Floods, food recalls and flying: CBC’s Marketplace consumer cheat sheet
If you’ve been too busy to follow the consumer news this week, here’s our cheat sheet. And you can get the Marketplace newsletter in your inbox every week.
Your house flooded. You’re covered, right?
You might not be. This week’s brutally wet weather and floods destroyed homes and left many unsure of what to do next. And it gets worse. Some home insurance policies don’t include flood insurance. It’s an add-on. But why? We put your flood-related questions to an insurance expert to help you navigate the waters.
This week in what not to eat
Maple Leaf Chicken Breast Strips have been recalled. (Canadian Food Inspection Agency)
This week in food recalls: Carnivores be warned. Check your freezer if you think you might have pre-packaged chicken strips or burgers inside. And before you cook ground beef or veal in Ontario, check this list. Your pooch could be affected too: These pig ear dog treats could be contaminated with salmonella.
Heads up, parents
Costco has pulled Pekkle brand sleepers from its stores following an incident where a snap came loose and scratched a baby. (Pekkle)
Here are some warnings for those with wee ones: A mom blames the sunscreen, not the sun, for her baby’s second-degree burn. And Costco pulled popular Pekkle pyjamas from store shelves after a parent complained a snap detached from a sleeper and scratched a child’s skin. Plus, heard of fidget toys? The spinning, buzzing devices might be hurting rather than helping.
This week in airline woes
Airlines in the United States scored higher than Canadian airlines in passenger satisfaction in a survey from market research firm J.D. Power. (Luke MacGregor/Reuters)
Canadian airlines are falling behind their U.S. counterparts when it comes to passenger satisfaction. This week in bad trips: Air Canada is breaking up with Aeroplan in favour of its own loyalty program. But not everyone’s feeling the loyalty. This teen says he was trapped overnight in an airport with no help.
Marketplace: Updates to our investigations
- Get the lead out: After our investigation on cadmium in jewelry, Ardene vowed stricter monitoring to keep toxic metals out of its products. But a Health Canada spot check found lead in some Ardene necklaces, prompting a national recall.
- How homeopathic products are labelled: After our story on homeopathic kids’ remedies prompted Health Canada to change the rules, we checked those store shelves again. Despite the new rules, not much has changed.
- Fans vs. robots: We investigated ticket bots last year, and how they screw you out of good seats for your favourite shows. A new poll says you’re fed up and want the government to make them illegal.
Food waste: How much food do supermarkets throw away?
Food Waste22:31
David Common goes dumpster-diving at Walmart (really) to reveal how much food big companies throw away. In Canada, $31 billion worth of food ends up in landfills or composters each year. But we still don’t have a national food waste policy. Watch the episode on TV or online.