The Daily Dish: July 6, 2016

Today's first course?

As a result of allegations by government officials that the specialty grocery store violated the Clean Air Act, Trader Joe's has reached an expensive settlement with the EPA. The EPA details, "Under the settlement, Trader Joe's will spend an estimated $2 million over the next three years to reduce coolant leaks from refrigerators and other equipment and improve company-wide compliance. The company will also pay a $500,000 civil penalty." It was alleged that Trader Joe's did not promptly repair leaky refrigerators and lacked sufficient servicing and compliance records, therefore stores were emitting R-22, "a potent greenhouse gas with 1,800 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide."

The belief that cranberry juice can relieve symptoms of urinary tract infection or lessen its occurrence, as we have told you before, is a popular home-remedy myth, but studies attempting to verify its effects have produced mixed results. Now, however, scientists have done a new comprehensive study on the subject, testing patients who drank cranberry juice against those who were given a placebo, a juice which looked and tasted the same but did not contain the supposedly beneficial nutrients of cranberry juice. The results were staggering: there was a 39 percent reduction in clinical UTI episodes among the cranberry juice-drinkers. It should be noted, though, that two of the researchers on the team were employees of Ocean Spray, the best-known brand of cranberry juice, and that Ocean Spray provided funding for the study.

Barnes and Noble seems to have taken a page out of Urban Outfitters' book, revealing plans to incorporate a full-service restaurant into its store model. The store revamp reflects both a desire and necessity to set it apart from online retailers (cough, Amazon) by not only giving customers an excuse to stay in the store longer, but to create a tangible experience that is not possible via online shopping. The company is testing the new concept in four pilot stores, located in Eastchester, New York; Edina, Minnesota; Folsom, California; and Loudoun County, Virginia.

That's today's daily dish, stop by tomorrow for another helping.