THIS SECTION IS FOR NEWS AND INTERESTING STORIES RELATED TO FOOD, NUTRITION AND FOOD PROCESSING. THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY RELATED TO KOSHER BUT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO THE KOSHER CONSUMER, MANUFACTURER OR MASHGIACH.
May 1, 2026 there have been stories around the web about a frum family in Lakewood that thought they were order ing from a kosher restaurant Smash House Burger but instead ordered from a treif on SmashBurger. An article about is here:
Some of the lessons from this are:
April 30, 2026 from the CPSC :
Thermos Stainless King 3000 and 3020 Food Jars and Thermos Sportsman 3010 Food & Beverage Bottles has been recalled. If perishable food or beverages are stored in the container for an extended period of time, the stopper can forcefully eject when opened, which can result in serious impact injury and laceration hazards to the consumer.
Consumer Contact: Thermos online at https://support.thermos.com or go to https://www.thermos.com and click “Contact Us” or “Recall Info,” or call 662-563-6822 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.
Description: This recall involves Thermos Stainless King Food Jars with model numbers SK3000 and SK3020, manufactured before July 2023 and all Thermos Sportsman Food & Beverage Bottles with model number SK3010. The stopper of the recalled Food Jars and Food & Beverage Bottles does not have a pressure relief in the center. The containers were sold in a variety of colors in sizes of 16-oz, model number SK3000, 24-oz, model number SK3020, and 40-oz, model number SK3010. The Thermos trademark is located on the side of the product. The model numbers are printed on the bottom of the recalled containers.
Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled Food Jars and Bottles immediately and contact Thermos to receive a free replacement pressure relief stopper or replacement Bottle, depending on the model. For recalled 3000 and 3020 Food Jars, consumers will be asked to throw away the stopper and send a photo of the disposed stopper to Thermos. For recalled 3010 Bottles, consumers will be asked to return their recalled Bottle to Thermos using a prepaid shipping label.
Sold At: Target, Walmart and other stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com and Thermos.com between around March 2008 and July 2024 for about $30.
March 30, 2026 from Green Queen:
"Mississippi has banned the production and sale of cultivated dairy products, such as milk, cheese and more, becoming the first state in the country to do so.
"The law will come into effect on July 1, and businesses found violating it could have their licenses revoked or suspended, and be fined up to $500 a day, with a maximum penalty of $10,000.
"It comes a year after Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill to prohibit the sale of cultivated meat, which is produced using a similar technology.
"The bill was introduced by Representative Bill Pigott, a beef and dairy farmer who has long been an opponent of alternative proteins.
"HB 1153 defined cultivated dairy products as those “intended to replicate or to substitute for milk” and “derived from animal cells cultured outside of a live animal”.
"It doesn’t include precision-fermented products, which do not use animal inputs in their products, instead relying on yeast to produce recombinant dairy proteins and fats. Several companies have already received approval and commercialised animal-free dairy products produced with this technology.
"Pigott’s proposal travelled through the legislative chambers without much opposition, which is why Governor Tate Reeves allowed the bill to pass without his signature.
"The attack on cultivated dairy seems a bit futile, given that no such product has reached market anywhere in the world so far. And very few companies seem to be working on this specific technology, such as Opalia, Wilk, Senara, and Brown Foods.
April 23, 2026 from the CPSC :
Bauhini SDADI Kitchen Step Stools have been recalled because the kitchen step stools pose a risk of serious injury due to the instability of the product, which can cause entrapment, tip overs and fall hazards.
Consumer Action: CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop using the toddler step stools and destroy them by disassembly and then dispose of them. Do not sell or give away these hazardous toddler step stools.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers to stop using Bauhini SDADI Kitchen Step Stools immediately. The kitchen step stools pose a risk of serious injury due to the instability of the product, which can cause entrapment, tip overs and fall hazards.
About 3,600 kitchen step stools were sold online at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com, and Best Buy.com for between $45 and $155.
Bauhini SDADI Kitchen Step Stools are wooden standing towers for kids. They are about 35 inches high, 18 inches wide, and 18 inches deep. The towers were sold in grey, white, and natural wood colors.
Bauhini of China has not responded to requests for a recall.
CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop using the toddler step stools and destroy them by disassembly and then dispose of them. Do not sell or give away these hazardous toddler step stools.
April 23, 2026 from the CPSC :
AMZCMJ DGD Children’s Tower Stools have been recalled because the recalled tower stools can collapse or tip over while in use and a child’s torso can fit through the openings on the tower’s sides, posing a risk of serious injury and death due to tip over, fall and entrapment hazards.
Consumer Contact: AMZCMJ DGD by email at dgdtoddlertowerrecall@dchskj.cn.
Description: This recall involves AMZCMJ DGD-branded children’s tower stools. The wooden kitchen stools measure about 15 inches deep, 22 inches wide and 34 inches tall. They are foldable and convert into a table and a chair and have a blackboard. The brand name is printed on the product’s order receipt.
Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled tower stools immediately and contact AMZCMJ DGD for a full refund. Consumers will be asked to destroy the stool by writing "recalled" in permanent marker on all sides, disassembling it and sending a photo of the destroyed stool to dgdtoddlertowerrecall@dchskj.cn. Consumers should then dispose of the destroyed product.
Sold Online At: Amazon.com from February 2025 through March 2026 for between $85 and $100.
April 23, 2026 from the CPSC :
Wiifo Children’s Tower Stools have been recalled because the recalled tower stools can collapse or tip over while in use, and a child’s torso can fit through the openings on the tower’s sides, posing a risk of serious injury and death due to tip over, fall and entrapment hazards.
Consumer Contact: Wiifo toll free at 888-505-6206 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, email at support@wiifo.net, or online at www.wiifo.net/recall or www.wiifo.net and click on “Product Recalls” at the top of the page for more information.
Description: This recall involves Wiifo-branded children’s tower stools. The wooden kitchen tower stools were sold in white, natural and light wood finish, and measure about 18 inches deep, 18 inches wide and 34 inches tall. “Model LT005” printed on label on the underside of the standing platform.
Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled tower stools immediately and contact Wiifo for a full refund. Consumers will be asked to destroy the stool by disassembling it and send a photo of the destroyed stool to support@wiifo.net. Consumers should then dispose of the destroyed product. s Wiifo-branded children’s tower stools. The wooden kitchen tower stools were sold in white, natural and light wood finish, and measure about 18 inches deep, 18 inches wide and 34 inches tall. “Model LT005” printed on label on the underside of the standing platform.
Sold Online At: Amazon.com from June 2022 through March of 2026 for about $60.
April 23, 2026 from the CPSC :
TOETOL Tower Stools have been recalled because the recalled tower stools can collapse or tip over while in use and a child’s torso can fit through the openings on the tower’s sides, posing a risk of serious injury and death due to tip over, fall and entrapment hazards.
Consumer Contact: TOETOL HOME via email at TOETOLHOMEStepStoolsrecall@outlook.com.
Description: This recall involves TOETOL HOME-branded children’s tower stools, model DETD0001. The wooden kitchen tower step stools were sold in white, gray and dark wood colors and measure about 20 inches deep, 15 inches wide and 36 inches tall with model DETD0001 printed on a label on the side.
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled tower stools and contact TOETOL HOME for a full refund. Consumers will be asked to destroy the stool by disassembling it and send a photo of the destroyed stool to TOETOLHOMEStepStoolsrecall@outlook.com. Consumers should then dispose of the destroyed product.
Sold Online At: Amazon.com from October 2024 through March 2026 for about $130.
April 21, 2026 from the Nutrition Insight
April 21, 2026 from the Jewishbreakingnews.com
"A dramatic and highly unusual fight between halacha and the legal system is taking place after a major cookie manufacturer filed a 3 million shekel lawsuit against a prominent posek, after putting out a new psak right before Pesach.
'The controversy began when Rav Binyomin Chuta gave a shiur and public psak advising consumers not to eat Papushado cookies on Pesach, he argued longstanding halachic concerns regarding the products and how they are made.
"The cookies, produced by Papushado, have for years been discussed in the Halacha world. While many Rabbonim allow these products, others strongly discourage eating them, due to potential issues of chametz.
"However, what is typically a classic halachic debate has now exploded into something much bigger and more unusual. The company is accusing Rav Chuta of causing severe financial damage by issuing what they claim was a misleading and harmful psak at the height of the Pesach shopping season. The lawsuit argues that while Rabbonim are entitled to express halachic opinions, presenting them in a way that impacts a specific product crosses into questionable territory.
"The company has points to prior Rabbonim backing for its cookies, including relying on lenient opinions associated with leading Sephardic Poskim, arguing that the cookies have long been accepted in parts of the kosher market."
April 13, 2026 from the FDA
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration is releasing data from a sampling assignment carried out in 2025 to test domestic and imported honey for economically motivated adulteration, a term used by the FDA for food fraud. Food fraud occurs, for example, when a valuable ingredient or part of a food is intentionally left out, taken out, or is substituted or when a substance is added to a food to make it appear better or of greater value.
The FDA samples various foods to safeguard the integrity of the food supply and protect consumers against food fraud. This sampling was designed to identify products that contained undeclared added sweeteners that are less expensive than honey, such as syrups from sugarcane and corn. The FDA tested honey samples using a stable carbon isotope ratio analysis method, which measures carbon isotopes in both the overall honey and its protein content. If a sample's carbon isotope levels didn't match what is expected from real honey, FDA experts reviewed the results more closely. They considered factors such as natural variations of honey composition and the test's margin of error to determine if the honey was adulterated. This assignment follows previous honey assignments in 2021-22 and 2022-23 in an effort to continue monitoring industry compliance.
As part of the assignment, conducted in 2025, the agency tested 102 honey samples, including 54 domestic samples and 48 import samples. Of the 102 samples tested, the violation rate was about 4% for both domestic products (2 out of 54) and imported products (2 out of 48). In the 2022-2023 assignment, the agency collected and tested 107 imported honey samples and found 3% of those samples to be violative. In 2021-2022, the agency collected and tested 144 imported honey samples and found 10% of those samples to be violative. For imported violative samples, the FDA stopped the products and future shipments of these products from entering the U.S. by placing the firms and products on import alerts. For domestic violative samples, FDA is working with firms on recalls and other corrective actions.
Even though the majority of honey products tested were in compliance, these findings highlight the ongoing vulnerability of honey to food fraud and reinforce the importance of the FDA's continued sampling efforts to ensure the integrity of the food supply and protect consumer interests. Moving forward, the FDA will maintain its surveillance of honey for food fraud through the agency's risk-based sampling programs and take appropriate follow up actions if violative products are detected.
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