Hydrolized Vegetable Protein Recall May Become Biggest Food Recall in U.S. History

PepsiCo Inc. joined Procter & Gamble Co., Nestle SA and McCormick & Co. yesterday in recalling food containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP. The widespread use of the flavoring means more companies will follow, said Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, the Yonkers, New York-based advocacy group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine.

More than 100 items, including two flavors of P&G's Pringles and a store-brand ranch dip found in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., had been pulled as of yesterday, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site. Soups, sauces, chili, hot dogs, snack foods, dips and dressings are among the processed foods that often contain the vegetable protein, according to the FDA.

"It's a wake-up call for the food industry as a whole to be more thorough in evaluating the safety of ingredients," said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. "Big companies are putting their trust in suppliers, which is their Achilles heel."

Oscars Boost Expected for The Hurt Locker

Expanding the film to 1,000 theaters in the next few weeks would boost its worldwide box-office sales to an estimated $40 million, said David Joyce, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. The movie has taken in $21.4 million in global ticket sales since its June 26 release, according to Box Office Mojo, a researcher based in Sherman Oaks, California.

Bravo's The Fashion Show With Isaac Mizrahi Returning for Second Season

Internationally acclaimed designer Isaac Mizrahi returns for season two of "The Fashion Show," which follows professional designers as they strive to make their mark in the dog-eat-dog world of fashion and compete for a chance to have their winning designs sold for the mass retail market. "The Fashion Show" averaged more than one million viewers in its freshman season. Produced by Left/Right Productions for Bravo with Banks Tarver and Ken Druckerman as executive producers.

Apple's iPad Will Have at Least Fifty Competitors This Year

The coming swarm of tablets has even prompted ARM, Intel's main rival in the mobile microprocessor business, to rent more space at the Computex electronics trade show in Taipei this year to show off the devices, in addition to e-readers, mini-laptops and other devices that use ARM processing cores.

"The first tablet devices will launch in the second quarter by [mobile network] carriers," said Roy Chen, ARM's worldwide mobile computing ODM manager, during a press meeting in Taipei. "You'll see a lot more in the third quarter."