A new law gives restaurant operators more control over how they accept payment from customers.
As of July 22, merchants can set minimums for credit card transactions or offer discounts for some forms of payment. The law, enacted July 21, also addresses interchange fees, a high cost of doing business for restaurants. The National Restaurant Association has worked for years to secure more reasonable fees related to debit card transactions.
Interchange fees are among restaurants’ greatest operating expenses. Merchants pay
about $48 billion in interchange fees a year.
The law authorizes the Federal Reserve Board to issue regulations within a year that ensure interchange fees on debit card transactions are reasonable and proportional to the cost of processing transactions by large banks.
The allows merchants to now set minimum levels for credit card transactions, a practice credit card companies previously prohibited. The law trumps those rules. That means restaurants no longer have to accept credit cards for purchases less than $10. But they can’t set higher limits, such as $15 or $25.
The law allows restaurateurs and other merchants to give discounts for cash, checks and debit or credit cards.
A consumer complaint led to the July 20 discovery of liquid mercury in a can of Greatwall brand Chopped Pork and Ham by the Center for Food Safety in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong distributor of the canned luncheon meat recalled 1,000 cartons of the product (48,000 cans). The Center for Food Safety “has informed the relevant Mainland (China) authority of the finding.” It also ordered Hong Kong retailers to stop selling the product.
The droplets of liquid mercury found inside one of the cans weighed 0.4 grams.
The Center for Food Safety collected 13 additional samples of the canned lunchmeat from different batches for more tests. No additional mercury was found, according to preliminary findings. Detailed results are pending.
The center asked Hong Kong consumers to turn in any cans found to have foreign materials inside, and were also urged not to eat any more of product that may be in their homes.
According to a Center for Food Safety spokesman, liquid mercury is poorly absorbed in the digestive tract and significant health concern after its ingestion is unlikely.
“Liquid mercury is not involved in the manufacturing process of the concerned canned product,” the spokesman said.
The incident remains under investigation, and the Center for Food Safety will take appropriate follow-up actions.
Elton John, suffering from a bout of food poisoning, postponed Wednesday night’s concert at the Tucson Arena.
The Arizona Daily Star reported the show, which was nearly sold out, was rescheduled for Thursday night.
According to a spokeswoman for the Tucson Convention Center, all of the 8,800 tickets purchased for Wednesday were honored on Thursday.
“Elton apologizes for the inconvenience caused due to his illness, but doctors assure him he will be fine for tomorrow’s evening performance,” said TCC spokeswoman Kate Calhoun in a news release.
“If for any reason you are unable to attend the re-scheduled Thursday concert, July 22nd, your tickets can be refunded at point of purchase,” she said.
Knott’s Wholesale Foods Inc. has been making “pickled eggs” for the past 63 years, but now they’ve got only until the end of the month to do some explaining to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Then Paris, TN-based business that was started by Cedric and Mildred Knox in a small home kitchen in 1947, making sandwiches and salads, received a July 15 warning letter for its “pickled eggs”.
FDA says Knott’s Wholesale, which today distributes its products nationally through such retail chains as Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Kroger, SuperValu, IGA, E.W. James, Piggy Wiggly, and Food Giant, has 15 working days to respond to FDA’s concerns about its “pickled eggs.”
In the warning letter, FDA says the Knott’s “pickled eggs” are misbranded because they do not bear required nutritional information. The agency says Knott’s may be eligible for a “small business” exemption from nutritional labeling requirements.
FDA also says the “pickled eggs” are adulterated because Knott’s did not notify the agency about the heating process it planned to use to control the pH, salt, sugar, and preservative levels for the acidified food product.
“If the citric acid, salt, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate are present in more than an insignificant amount in the ‘Pickled Eggs’ product, they need to be listed as part of the ingredient statement for the ‘Pickled Eggs’ product,” the warning letter said. “If the sodium benzoate and/or potassium sorbate are functioning as preservatives in the finished product, their function needs to be included in accordance with the requirements of Section 403(k) of the Act and 21 CFR 101.22(j).”
Except for those “pickled eggs,” however, Knott’s emerged from its last FDA inspection on March 9 and 10 with its many other products appear to be in the clear.
Those include Pimento Cheese, Chicken Salad, Ham Salad, Tuna Salad, Jalapeño Pimento Cheese, Mustard Potato Salad, American Potato Salad, Creamy Cole Slaw, Baked Beans, Macaroni, and Pickled Bologna.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Produits Phoenicia Inc. are warning the public not to consume the Cedar brand Tahini described below because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella.
Tahini is a sesame paste.
The affected product, Cedar brand Tahini, is sold in 450 mL jars, bearing UPC 0 62356 50178 5. There is no lot code on the packages.
This product has been distributed throughout Canada.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.
CFIA reminds the public that food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled. Consumption of food contaminated with these bacteria may cause salmonellosis, a foodborne illness.
In young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, salmonellosis may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. In otherwise healthy people, salmonellosis may cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Long-term complications may include severe arthritis.
The manufacturer, Produits Phoenicia Inc., Saint Laurent, Quebec, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
For more information, consumers and industry can call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday).
Georgia-based Perdue Farms Inc is recalling 91,872 pounds of frozen chicken nugget products because they may contain bits of plastic.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said in a release Monday that company officials discovered small pieces of blue plastic after receiving complaints from consumers.
The one pound, 13 ounce bag of “Great Value Fully Cooked Chicken Nuggets” has the establishment number of P-33944, as well as a case code of 89008 A0160. There is also a best if used by date of June 9, 2011.
Each case contains eight bags and the frozen chicken nugget product were produced on June 9 and shipped to a single retail store chain nationwide.
FSIS said yesterday there have been no known reports of injury from the foreign objects. Anyone concerned about an injury from consumption of this product should contact a physician.
Consumers with questions about the recall should contact Perdue Consumer Relations at (877) 727-3447.
