As workers push to unionize, food companies shut down their worksites
Last month, workers at a Chipotle in Augusta, Maine, announced that they intended to form a union — the first of the chain’s roughly 3,000 locations to do so. This week, Chipotle said it will close the store permanently. The move came the same week that Amy’s Kitchen, the vegetarian frozen-food company that has reportedly been fighting attempts by its workers to unionize, announced that it’s closing the San Jose, California, factory where workers complained of “unrelenting managers, poor working conditions, and demanding production mandates.” (No paywall)
Survey: Female fast-food workers are frequent victims of sexual harassment
Forty percent of women working in fast food said they had experienced sexual harassment on the job, and 42 percent of those said they felt they had to accept the inappropriate treatment or else lose their jobs, according to a survey by Hart Research Associates.
What Trump and Clinton staffers eat
The Clinton campaign loads up on Domino’s and Walmart groceries, while Trump staffers hit up Trump Grill and McDonald's, says Eater. The site searched spending records from the Federal Elections Commission to find out how each presidential hopeful was feeding their staff.
Chipotle will help farmers bear cost of food safety
Restaurant chain Chipotle will spend up to $10 million to help local farmers cover the cost of new safety tests and compliance with food-safety protocols, reports Bloomberg.
E coli outbreak prompts Chipotle to close 43 restaurants
State health officials report at least 22 people became ill and eight were hospitalized by an outbreak of foodborne illness linked to food served at Chipotle restaurants in Oregon and Washington State, said the FDA. The majority of the cases were in Washington.
Chipotle stung by ad campaign
The Washington Post’s Roberto Ferdman reported Thursday on the launch of a new advertising campaign targeting the fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle. Kicking off with a full-page ad in the New York Post, the campaign, funded by the Center for Consumer Freedom, chastises Chipotle for selling high-calorie fare while marketing itself as a healthy alternative.
Lobbying by the ‘good food’ sector is ‘limited to non-existent’
The "good food" sector, which includes Chipotle, Whole Foods and Applegate, are making inroads in the marketplace, but when it comes to policymaking, "their involvement on Capitol Hill, on issues from the farm bill to nutrition labeling, has ranged from limited to non-existent," says Politico.
McDonald’s may sell more McOrganic food
Fast-food giant McDonald's may sell more organic food to hold on to its customers, says chief executive Don Thompson, according to Bloomberg.
Opponents dominate funding in GMO label drives in West
The opposition to state-level labeling of GMO foods is out-spending the proponents in Colorado and Oregon, which hold statewide referendums on the issue on Nov 4, says Food Safety News.