The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "diners" ...
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Fishy Business
Boston Globe reporters Jenn Abelson and Beth Daley captured the attention of consumers across the nation with their 2011 “Fishy Business” series, which revealed widespread mislabeling of seafood at restaurants. DNA testing commissioned by the Globe showed diners frequently – and unwittingly -- overpaid for less desirable species. In 2012, the Globe produced two more “Fishy Business” installments to expand and follow up on the initial investigation. First, Abelson spent several months examining how fish processors add water to seafood to increase profits. The Globe hired an independent lab to conduct an analysis of 43 fish samples collected from supermarkets across Massachusetts. The results, presented in a multimedia package in September 2012, showed consumers often pay for excess water when they buy scallops and frozen fish. About 1 in 5 of the samples weighed less than what was stated on packages. The testing also showed 66 percent of the fish from one supplier had too much ice. The Globe also wanted to verify restaurants and wholesalers had changed their ways following the newspaper’s 2011 investigation and resulting calls for reform. Daley and Abelson returned to 58 restaurants that served the wrong fish in 2011 to collect new samples. DNA tests showed 76 percent did not match what restaurants advertised on their menus. The resulting third installment of “Fishy Business,” published in December 2012, detailed these findings. In addition, Abelson and Daley explained how accountability is lost in the fish supply chain by investigating a major wholesaler that provided mislabeled fish to some of the region’s best-known restaurants.
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"Dirty Dining"
Dateline obtained more than 3,000 restaurant health inspection reports from a representative sample of 1,000 fast food restaurants in 38 states to rank the worst offenders in terms of health and safety violations. Reporters found that more than 60 percent of the restaurants had problems that could be hazardous to a diner's health.
Tags: CAR; computer-assisted reporting; food; restaurants; health inspections; fast food
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Who's watching over Kansas City's restaurants?
The Kansas City Star reports on severe sanitation problems at city's restaurants. The investigation main findings include that roughly 800 food establishments had gone a year or more without routine inspection; the inspection staff is generally inexperienced and poorly paid; the city food code lacks serious financial penalties and is based on 25-year-old federal standards many other cities abandoned years ago. The stories document about 20,000 food code violations discovered by city inspectors from 1996 to 1999. In some instances, inspectors ignored sanitation problems that could have led to closing of a restaurant.
Tags: food code; foodborne diseases; sanitation; diners; safety; public health; FDA; Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition; CAR
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Paying the Price, Pumped Dry
"The neighborhood service station is a dying institution. Once as ubiquitous as the neighborhood grocery and mom-and-pop diner, service stations have been closing in dramatic numbers for two decades. Though the oil industry says the stations are merely casualties of a changing marketplace, the dealers who lease and run them say there's a more insidious reason. They're being forced out of business by their own parent companies."
Tags: oil companies; gas stations; gas price; Federal Trade Commission; (FTC); consolidating market; Chevron; Exxon; Shell
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No title (id: 12967)
The Courier Times investigates how easy it is for underaged teenagers to buy cigarettes from convenience stores, diners and gas stations. Sixty percent of the businesses visited by two teens working with the Courier Times sold them cigarettes. (May 20, Sept. 3, Nov. 29, Dec. 14, 22, 1995)
Tags: Ciavaglia Teens and cigarettes Tobacco Minors Illegal sales 9 pgs.