An unlikely pairing of food sellers are in the news today for questions surrounding the quality of the products they're serving to New Yorkers. Local Whole Foods Markets joined in the voluntary recall of ground beef that was sold during the last two months by the high end grocer. Almost fifty people have fallen ill from potential E. coli contamination. Meanwhile foodies are also out of luck if they're looking for snacks at the......

When salmonella first ruined the tomatoes, some carnivores laughed at the distraught vegetable lovers; now an E. coli outbreak has prompted a nationwide beef recall, and the only ones left to laugh are the breatharians. 530,000 pounds of beef have been pulled from supermarkets nationwide; over 40 people may have been sickened in Michigan and Ohio by contaminated beef sold by the Kroger chain. Symptoms to watch out for at tomorrow’s barbecues include stomach cramps......

The California based Westland/Hallmark Meat Company is recalling all its raw and frozen beef products distributed since Feb. 1, 2006 – a total of 143 million pounds of ground beef. The largest beef recall in history was announced after an undercover Humane Society video showed workers kicking sick cows, jabbing them in the eyes and using forklifts to force them to walk to slaughter. (See the video here.) Federal regulations require meat companies to keep......

Jen has already posted her Top Stories for 2007-- but here's the list according to you, the readers: By Comments* 1. Pet Food Recall After Cat and Dog Deaths, by Jen Chung (614) 2. Rev. John Carmichael, Church of Scientology, by Jen Carlson (312) 3. Wild Wednesday Weather, by Jen Chung (255) 4. Maple Syrup Was Better: Smell of Gas Covers NYC by Jen Chung (191) 5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninites Don't Scare......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A shooting in Brooklyn, a power outage in Queens, and scaffolding that fell on the 5 tracks - subway service on the 2 and 5 is messed up! A Bronx man pleaded guilty to terror plotting; Tarik Shah will serve no more than 15 years for offering to teach Al Qaeda operatives "how to wage jihad with hand-to-hand combat" New lawsuit to stop the Atlantic Yards lawsuit, on the......

The good news is that the FDA didn't find rat poison (aka aminopterin) in pet food samples from Menu Foods, which is what NY State authorities found last week. The bad - very bad - news is that traces of melamine were found in the pet food, and apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten was also sent to a dry food manufacturer. From the AP:Cornell University scientists also found melamine — used to produce plastic kitchen wares......

Some love it to the point of being freakishly cultish. Others don't see what the big deal is. But everyone can agree on one thing: you can do plenty of productive things with the time you spend waiting on line to get a burger at Shake Shack. We checked in hamburger expert Adam Kuban of A Hamburger Today, who wrote last week, "Ai yah. It hasn't even opened yet, I'm already getting sick of......

It's been a slow week in Clap Your Hands Say Yeah news, but we just came across an amusing McSweeney's list from September entitled "I Can Never Recall the Name of Brooklyn's New Hip Band:" I'm Clapping as Fast as I Can Clap Your Hands Together Like This All Clap Hands, That's Right! Yes, I'm Clapping, OK? Clap, Clap, Clap for the Band Okay-- those aren't that funny, but let's see you do better!......

Gothamist would like to thank the New York Times for giving us a mini anxiety attack with an New York Region > New York Utilities Recall '03 Blackout With Fingers Crossed" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/31/nyregion/31power.html">article about last year's blackout that begins, "As the New York region looks toward summer and the first anniversary of the biggest blackout in North American history, two things are clear. There is enough electricity to survive the heat. And yet, the lights......

The gig is up for Dean Kamen: His 12 mph speed demon, the Segway Human Transporter, has been recalled! Apparently people have been falling off when the batteries are low. Yikes, that's just like...riding a bike! Helmets, people, helmets. Pressing questions Gothamist has: - How will Phillip Torrone get around? What happens to the Book of Seg? If Gothamist ran a network news division, he'd be number two on the list (behind Kamen) of......

Why does the State of California treat its recall like a Bingo match at the local retirement home? Even the AP says it seems more like a Vegas Keno match. Apparently its a way to "erase the estimated 5 percent advantage a candidate gets from being at the top of the ballot," and Secretary of State Kevin Shelley says that the State does it before every election but "no one ever comes." Well, when......

In crazy political news, the effort to recall Gray Davis as Governor of California has been gaining unexpected momentum. Davis was re-elected in 2002, but may be on this November's ballot (he let the state budget deficit go to $38 billion). Possible candidates for governor? Dianne Feinstein for the Democrats, Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Republicans (he'll figure that all out after Terminator 3 opens; if his box office is hot, Gothamist thinks he'll do......