been brought against the Bronx college for not installing guardrails on the side of the bed.

As expected, the school blames Mr Usami, who had been partying that night with friends, deciding to consume large amounts of alcohol.

Once again, we bring you, The First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has changed dramatically since1621, it probably doesn't look very much like the "traditional" one we stuff ourselves with now.

Before we talk about the foods that were served, let's look at the foods that were not served at the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Turkey - Turkey may have been served because it was often eaten by both the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims but is not specifically mentioned in Winslows’ letter. He writes about “wild fowl” only, which may have been duck or geese.

Cranberry Sauce - It was fifty years after 1621 that anyone mentions cranberry sauce for use with meat in English recipes. Prior to this time sugar, a necessary in cranberry sauce was an incredibly expensive import. Both the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag added cranberries for tartness in a dish, but cranberry sauce itself would not appear until the 1670’s.

Potatoes - White potatoes were unknown in England at the time of the first Thanksgiving, they were not a part of the English diet. Sweet potatoes were, in the early 1600’s, imported into England from Spain and were used only by the super rich.

Pumpkin Pie - Pumpkin pie as we know it wasn't served, but pumpkin and squash were included in the feast but served as vegetables only. Some time after 1621, pumpkin dessert recipes included pumpkin.

Foods Served at the Original Thanksgiving Feast
In addition to the wild fowl (maybe turkey) pumpkin and squash mentioned above, the following foods were certainly abundant and most likely were included in the “harvest” celebration:

Fish
Lobsters
Eel
Mussels
Oysters
Corn
Parsnips
Collards
Turnips
Spinach
Onions
Dried Beans
Dried Blueberries
Grapes
Nuts

1621 Thanksgiving Meal Details

The celebration was a three day event, not one, and it was feasting and entertainment, including games and the shooting of muskets.
It may have been held in October, not November.
There is no evidence that the Wampanoag Indians were explicitly invited.
It was not called “Thanksgiving”. It was a “harvest festival”.
It was not intended to become an annual event.

Chicken Pox Lollipops

A federal prosecutor has warned parents against trading chicken pox-laced lollipops by mail in attempts to expose their children to the virus to build immunity later in life.

Apparently, there is a multi-state ring of parents, who don't like the idea of vaccinations, trading lollipops licked by a sick child.

"Sending a virus or disease through the U.S. mail (and private carriers) is illegal. It doesn't matter if it crosses state lines," said David Boling, public information officer.

"Also, it is against federal law to adulterate or tamper with consumer products, such as candy."

Doctors are warning parents, saying, only is it dangerous but it's also a waste of time since chicken pox is an airborne virus and would probably not be able to be transferred through mail.

Mario Batali compares bankers to Hitler and Stalin

By now, many of you may know that Mario Batali compared bankers to Hitler and Stalin, out in the open, at a public event.

Well, soon after the remarks were uttered, Batali quickly realized he may have step in his own poo and apologized.
But the Wall Street people, who expensive wallets with money, aren't ready to forgive him.

Mario made his comments during a Time magazine Person of the Year debate.
His anti big bank vitriol went like this: “So the ways the bankers have kind of toppled the way money is distributed and taken most of it into their hands is as good as Stalin or Hitler and the evil guys." "They’re not heroes, but they are people that had a really huge effect on the way the world is operating.”

Honestly, he should stick to cooking.

The next day, he made a mad dash to re-explain himself through a spokeswoman: “To remove any ambiguity about my appearance at yesterday’s Time Person of the Year panel, I want to apologize for my remarks. It was never my intention to equate our banking industry with Hitler and Stalin, two of the most evil, brutal dictators in modern history.”

Really, he should just stick to cooking.

But it may be too little to late.
Wall Street tempers have not been soothed reports Bloomberg, which notes that hundreds of users took to Bloomberg terminals interactive Dine function to tear into Batali and call for the boycott of his 20 restaurants.

Perhaps chef Batali forgot that these bankers are the ones who can afford his tasting menus at $600.

The apology may be meaningless to bankers and investors who
spend big money at Batali's eateries.

Batali, just may have to eat his Stalin and Hitler remarks because angry bankers are using Twitter to encourage each other to boycott Batali restaurants.

Here are some sample Tweets: "Credit derivatives trader calls me: “I spent $4,000 on a white truffle dinner on Monday at Babbo. This is shitty. I feel used.”

"Hey Nazi Banksters, come eat my overpriced, overrated food that only you can afford regularly….love M. Batali XXXOOO."

Some celebrity chefs forget who and what they are, and bite the hand that feeds them.

Teens Still Drink Sodas

Teens still drink sodas.
That's the bottom line, even after all the soda hoopla.
There's a new study about schools that have limited sales of soda and other sugary beverages on campus.
It says that teens drink just as many sodas as they ever did, and in fact, just as many as the students in schools without any soda restrictions.

Not surprising, but Interestingly enough, students who were subjected to some kind of sugar-sweetened beverage ban at school were actually more likely to consume sugary drinks on a daily basis.

Jimmy Kimmel plays Halloween prank on kids

It wasn't pretty, there were tantrums, tears and lots of screaming.
This is what happened after hundreds of parents told their children they had stayed up late and ate all their Halloween candy.
And now the video of Jimmy Kimmel urging parents to play along with the joke.

He asked viewers to give their children the bad news, capture the results on video and post the results online.

There was one boy who told his dad: 'Good for you, daddy's probably going to have a belly ache.
'That's why you shouldn't eat so much candy.'

Jimmy Kimmel said he was surprised how many children burst into tears after hearing the news












And another little girl bursts into tears and shouts: 'Dad, you're ugly!'
But Kimmel, said the joke would cause so many tears.
He said: I kind of thought kids would be mad - but almost all of them cried.'