Food Delivery Startups a Crowded Field
Los Angeles — For generations, delivery meant pizza or Chinese takeout. Now the on-demand economy, having already upended the way people hail a ride or book a place to stay, is increasingly taking aim at what we put on our dining tables and expanding the menu in the process. You can have spicy clam and chorizo pasta delivered by Munchery one day, a gourmet sandwich dropped off curbside by UberEats on another, or come home to a box of...
Listeria-Tainted Ice Cream Part of Broader Surge in Food Recalls
Contaminated-food recalls are on pace to surge this year from 2014, buoyed by the discovery of bacteria in everything from ice cream to spinach. Companies recalled 3.7 million U.S. food items in the first half of the year because of viral or bacterial contaminants such as listeria and salmonella, consulting firm Stericycle ExpertSolutions said. That compares with 5.03 million in all of 2014, according to the firm’s data, which was...
Nuts and Bolts: Subaru BRZ
Bottom line: The Subaru BRZ and its co-developed twin, Toyota’s Scion FR-S, are niche cars designed for the young. The idea is to catch consumers as babies and bring them along to adulthood . . . when they will want and need something with more utility. Ride, acceleration and handling: The BRZ Series Blue is fast, light, agile and a lot of fun to drive. Head-turning quotient: It seriously reminds me of an elementary school rendering...
6% Increase OK’d For Vt. Blue Cross
Montpelier — The Green Mountain Care Board has given its approval to a nearly 6 percent rate increase for individual customers of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Board chairman Al Gobeille said the rate increase underscores the need to implement a payment reform system in Vermont. Blue Cross originally filed for an 8.6 percent increase but the board whittled this proposal down to a 5.9 percent increase. The increase is the weighted...
Implementing Food Safety Law A Slow Process
Washington — Four years ago, President Obama signed into law sweeping changes designed to improve U.S. food safety and prevent outbreaks similar to the one involving Brenham, Texas-based Blue Bell, in which three people have died after eating contaminated ice cream. The Food Safety Modernization Act, the biggest food safety overhaul since 1938, came in response to a 46-state outbreak tied to salmonella at a Georgia peanut plant in...
