Consumer Confidential: Food, feed and fraud

Here's your manic-Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- In a glaring sign of the economic times,  Gourmet magazine is being closed  by parent Conde Nast Publications. The nation's oldest food magazine is the latest victim of a prolonged advertising slump in the media world. Also on the chopping block, according to reports, are Modern Bride, Elegant Bride and Cookie, a parenting magazine. Gourmet's ad pages were down 50% in the second quarter from a year earlier.

-- Diamond Pet Foods has pulled certain bags of its Premium Edge Finicky Adult and Premium Edge Hairball cat food from distribution. The company said it found deficient levels of the supplement thiamine. The recall follows a similar move by Nutro Products, which discovered that a worker's hard hat had left bits of plastic in some puppy food after falling into the company's machinery. Concerned pet owners should check both companies' websites for the latest info.

-- The Oregon attorney general's office is warning consumers not to get duped if they receive a call from someone claiming to represent a police, fire or public-safety organization. Chances are, the call is actually from scammers trying to score some easy money from people who think they're helping emergency responders. Anyone wanting to donate money to such causes should do so directly, not to some stranger on the phone.

-- David Lazarus

Deficiencies in the thiamine levels of certain bags of Premium Edge Finicky Adult and Premium Edge Hairball cat food have prompted Diamond Pet Foods to pull the products from distribution.

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/10/diamond_pet_food.html#ixzz0T4zlo9Pg

Deficiencies in the thiamine levels of certain bags of Premium Edge Finicky Adult and Premium Edge Hairball cat food have prompted Diamond Pet Foods to pull the products from distribution.

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/10/diamond_pet_food.html#ixzz0T4zlo9Pg

Deficiencies in the thiamine levels of certain bags of Premium Edge Finicky Adult and Premium Edge Hairball cat food have prompted Diamond Pet Foods to pull the products from distribution.

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/10/diamond_pet_food.html#ixzz0T4zlo9Pg

Consumer Confidential: Instant Starbucks, trust and a day at Disney

Here's your Totally Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- We're not out of the woods yet. Consumer confidence took an unexpected dive last month as Americans continued to fret about whether the job market would ever improve. Chances are, consumers will once again feel some love for the economy as employers slowly (oh so slowly) expand the workforce, but this could be a dark cloud for the holiday shopping season. Or, looked at another way, I'm thinking big sales coming down the pike to lure us into stores.

-- Starbucks has taken the lid off its new Via Ready Brew instant coffee. The company hopes this will give it a taste of the $21-billion global market for morning pick-me-ups made from freeze-dried beans. Starbucks is pumping big bucks into the North American rollout of Via. We'll just have to see whether this is a shrewd brand extension on the company's part or whether adding instant to the mix just cheapens everyone's favorite caffeine fix.

-- Do you trust the safety of the food you eat? Many of us don't, or so we're led to believe in a new survey from our friends at IBM (who I never thought of foodies, but so be it). The tech giant found that about 60% of consumers said they were concerned about the food they purchased, and only 20% trusted food companies to develop and sell safe products. The survey indicates that a steady stream of food recalls has made consumers safer, but it's also raised awareness that not everything you find in the supermarket is safe to eat.

-- Who says giving is its own reward? Disney is upping the ante by offering free admission to a Disney park for anyone who completes a day of volunteer work. The offer will be extended to 1 million do-gooders and is being made in conjunction with HandsOn Network, a clearinghouse for volunteer activities. See you on the Matterhorn.

-- David Lazarus

The Great American Dine-Out uses restaurants to raise money to end childhood hunger

Thousands of restaurants are helping fight childhood hunger by participating in the Great American Dine-Out from Sunday through Sept. 26.

Chains including Carrows Restaurants, Elephant Bar Restaurant, Dave and Buster’s and Coco’s Bakery Restaurant will donate money for each entree or meal ordered.

The Corner Bakery Cafe will match each donation of at least $1 and will hand out certificates for free Whoopie Pies or cookies to customers who give.

Hawaiian fusion restaurant Roy’s will donate proceeds from sales of the Classic Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle.

Search the Share Our Strength website for participating restaurants nearby.

--Tiffany Hsu

Nine West shoppers who donate old shoes can get a 15% discount

Footwear retailer Nine West is encouraging customers to bring in their gently worn shoes in exchange for a 15% discount on a purchase of $75 or more.

The shoe drive is taking place at 192 Nine West stores across the country and ends Sept. 24. Recycled shoes will be donated to nonprofit charity Soles4Shoes, which will give them to people in need.

To donate or for more information, visit www.giveshoes.org. Discounts can be used in stores or online.

-- Andrea Chang

Target and Facebook team up for charity

Target is donating $3 million to charity, and is letting Facebook users decide how the money should be split among 10 nonprofit organizations.

Starting this week, shoppers can visit Facebook to vote. Charities include the Red Cross, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Salvation Army and Encino-based Operation Gratitude.

The percentage of votes for each organization will correlate to that charity's portion of the $3 million. Already, many of Target's nearly 250,000 Facebook fans have left messages on the retailer's profile to persuade others to vote for their favorite charity.

Members can vote once a day every day during Target's Bullseye Gives contest, which ends May 25. The final donation allocations will be announced the next day.

-- Andrea Chang

BBB: Students peddling magazines at the door could be fraudsters

Knock Knock.

Who's there?

Scammers!

The Better Business Bureau issued an alert today about an increase in fraud among door-to-door, student magazine salespeople. The publication peddlers take orders, but the magazines never arrive. Typically, the students have a hard-luck story or say they are earning money for a charity. 

"Because sales representatives are typically high school or college-age, victims readily believe the potentially fictitious sales pitch and often pay several hundred dollars for the subscriptions," says BBB spokesman Steve Cox.

The BBB has received more than 1,000 complaints about fake magazine sales in the last year from 46 states, including California.

In some cases the, students were also victims, according to the BBB. They were hired by companies to sell magazines door-to-door and then not given their promised commissions. Cox says the young people were "forced to work long hours, endure substandard living conditions and have their wages withheld from them."

Here's a warning sign that you might be getting ripped off: You must be offered a cancellation form anytime you spend $25 or more on products from a door-to-door salesperson, according to the Federal Trade Commission's cooling off rule. Then you have three days to cancel.

If you're not offered a cancellation form, don't buy. Of course, if the salesperson were a fraudster, you probably wouldn't see a refund, anyway. Perhaps the best way to make sure a sale is legit is to buy from students you know, or to check with the school the student supposedly represents.

-- David Colker

Toys R Us launches campaign to aid impoverished children

Starting on Mother's Day, Toys R Us will collect donations in stores and online to help provide blankets to thousands of infants in need.

The national Bundled in Hope campaign is a collaboration between the toy retailer and Save the Children, a global humanitarian agency. Funds raised during the campaign, which ends July 11, will be used to purchase blankets for children in the most impoverished parts of the country and to provide support in those regions through an early childhood development program, Toys R Us said today.

As part of the initiative, baby blankets designed by celebrity moms -- including Jennifer Garner, Jamie Lee Curtis and Marcia Cross -- will be auctioned off online.

-- Andrea Chang