How Many Calories Does A Dollar Buy? Here Are The Highest-Calorie Items From 10 Fast-Food Chains

How Many Calories Does A Dollar Buy? (ZeroHedge, June 29, 2013):

Whether you like it or not, America, the number of calories packed into fast-food eats are getting harder to ignore. McDonald’s, Subway and Panera Bread – and as of this week, Starbucks – have already begun voluntarily posting calorie counts on their menus, ahead of an anticipated federal mandate requiring all restaurants with more than 20 locations to do so. In the interest of openness and transparency, and as Marketwatch notes, assuming for a moment that you’re less worried about your waistline than about getting the most calories for the least amount of money, here are the highest-calorie menu items at 10 of the nation’s top fast-food restaurants offers the most bang for your buck.

Via MarketWatch,

#10 Panera Bread

* Steak and white cheddar on a French baguette, 980 calories

* $1 buys 112 calories

Panera has a lot of light, healthy-sounding items on its menus but the full steak and white cheddar on a French baguette isn’t among them, tallying 980 calories and 103 grams of carbs. That accounts for nearly half the USDA’s recommended daily intake of carbs. At $8.79, you’re getting a little more than one calorie per penny.

Read moreHow Many Calories Does A Dollar Buy? Here Are The Highest-Calorie Items From 10 Fast-Food Chains

Meet The 15 Food Companies That Serve You ‘WOOD’: Pepsi, Kellogg, Weight Watchers, General Mills, McDonald’s, KFC, Yum’s Brands’ (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut), Wendy’s Arby’s, Nestle etc.

15 Food Companies That Serve You ‘Wood’ (The Street):

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Are you getting what you pay for on your plate?

The recent class-action lawsuit brought against Taco Bell raised questions about the quality of food many Americans eat each day.

Chief among those concerns is the use of cellulose (read: wood pulp), an extender whose use in a roster of food products, from crackers and ice creams to puddings and baked goods, is now being exposed. What you’re actually paying for — and consuming — may be surprising.

Cellulose is virgin wood pulp that has been processed and manufactured to different lengths for functionality, though use of it and its variant forms (cellulose gum, powdered cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, etc.) is deemed safe for human consumption, according to the FDA, which regulates most food industry products. The government agency sets no limit on the amount of cellulose that can be used in food products meant for human consumption. The USDA, which regulates meats, has set a limit of 3.5% on the use of cellulose, since fiber in meat products cannot be recognized nutritionally.

“As commodity prices continue to rally and the cost of imported materials impacts earnings, we expect to see increasing use of surrogate products within food items. Cellulose is certainly in higher demand and we expect this to continue,” Michael A. Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors, told TheStreet.

Read moreMeet The 15 Food Companies That Serve You ‘WOOD’: Pepsi, Kellogg, Weight Watchers, General Mills, McDonald’s, KFC, Yum’s Brands’ (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut), Wendy’s Arby’s, Nestle etc.

Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, NRA hired ‘black ops’ company that targeted environmental groups

Dumpster-diving firm collected Social Security numbers of activists

A private security firm managed by former Secret Service officers spied on myriad environmental organizations throughout the 1990s and the year 2000, thieving documents, trying to plant undercover operations and collecting phone records of members, according to a new report.

Documents obtained by James Ridgeway, a Mother Jones correspondent formerly with the Village Voice, reveals the contractor collected confidential internal records — donor lists, financial statements — even Social Security numbers, for public relations outfits and “corporations involved in environmental controversies.”

Beckett Brown International also offered “intelligence” services to the Carlyle Group, the controversial DC-based investment company; “protective services” for the National Rifle Association; “crisis management” for the Gallo wine company and for Pirelli; “information collection” for Wal-Mart.

“Also listed as clients in BBI records,” Ridgeway reveals: “Halliburton and Monsanto.”

Read moreTaco Bell, Wal-Mart, NRA hired ‘black ops’ company that targeted environmental groups