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- Feds issue public health alert for some meat and poultry products
The products may contain ingredients tainted with Salmonella By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs May 1, 2026 USDA issues public health alert for meat and poultry products containing recalled dairy ingredients Possible Salmonella contamination linked to dry milk powder used in the products Consumers urged to avoid affected items and watch for updates as more products are identified When one contaminated food gets into the food supply, it can spread to other food products that use it as an ingredient. Federal food safety officials are warning consumers about a wide range of meat and poultry products that may be contaminated with Salmonella due to recalled dairy ingredients. The U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the public health alert after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified a problem with dry milk powder used in certain foods. That ingredient, which has been recalled, was distributed to multiple manufacturers that produce FSIS-regulated meat and poultry items. Because the affected ingredient was widely used, the alert covers various downstream products, and officials say additional items may be identified as the investigation continues. Whats behind the alert According to FSIS, the issue began when FDA alerted the agency that several meat and poultry establishments had received dairy ingredients formulated with the recalled dry milk powder. The concern is potential contamination with Salmonella, a bacterium that can cause serious foodborne illness, particularly in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Why theres no recall FSIS issued a public health alert rather than a recall because the affected products may no longer be available for purchase. However, they could still be in consumers refrigerators or freezers. What consumers should do Officials are urging consumers to: Check their refrigerators and freezers for products that may contain the recalled ingredient Avoid eating any suspect items Throw them away or return them to the place of purchase A full list of affected products, including labels and distribution details, is available through FSIS, and the agency says it will update the alert as more information becomes available. FSIS emphasized that the situation is evolving and that more products could be added as the scope of the ingredient recall expands. Consumers with questions or concerns about possible illness are advised to contact a healthcare provider. [TheTopNews] Read More.19 hours ago - South East Water chair resigns after critical report
It comes after a group of MPs declared that they had no confidence in the company's leadership. [TheTopNews] Read More.19 hours ago - Businesses are getting tariff refunds: How much will consumers receive?Consumers should expect to see some discounts in some industries, but no direct rebates By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs May 1, 2026 The federal government has begun issuing tariff refunds to importers after recent policy reversals and legal challenges. Several major retailers and manufacturers say they plan to pass at least part of the savings on to consumers. Analysts caution that how much relief shoppers actually see will vary widely by industry and company strategy. A growing number of U.S. businesses say they will share the benefits of newly issued tariff refunds with customers, following the federal governments decision to return billions of dollars collected under disputed trade policies The refunds stem from a combination of court rulings and administrative reviews that found certain tariffsparticularly those imposed on imported goods over the past several yearswere improperly applied or calculated. As a result, importers across sectors, including retail, manufacturing, and automotive supply chains, have begun receiving payments. Now, attention is shifting to whether consumers will see any of that money reflected in lower prices. Retailers signal price cuts Several large retail chains, including big-box stores and online marketplaces, have publicly stated they intend to pass along savings. Companies in the home goods, electronics, and apparel sectorsindustries heavily impacted by tariffs on imports from Asiahave been among the most vocal. Executives at some firms have said the refunds would create room for targeted price reductions in key categories. Smaller retailers, particularly those operating on thin margins, say the refunds could help them lower prices more aggressively or run promotions heading into peak shopping seasons. Manufacturers take a mixed approach Manufacturers have been more cautious. Some say refunds will be reinvested into operations, supply chain diversification, or debt reduction rather than immediately passed on. However, a handful of consumer-facing brandsespecially in appliances and consumer electronicshave indicated they will reduce wholesale prices, which could eventually trickle down to retail shelves. Auto parts suppliers and construction materials firms, both heavily affected by tariffs on steel and components, say any consumer impact will likely be gradual. Restaurants and food distributors watching closely Food distributors and restaurant groups, which faced higher costs on imported ingredients and equipment, are also evaluating their options. Some regional chains have hinted at modest menu price adjustments if savings prove significant and sustained. Still, many operators say they are more likely to… [TheTopNews] Read More.19 hours ago
- An Unreleased Lyme Disease Vaccine Is Already Sparking False Conspiracy Theories
In April, the MAHA Mom Coalition, an organization that claims it advocates for “parental rights, holistic health, clean food & water, and medical freedom,” put out an unusual call. They wanted to talk to the farmers who’d been finding mysterious boxes of ticks in their fields—farmers and boxes that, by every available indication, don’t seem to exist. “Can anybody reading this right now validate this?” the MAHA Mom Coalition wrote on their Instagram page. “We’d love to connect with and speak to these farmers!!” The reason for such a request, as one conspiracist on Twitter explained in a post with over a million views, is with a potential new “Lyme disease vaccine coming out next year,” they “fear our government is going to release plague like levels of ticks upon us in order to incentivize the masses into getting another vaccine.” The roots of the tick rumors originate, according to the fact-checking website Snopes, with an Iowa woman named Sarah Outlaw. “Something is happening with ticks right now, and farmers are starting to talk,” she wrote alongside a March 30 Instagram video post that’s been watched over 10 million times. “Reports of boxes of ticks being found. Reports of ticks being seen in ways that feel out of the ordinary. At the same time, we are seeing a very real increase in tick populations across our region…in my practice, I am seeing the impact. More Lyme. More chronic symptoms. More alpha gal,” an allergic reaction to red meat triggered by tick bites. The suggestion that mysterious forces are distributing ticks to give us all Lyme disease keeps spreading. Outlaw hasn’t provided documentary evidence to support these claims. She wrote on Threads that she heard them at a private seminar in late March from someone familiar with a “rural Missouri community.” But when Snopes reached out to hundreds of public health and other governmental officials in Missouri, they couldn’t find a single person who could corroborate seeing even one box of ticks. Snopes also wrote that in correspondence with Outlaw she “declined to provide us contact information for any involved parties, citing their privacy.” Outlaw didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story. All evidence—or lack thereof—aside, Outlaw’s not-so-veiled suggestion that mysterious forces are distributing boxes of ticks to try to give us all Lyme disease has kept spreading. It wasn’t long before people on social media began… [TheTopNews] Read More.20 hours ago - Welcome to the Insecurity-Industrial ComplexAffordability is the new buzzword. It’s yapped by politicians and pundits across the spectrum. It’s as popular as a new TikTok dance. And it’s genuinely an important and mobilizing concept. But the truth is, it doesn’t really capture what’s ailing us. What makes this moment unique is insecurity. Struggling with bills isn’t new to most Americans; what is different today, across lines of social class lines, is the degree of unpredictability that comes with ordinary ways of making a living: ICE grabbing people at workplaces and schools, at bodegas and hospitals, and taking them to American concentration camps; hundreds of thousands of formerly secure, essential federal workers being laid off, part of a Trump administration program of destroying any institution or program that led people to associate government with stability and security, like Medicaid-backed home care and FEMA. And then there’s the threat of AI ending our jobs as we know them. In this era, instead of walking on solid ground, terra firma, we dwell on shaking, shifting terra infirma. While affordability is a handy reframe of pervasive income inequality—talking about prices and the cost of living, rather than structural forces that stymie mobility, makes people feel less blamed and less-than—it doesn’t cover the gamut of social instability that the last few years have wrought. Call them “economic-plus” factors. Of course, much of this insecurity has been manufactured by merchants of doubt, the henchmen of an “insecurity-industrial complex.” That complex is the brainchild, in part, of what former Trump advisor Steve Bannon has dubbed “muzzle velocity,” a rapid political communications strategy that presents a constant stream of wild news events and outrages, shocks designed to both overwhelm the media and put the populace on edge. It entails the steady downpour of confounding right-wing populist dreck. Bannon described it to Frontline as “three things a day—they’ll bite on one.” When it lands on media platforms, viewers’ fears are then exploited in predatory fashion, for monetary or political gain. The new insecurity also follows on more than a decade of gleeful “disruption” by Silicon Valley, whose titans have gutted or taken over so many familiar institutions in the last decade that experiences like shopping feel fundamentally less secure, with constant developments like the idea of dynamic pricing in stores, so that budgeting for coffee or eggs feels like playing a slot machine. On a wider level, it also extends to… [TheTopNews] Read More.20 hours ago
- The Folly of Trump Taking a “Wrecking Ball” to a Crucial Science Advisory Bo...This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Since the start of his second term last year, President Donald Trump has sought to weaken the federal foundations underpinning American science, slashing or stalling research funding, firing or pushing out thousands of scientists, canceling grants for ideological reasons and shuttering research facilities across the country. But even against that bleak backdrop, the administration’s firing of all 22 current members of the National Science Board last week stands out as “one of the darkest moments” of the past year and a half, said Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist and biogeographer at the University of Maine. “It was incredibly chilling, and my stomach just dropped to my feet when I saw that the entire board had been fired,” Gill said. “Because now this last bastion of accountability and transparency and scientific expertise has been dismantled overnight.” “It’s not a surprise,” notes one scientist, given the Trump administration’s “continuous onslaught of attacks on science.” The National Science Board plays a key role in overseeing the National Science Foundation, a major research funder in fields such as chemistry, engineering, biology, the environment, computing, and technology, which supports academic inquiry and helps train the next generation of scientists. The NSB and the NSF were designed to be “driven by our best and brightest scientific experts who are really representing a consensus of where science should go in this country,” Gill said. “It’s not at the whims of whatever president steps into office.” Created by Congress in 1950 as an independent body of scientific advisors, the board is appointed by the president in staggered six-year terms and chosen for their distinguished service and eminence in their disciplines. Last Friday, members received an email saying their positions were “terminated, effective immediately.” The NSF website now reads “pending new appointments” instead of listing members’ names. “This board is so important for being able to advise Congress as well as the president on issues that are so important to the country,” said Geraldine Richmond, presidential chair in science and professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon and a former member of the NSB. Richmond was first appointed to the board by President Barack Obama and later by Trump during his first term. In the wake of the board’s sudden dismissal, experts fear that its members will be replaced with people chosen for their political loyalty rather than their scientific qualifications and who… [TheTopNews] Read More.20 hours ago
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