McDonald’s chief executive officer, Steve Easterbrook, has left the fast food giant after violating company policy by engaging in a consensual relationship with an employee, the corporation said on Sunday.
Related: Profile: McDonald’s chief executive Steve Easterbrook
Continue reading...Small-market test rolls out months after rival Burger King began testing the plant-based Impossible Foods burger
McDonald’s is finally taking a nibble of the plant-based burger.
McDonald’s said Thursday that will sell the PLT, or the plant, lettuce and tomato burger for 12 weeks in 28 restaurants in south-western Ontario by the end of the month.
Continue reading...Trump has threatened high tariffs on French wine in response to Macron’s tech tax
French wine-makers are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s threats to introduce high tariffs on French wine in retaliation for Emmanuel Macron’s tax on global technology companies, as world leaders gather for the Biarritz G7 summit this weekend.
A new front in Trump’s international trade wars could open up across France’s vineyards, damaging the livelihoods and jobs of small producers, if the US president decides to substantially increase tariffs on French wine as punishment for what he has called the “foolishness” of the new levy on the annual revenues of technology companies.
Continue reading...The trade minister, Simon Birmingham, has released a list of food products the EU wants protected as ‘geographical indicators’
Australia is gearing up for a fight with the European Union over the naming of hundreds of products including feta, gruyere and scotch beef as negotiations continue over an “ambitious” free trade agreement.
The trade minister, Simon Birmingham, has released a list of names the EU wants protected as part of the new trade deal – known as “geographical indications” or GIs – which are aimed at protecting European products.
Continue reading...Research suggests one in five people have a food, drinks and medicine hoard worth £380
Britons have spent £4bn stockpiling goods in preparation for a possible no-deal Brexit, new research suggests.
One in five people are already hoarding food, drinks and medicine, spending an extra £380 each, according to a survey by the finance provider Premium Credit. The survey found that about 800,000 people have spent more than £1,000 building up stockpiles before the 31 October Brexit deadline.
Continue reading...Rule that male workers should wear ties and female staff ribbons is discriminatory, officials also say
Burger King workers in Barcelona will be able to lay down their razors after Catalan authorities decided the fast food giant’s prohibition on beards, moustaches and stubble violated employees’ constitutional rights.
The regional government’s labour inspection committee also determined that rules stipulating that male workers should wear ties and female workers ribbons amounted to sexual discrimination.
Continue reading...Enforcement order issued after online retailer bought stake in food courier service
The UK’s competition regulator has ordered Amazon and the food delivery company Deliveroo to pause any integration efforts pending an investigation into potential breaches of competition rules.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday issued an initial enforcement order against the companies after Amazon bought a stake in Deliveroo.
Continue reading...Rise in bars stocking 0% beers to meet demand of drinkers who wish to ditch the hangover
During last year’s sweltering summer in Europe, workers of the Störtebeker beer brewery stood at the doors of the bottle depot eagerly awaiting the empty returns so they could be washed and refilled as quickly as possible. A bottle shortage swept the country due to the rate at which beer was being consumed to quench the overheated nation’s thirst.
But it wasn’t the demand for their classic range of beers that surprised the brewery bosses most, rather the rate at which its alcohol-free varieties were being drunk.
Continue reading...Airport will be world’s first accredited for serving sustainably sourced fish
Heathrow is to become the world’s first airport accredited for serving sustainably sourced fish and seafood, as all its restaurants pledge to help tackle overfishing.
Outlets whose menus still include “red-rated” fish – deemed by the Marine Conservation Society to be the least sustainable – have pledged to remove them by June 2020. Fish in that category include wild atlantic salmon, bluefin tuna and king prawns from non-certified farms.
Continue reading...International Life Sciences Institute used by corporate backers to counter public health policies, says study
An institute whose experts have occupied key positions on EU and UN regulatory panels is, in reality, an industry lobby group that masquerades as a scientific health charity, according to a peer-reviewed study.
The Washington-based International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) describes its mission as “pursuing objectivity, clarity and reproducibility” to “benefit the public good”.
Continue reading...Federal prosecutors say complaint presents ‘worrying evidence’ of sexual harassment and discrimination
It was a busy day at a McDonald’s branch in São Paulo. Marcelo says he was struggling to keep up with demand while manning the chips and white meat stations when the shift boss called him a “damned stupid blackie”.
Marcelo protested and said he would pursue legal action for racism. The store manager fired him the next day, according to his statement in court documents seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Hawksmoor steakhouse tweets ‘chin up!’ to staff who served it, adding: ‘mistakes happen’
A lucky diner was accidentally given a £4,500 bottle of red wine at a steakhouse in Manchester .
A member of staff at the Manchester branch of Hawksmoor, an upmarket chain specialising in steaks and seafood with nine sites across the UK, apparently served the luxury wine unknowingly in what the restaurant management described as a “one-off mistake”.
Continue reading...Startup is the latest ‘unicorn’, with a valuation of about $1.2bn, to go public as its competitor launches the Impossible Whopper
Wall Street is going vegan. At some point in the next four weeks, Beyond Meat, a pioneering plant-based meat alternative startup, will debut on Wall Street at a valuation of about $1.2bn. And in the meantime its rivals are cutting deals with some of the biggest names in food.
Beyond Meat is the latest in a series of “unicorns” – private companies valued at over $1bn – to go public. And this one is edible.
Continue reading...Eating and drinking better could prevent one in five early deaths, researchers say
Unhealthy diets are responsible for 11m preventable deaths globally per year, more even than smoking tobacco, according to a major study.
But the biggest problem is not the junk we eat but the nutritious food we don’t eat, say researchers, calling for a global shift in policy to promote vegetables, fruit, nuts and legumes.
Continue reading...We are now producing and consuming more food than ever, and yet our modern diet is killing us. How can we solve this bittersweet dilemma?
Pick a bunch of green grapes, wash it, and put one in your mouth. Feel the grape with your tongue, observe how cold and refreshing it is: the crisp flesh, and the jellylike interior with its mild, sweet flavour.
Eating grapes can feel like an old pleasure, untouched by change. The ancient Greeks and Romans loved to eat them, as well as to drink them in the form of wine. The Odyssey describes “a ripe and luscious vine, hung thick with grapes”. As you pull the next delicious piece of fruit from its stalk, you could easily be plucking it from a Dutch still life of the 17th century, where grapes are tumbled on a metal platter with oysters and half-peeled lemons.
Continue reading...Pile-up of meats, fries and cheese sauce has become a fast-food phenomenon
At lunchtime on a street near the Gare du Nord in Paris, queues were forming at a fast-food restaurant. Construction workers jostled with schoolchildren for what has become a business phenomenon: the hefty, cheesy slab of indulgence known as the French taco.
France has always had a huge market for takeaways, from kebabs to McDonald’s, and fast food accounts for more than half the nation’s restaurants. Now the homegrown French taco is challenging the burger’s imperialist success and plotting its own global expansion.
Continue reading...Latest no-deal notice forecasts Northern Ireland to be hit hard and food prices likely to rise
The government has issued a bleak warning over a no-deal Brexit, estimating the UK economy could be 9% weaker in the long run, businesses in Northern Ireland might go bust and food prices will increase.
In an official document only published after repeated demands by the former Conservative MP Anna Soubry, the government also revealed it was behind on contingency planning for a third of “critical projects” in relation to business and trade.
Continue reading...Asking about the importance of cocoa in Ivory Coast feels a little like making enquiries about the value of grapes in Burgundy. When I put the question to N’Zi Kanga Rémi, who has for the last 18 years beengovernor of the rural department of Adzopé, north-east of the sprawling port city of Abidjan, he leaned forward in his chair and fixed me with an amused stare.
His booming voice went up a decibel to fill the administrative offices on whose walls his own portrait alternated with that of his nation’s president. “It doesn’t make sense to ask an Ivorian what cocoa means to him!” he said. “It means everything! It’s his first source of income! My education was funded by cocoa! Our houses are built with cocoa! The foundations of our roads, our schools, our hospitals is cocoa! Our government runs on cocoa! All our policy focuses on sustaining cocoa!”
Continue reading...British maker of Cathedral City cheddar employs more than 1,100 people in seven locations
The British owners of Cathedral City cheddar and Clover margarine have agreed a near-£1bn takeover from the Canadian dairy company Saputo.
On Friday Dairy Crest recommended shareholders accept an offer from Saputo that values the FTSE 250 company at £975m.
Continue reading...Pre-smashed One Hand Chips are far from the first to tailor the dining experience around our phone-centric lifestyles
Among the concerns facing today’s social media maven: how can one scroll through Instagram and enjoy a bag of potato chips without getting their phone all greasy?
Related: Say cheese: cooking in the age of Instagram
Continue reading...