This Week in Food News: Cooks, Crooks & Catastrophes
Photo by Mark Mathosian
From thievery to food tampering, this week’s food stories were strongly dominated by criminal activity. Read below for the shocking news that rattled the food world!
• In one of the most talked about stories of the week, an Ohio Burger King employee was busted after posting a photo of himself stepping in lettuce bins. The employee posted the photo of himself anonymously on the popular website, 4chan, on July 16th. The shocking image, which was captioned “This is the lettuce you eat at Burger King,” sparked an outrage among 4chan users who decided to take matters into their own hands. In a mere 15 minutes, users were able to extract GPS data from the photo to pinpoint the exact location of where the photograph was taken. They immediately alerted local news media and notified the Burger King restaurant. Recent reports of the incident confirm that three employees have been terminated. Hats off to the resourceful 4chan users for bringing the food-tamperers to justice.
• A recent Delta Air Lines catering disaster has left many air passengers reeling from shock. Needles were found in several turkey sandwiches served aboard four flights from Amsterdam, sparking an FBI investigation. Gate Gourmet, an Amsterdam catering company, prepared the turkey sandwiches that were supplied to Delta Air Lines. Sewing needles were discovered in a total of five sandwiches aboard the flights, with one minor injury reported. A Delta spokeswoman reported that “flight attendants immediately stopped serving the sandwiches as soon as the needle was discovered,” and other flights from Amsterdam were alerted. A Gate Gourmet spokeswoman has released a statement that the company is launching its own full-scale investigation. Neither investigation has yet identified the cause of the incident.
• In Nanaimo, B.C., a hungry thief foolishly stole two plastic display sandwiches from a 7-Eleven store. The perpetrator came into the 7-Eleven store last week around 3 a.m., intending to steal breakfast sandwiches. It wasn’t until he was out of the store that he realized that the sandwiches were plastic display props, prompting him to “[toss] one across the street and [pocket] the other.” Police were able to track him down to a hotel, where he returned his plastic sandwich souvenir. The 7-Eleven owner declined to press charges, after recovering both display props in good condition. The sandwich props turned out to be worth about $70 each.
Have a great weekend!
