Latest news with #Jewel-Osco
Time of India
6 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Tuna salad recalled in US: Listeria alert hits 7 states; full list of affected regions
Represntational AI image Grocery stores across seven US states have pulled tuna salad items off their shelves after fears of listeria contamination. The recall, announced by the US food and drug administration (FDA) on Monday, was linked to products supplied by Reser's Fine Foods. The contamination was traced to breadcrumbs used in the tuna salads. No cases of illness have been reported so far. The affected items include sandwiches, croissants, snack packs and salad trays sold in Jewel-Osco outlets in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, and in Albertsons, Randalls and Tom Thumb stores in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. All the products have specific sell-by dates between 16 and 19 July. Customers have been advised to throw away or return recalled items for a full refund. What is Listeria Listeria is a bacteria that can cause severe illness, especially in pregnant people, the elderly, children and those with low immunity. The infection may lead to fever, nausea, diarrhoea or, in serious cases, miscarriage or stillbirth. The FDA has also asked people to clean all surfaces that may have come into contact with the products, warning that listeria can survive in cold storage like refrigerators.
Chicago Tribune
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
In the wake of SNAP cuts, feeding hungry Illinoisans falls more than ever on food pantries
Natasha McClendon had $20 in her bank account and a bag of chicken in her fridge. It wasn't going to be enough to feed her three daughters, her husband and herself, which meant it was time to take her monthly visit to the St. Sabina parish food pantry. She took the bus to St. Sabina from her home on the South Side, a two-story duplex the McClendons share with a transition house. Her husband, Eric, suffers from Morquio syndrome — a birth defect that manifests like severe scoliosis — and is unable to work. Most of his disability check goes towards their $750 rent. Natasha McClendon is a substitute teacher at Chicago Public Schools. She makes around $211 a week during the school year. She hasn't had a paycheck since June. 'We barely get any help from anyone,' she said. In the last several months, the McClendons have watched their government food assistance shrink. In December, Natasha McClendon took to shopping once a month at her church's food pantry to keep her family fed, supplementing what she could afford from Food4Less and Jewel-Osco. But there are still days she worries her kids are hungry. Now, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, faces its largest cut in its history under President Donald Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' signed into law on Independence Day. By cutting $200 billion out of SNAP, the bill, officially called HR-1, pushes the burden to feed hungry Americans even further onto nonprofit food pantries, which could mean less food for people like the McClendons. As nonprofits reliant on donations, food banks and pantries were already stretched thin before the bill passed. Volunteers said they see more American families fall into food insecurity every day. As long as shoppers fit a certain criteria, pantries typically don't turn them away — but as demand grows, each family gets less to eat. Thousands of Illinoisans will be directly affected by Trump's SNAP cuts, which means thousands more people relying on food pantries, which means less food for everyone. Unless thousands more donations appear. 'We certainly need the support of the larger Chicago community to provide what we believe is going to be an exponential increase in need,' said Mitzi Baum, interim CEO at Chicago food nonprofit Nourishing Hope. A small, red-brick building, the St. Sabina parish pantry stands on West 79th Street, wedged in next to its partner church. The only clue of its existence is the small cluster of people holding shopping bags outside the door. Until recently, Natasha McClendon had never shopped at St. Sabina's — she visited the parish only as a churchgoer. Her $1,100 SNAP benefits had been enough to feed the family for the most part. She first visited St. Sabina parish food pantry on Dec. 10, the day she opened a letter from the Illinois Department of Human Services informing her that after IDHS did its routine reevaluation of her family's needs, it would limit their SNAP benefits to $660 a month. 'They're picking on us working people,' Natasha McClendon said. When the door swung open right at 9 a.m. on June 23, the line of South Side residents signed their names on a clipboard in the lobby area, a small space with white walls that resembles a doctor's office waiting room. Many of the shoppers seemed to know what they were doing, but others asked questions uncertainly as they navigated their first visit. Natasha McClendon shopped in a room set up like a U, where smiling volunteers handed Natasha her choices from each station. She could choose four vegetables, two fruits, two bread products, one meat and three miscellaneous items, but that was the daily limit. She took her time going through the options on each shelf, looking for the food items her kids would eat. Some sections were more empty than others; Nice! Fruit Circles crowded the cereal shelf, but the canned vegetable section only offered pumpkin and green beans. Her cart looked full when she had finished her lap, but she stared woefully down at her food. It would only feed her family for a couple of days, and she would have to wait until July to come back. Most Chicago food pantries can only afford to allow visits once a month. She has two grown children as well as her three young daughters who live at home. Natasha McClendon graduated from Kennedy-King College in 1999 with a baby and an associate's degree in preschool education. Although she's been applying to jobs, she is limited by various medical issues, including a tic disorder, Achilles tendonitis and other complications that make it difficult for her to work on her feet. 'I've had some battles, but I fought them,' she said. In March, IDHS budgeted each member of the McClendon family for less than $6 of food per day. St. Sabina is one of the 800 organizations served by the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which distributes food to pantries in communities all over the city. The Greater Chicago Food Depository and its sister organization, the Northern Illinois Food Bank, have felt the effects of rising grocery prices for months. The United States is still dealing with supply chain issues from COVID-19, unhelped by Trump's tariffs, climate change and even the war in Ukraine. 'This is a perfect storm,' said Lindsay Allen, a health economist and policy researcher at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. 'It's the worst storm ever.' Eggs, dairy, meat and fresh produce: These words are motifs in conversations between pantry operators, experts and shoppers. Everybody is struggling to afford them; in fact, the Greater Chicago Food Depository stopped buying eggs for its partners. Food insecurity stretches into the suburbs and small towns across the state. John and Loretta Arient bear daily witness to rising food insecurity in their small Illinois community. The Arients named Stone Soup, their NIFB-affiliated pantry and soup kitchen in Marengo, after the children's tale about neighbors sharing food. When the Arients first moved to Marengo, there were a couple of grocery stores and a decent pharmacy. Now, they call Marengo a 'food desert' because it has only two places to buy groceries. Options in the town include a Sullivan's Foods, a Family Dollar and two pantries. When people can't afford food from the first two options, they turn to the latter. 'Small towns are taking a hit and small businesses are taking a hit and things are shutting down,' Loretta Arient said. The Arients helped found the Stone Soup kitchen in 2014. Every Tuesday between Memorial Day and early September, John Arient and three other volunteers cook four kinds of soup in the kitchen at Marengo United Methodist Church. In 2017, Stone Soup expanded to give out boxes of food on Mondays, which include produce, meat, bread, cereal and pasta. The boxes are supposed to provide three days' worth of food. Stone Soup does not have qualifying requirements; it feeds between 150 and 180 families every Monday. 'We take care of the needy and the greedy, and we let God sort them out,' John said. In the weeks leading up to Trump signing HR-1, Natasha McClendon was afraid that her SNAP benefits would be further diminished. She thought she would be subject to harsher work requirements. And like so many other SNAP recipients — and pantry owners, as well as the politicians writing the bill — Natasha McClendon was confused. She didn't know what was going to happen. Food banks and pantries were sure of one thing: Food insecurity was about to turn from bad to worse. On July 4, Congress voted to extend work requirements to adults aged 55-64 and parents of children older than 13. Natasha McClendon's two younger daughters are 9 and 12, so her status with work requirements will not change. Yet the McClendons will suffer from the strain on their neighborhood food pantry as it becomes the only institution left to feed people losing SNAP benefits. 'I don't want to have to put a 'No Food' sign on the door,' said Tim Allison, executive director of social services at St. Sabina. Allen, of Northwestern University, explained the inefficacy of work requirements for food assistance programs. To work, people need to eat. The 'Big, Beautiful Bill' threw hungry Americans into a catch-22: You can't afford to eat unless you work — but it's hard to work hungry. 'By taking away nutrition and by taking away health care from people, we are pretty much making it impossible for them to work,' Allen said. SNAP's purpose, she said, is to provide stability during times of economic instability. And the economy, right now, feels unstable to many, as grocery prices rise and the job market goes on a diet. As demand for food assistance rises — and it will — supplies diminish. Stone Soup has had to lower its quality standards in the wake of rising grocery prices. Its Monday food boxes, these days, have less fresh produce and more canned ingredients, according to Loretta Arient. Stone Soup could also use more storage and extra hands; as of now, the Arients, who are both retired, do most of the pantry's food pickups in their silver 2016 Honda Odyssey. 'I can see this almost taking us to a screeching halt,' John Arient said of HR-1. On top of needing more helping hands, food donations and money, food pantries will need more storage space and larger fridges and freezers to keep up with the thousands of people who will turn to them for nourishment. Julie Yukro, president and CEO of the Northern Illinois Food Bank, said she expects between 60,000 to 80,000 more Illinoisans in the region to start relying on her organization. One of those Illinoisans, Terry Roman, has a little gray card with purple and blue stripes tucked into his very old wallet. The small rectangle, more like a gift card than a credit card, carries the repercussions of Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' At 59, Roman falls into the risky age group between 55 and 64 who are now subject to work requirements nationwide. He doesn't have a disability exemption so unless that changes or he miraculously finds 80 hours of work per month, his gray plastic card will stop feeding him. For the last year and a half, Roman has received $292 in SNAP benefits each month. He retired two years ago from driving a truck after working for more than 40 years, in part because of a bad knee. Roman doesn't get disability for the knee because the issue has yet to be diagnosed. He works odd jobs to make ends meet while living in interim housing in Downers Grove that doesn't charge him rent. Roman buys most of his groceries with his SNAP money — for now. When Trump signed HR-1, he put a timer on Roman's benefits. So far, experts don't know when the timer will hit zero. 'They got eggs today!' The tall woman in the red dress turned excitedly to share the news. Nourishing Hope's Sheridan Market location, a GCFD partner, hadn't had eggs the last several times Bridget Woods went shopping. That Thursday evening at Sheridan Market was loud. Families chattered in the waiting area, volunteers asked shoppers their preferences and Judy Freebus, speaking Russian, was engaged in a bilingual conversation with an elderly Ukrainian woman at the check-in station. The shelves at this location were full-to-bursting at 5 p.m., prepared to feed 318 neighbors with 15 days' worth of groceries for each household. Nourishing Hope is one of Chicago's most efficient food pantries. It provides groceries for more than 4.5 million meals a year, with two pantry sites as well as an online market that allows shoppers to pre-order groceries and pick them up in a car. GCFD provides 62% of groceries, but Nourishing Hope also gets substantial food donations from Sam's Club, Target and Trader Joe's. Woods has shopped at Nourishing Hope pantries for more than 10 years now. Her SNAP benefits amount to only $34 a month, which has never been enough. She wasn't sure if her access to SNAP would be affected by HR-1. 'If it (does get) affected, I won't miss nothing,' Woods said as she scrutinized a selection of cheese. 'Nope, not that,' she said as an eager volunteer proffered a ball of mozzarella. 'Put that back.' Nourishing Hope's lush shelves have been life-sustaining for many Chicagoans, and now they, too, are at risk. Angela Cimarusti-Clifford, Nourishing Hope's senior manager of pantry programs, said the pantry hasn't experienced immediate effects of HR-1 but is preparing for them to hit. When SNAP was cut in the past, the impact followed shortly after. Yet the July day Bridget Woods went shopping, for the first time in months, Sheridan Market had eggs. Just one carton per household — but eggs nonetheless. Woods didn't know where the eggs came from. Maybe a grocery donation. Maybe a generous neighbor. Perhaps the staff at Nourishing Hope bought the eggs themselves. Whoever it was — someone saw the need, and filled it. Nourishing Hope will keep feeding its neighbors, even as its burden becomes heavier than ever.
Business Insider
29-05-2025
- General
- Business Insider
I tried one of Ina Garten's easy sandwich recipes. It took 10 minutes to make and tasted way better than takeout.
I started by gathering my ingredients. Garten's recipe says to use imported canned tuna packed in olive oil, so I chose two cans of Genova yellowfin tuna instead of the water-based ones I normally use. It was also shockingly hard to find Swiss cheese that wasn't in the form of sandwich slices at my Jewel-Osco — let alone the Emmentaler that she suggested. I decided to use a Swiss Gruyere AOP instead, which had a similar flavor. I also picked up celery, scallions, fresh dill, a lemon, anchovy paste, and bread. I already had avocado oil mayo at home, so I used that for the recipe. The recipe also called for microgreens, but I left them out since I'm not a fan of their grassy flavor. My receipt ended up coming out to about $35, or roughly $8.75 per serving — which I found to be a little pricey for a tuna melt sandwich. I began by draining the oil from the tuna and flaking it with a fork. Even though I drained most of the oil, the tuna seemed to have a creamy texture and flaked easily. I chopped the celery into ¼-inch pieces, diced the green onions and dill, and added them to the tuna mixture. Next, I cut a fresh lemon and squeezed out 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. I then added 1½ teaspoons of salt and ¾ of a teaspoon of pepper, mixing to combine the ingredients. I added the mayo and anchovy paste to make the mixture creamy. I added the mayo, which made the mixture creamy, and the anchovy paste, which looked a little unappetizing at first. However, it quickly assimilated into the tuna mixture. I preheated the broiler and toasted two slices of bread. After the bread was done toasting, I put the slices in a baking dish and spread a thick layer of the tuna mixture on each piece. Although Garten suggests using about a quarter of the mixture for each slice of bread, I added a little more tuna since it otherwise seemed to be a small serving. After grating cheese over the tuna mixture, I popped the sandwiches in the oven. I grated the cheese on top of the tuna mixture, then placed the open-faced sandwiches in the oven to broil for about three minutes. I waited until the cheese just started to melt and brown before taking them out of the oven to serve. My first bite of Garten's tuna melt was heavenly. The combination of olive oil, melted cheese, and creamy mayonnaise made the tuna taste much richer than what I'm used to. The fresh lemon juice cut through some of that richness, while the green onions, fresh dill, and diced celery added some flavor and texture. I also liked that the bread didn't get soggy, even after I finished up some emails before eating my second slice. I think this was probably because the bread was toasted. The sandwich was delicious, but I'd make a few changes next time. The anchovy paste added a little extra savory umami flavor to the sandwich, but it also made it saltier. In the future, I'll reduce the amount of salt I use. I also think that adding a briney element like capers could make this sandwich even better, even though it was already delicious as is. I really didn't miss the microgreens, thanks to all the fresh ingredients and crunch in the sandwich, and I think it would have just been an expensive throwaway topping that added to the cost of the meal. My main complaint was that Garten's tuna sandwich recipe didn't yield as much filling as I'd expected. I was disappointed there wasn't more of the tuna melt left after my boyfriend and I scarfed it down — especially given its relatively high price tag and the fact that it's supposed to be enough for four portions. However, considering how quick it was to make and how delicious the results were, this tuna melt sandwich will definitely become a regular in my lunch rotation. Next time, I'll just make some adjustments to make it a little more budget-friendly.
Chicago Tribune
27-05-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Rey's big adventure: Runaway horse takes a gallop down Elgin streets
Jose and Irma Sifuentes went out to run a quick errand Monday only to come back to find Rey, their American quarter horse, missing from the family's stable in unincorporated Kane County. The 5-year-old had managed to open his stall and take a run through Elgin's west side neighborhoods, surprising residents on Lin Lor Lane and Jane Drive, some of whom captured his wild ride on their cellphones. He ended up on Larkin Avenue behind the Jewel-Osco store. Elgin police and animal control officers faced a challenge trying to wrangle the runaway, needing about 15 minutes — and the lure of carrots — to corral him, the family said. 'He loves carrots,' said Irma Sifuentes, noting that he'll come to her immediately whenever she produces one. By the time the couple arrived at the scene, Rey was contained but still having fun. 'He was pretty calm,' Irma said. 'He was just kind of running around in a circle. He probably thought it was a game.' Her husband placed a rope around Rey's neck and walked him back home, she said. The American quarter horse is one of the most popular breeds in the world, known for its speed, according to the American Quarter Horse Association's website. It's typically used for racing, ranching, trail riding and timed events, the site said. Rey is 'very young. He's very playful. He's not aggressive. He's a really good horse,' Irma Sifuentes said. Once he got home, Rey was given a bath to help him calm down and relax, Irma Sifuentes said. And, of course, a few treats — carrots, naturally. 'He's doing just fine,' Irma Sifuentes said a few days after Rey's big adventure. 'He was a little scared, but he's fine. Thank goodness he's not hurt. We're still baffled as to how he got out.' The couple had a mare several years ago who figured out how to open the latch on her stall, she said. In case Rey had learned the same trick, they've since added a second latch to be safe, she said. Rey has been part of the Sifuentes family for two years. They aren't planning to race him or display him as a show horse, Irma said. He's just their pet, 'like a little kid,' she said. But Rey's escape has given him a level of unexpected fame in the neighborhood thanks to the videos now posted online. 'It's all over social media,' Irma said.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grocery workers' union seeks inroads at Tony's Fresh Market
More than 2,000 grocery workers employed at Tony's Fresh Market could unionize if they vote to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881. UFCW filed petitions for union elections with the National Labor Relations Board on Feb. 14. The local is seeking to represent about 2,400 grocery clerks, assistant managers and department managers at the 21 Tony's grocery stores throughout Chicago and its suburbs. UFCW Local 881 already represents thousands of grocery workers at Jewel-Osco and Mariano's grocery stores throughout the Chicago area, though meat, fish and deli counter workers at Jewel-Osco are unionized with another UFCW local union, Local 1546. Local 881 has also made inroads at cannabis dispensaries and at the coffee chain La Colombe in recent years. Tony's Fresh Market, founded in Chicago in 1979, operates 21 grocery stores throughout the city and its suburbs, according to its website. UFCW Local 881 petitioned to represent workers at all 21 stores, according to labor board filings. The union filed petitions two separate proposed bargaining units, one of which includes workers at Tony's locations in Chicago and suburban Cook County and another that includes staffers at stores spread throughout the suburbs, including in Cook, DuPage and Lake counties. If the grocery workers vote to unionize, they would form some of the largest new private-sector bargaining units the area has seen in the last couple of years. Representatives for the union did not respond to requests for comment. The union campaign comes just a few years after the grocer was acquired by funds managed by affiliates of New York-based private equity giant Apollo Global Management. The firm had already staked a claim in the Chicago-area grocery market, having put down $1.75 billion in Jewel-Osco parent Albertsons Companies Inc. in 2020. Until the Apollo deal, Tony's had been family-owned and operated since 1979, when Italian immigrants Tony Ingraffia and Domenico Gambino opened their first store at Fullerton and Central Park avenues in Chicago. Terms of the transaction with Apollo, which was announced in 2022, were not disclosed. In a statement Monday, Frank Ingraffia, the company's CEO and Tony's son, said the company '[works] hard to create an exceptional environment for our employees to thrive.' 'We prioritize competitive wages, benefits, and a direct dialogue with our Team Members, which we believe provides the best outcome for all stakeholders,' Ingraffia said.
