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Food Tag

Democrats have spent years trying to "Raise the Wage" for workers in entry-level and part-time jobs, to no avail. Their approach was all wrong. Though they successfully installed minimum wage hikes in blue locals, the exact population they sought to help experienced layoffs, hour cuts, and even store closures as a result of the mandated wage increases (we've cataloged this ongoing story extensively). Thanks to recent changes in tax laws, Starbucks employees will finally get the wage bumps Democrats have spent years trying to deliver.

Earlier this week, the FDA announced a coming crackdown on "potentially harmful, unproven homeopathic drugs". Homeopathic drugs are holistic and said to stimulate the body's power to heal itself by focusing on the entire picture of health and not only the ailment needing treatment. Some swear by homeopathy, even if there's little science to back it up.

Despite its status as a blue state, a special set of entrepreneurs have figured out how to market one of Washinton's iconic products: Coffee. Perhaps inspired by the "Hooters" model for chicken wings, scantily clad women serve up delicious caffeinated drinks and a smile. The successful business model, however, was drawing concerns that criminal elements were attracted to bikini baristas.

As a work from home mom with a toddler and a puppy, I was heartened to read that my caffeine addiction (though I'd argue it's more of a necessity during this stage of life) might not be so terrible for my health after all. A recent study found that drinking 3 or 4 cups of coffee a day, or what's considered "moderate amounts" does more good than harm to the human body. Drink more than 4 cups a day? That might not be harmful, but the benefits of coffee drinking become less pronounced.

Happy Thanksgiving. This year, I wanted to take an in-depth look at cranberries, which are second only to the turkey drumstick as the favorite component of my holiday meal. The little, red sphere of tartness turns out to be only one of three fruits that naturally occur in North America (the other two being blueberries and Concord grapes).

Former NAACP activist Rachel Dolezal is quietly selling homemade lollipops from her website. You may remember Dolezal as the gal responsible for making selective race a national discussion. Dolezal, born of two white parents, masqueraded as a black woman for years saying she self-identified as black.

The government ruins absolutely everything. Even cute, independent bakery ingredient lists. A Massachusetts bakery dinged by the FDA for a litany of ridiculous infractions was most shocked to find they'd been reprimanded for citing "love" as an ingredient in their rolled oats.

Beef Products Inc. (BPI) has reached a settlement agreement with ABC News. The beef company sued ABC and reporter Jim Avila for defamation after the network aired an investigative segment in 2012 calling a filler product used in ground beef "pink slime." The complaint alleged omission of facts in addition to food-libel. BPI claimed their business suffered an 80% loss in profits, forcing them to close three of four processing plants after the ABC report aired.

Among the trending news items this week is the tale of a freak accident that took the life of a French model and aspiring social media star.

From the Daily Mail:
A French fitness blogger has been killed by an exploding whipped cream dispenser which hit her in the chest, giving her a heart attack. Rebecca Burger's family announced her death on social media, where she has amassed a following of more than 200,000 with her fitness focused posts.

The theory of "consensus science reliability" seems to have taken another hit, as a new report has been released that asserts government-based dietary fat guidelines "have no evidence base". Publishing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Dr Zoë Harcombe of the Institute of Clinical Exercise and Health Science of the University of the West of Scotland researched both the origins and the results of following the dietary fat guidelines that have prevailed in the US and the United Kingdom for almost 40 years. The evidence provides no support for the assertion that low-fat diets are healthier, especially as the incidences of obesity and diabetes have escalated dramatically during the same four decades of the guidelines' implementation.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has accused Anheuser-Busch InBev of handing out incentives to retailers and bars in the state to push Budweiser beer over other brands. The Wall Street Journal reported:
The state’s Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission has issued a report detailing investigators’ findings and set a June hearing in Boston on the matter. The report alleges a subsidiary of AB InBev gave out bar equipment as incentives to hundreds of Massachusetts businesses in violation of a state law meant to keep beer companies from squeezing out competitors.