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(#1) Paula Deen's Racist Slurs
Paula Deen was, at one time, a grandmotherly figure who whipped up piles of Southern-fried goodness. Then, she landed at the heart of a major scandal.
In 2013, Deen admitted to using the N-word after a former employee sued her for racial discrimination. Deen said "of course" she had used the word at one time, but that she no longer does. Her reps blamed it on her Southern upbringing, and the Food Network subsequently dropped her show.
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(#2) Mario Batali's Alleged Harassment
Mario Batali has been at the heart of a few big scandals over the years. In 2010, 117 of his employees filed a lawsuit claiming Batali skimmed tips, keeping up to 5% of the money that should have gone to his servers and sommeliers. Batali eventually settled the lawsuit for $5.25 million.
In 2017, a harassment scandal derailed the chef's career after multiple women came forward to accuse him of everything from drunken come-ons to more physical indiscretions over the span of some 20 years.
"That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses," Batali said in a statement to Eater. "I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family."
He was fired from his regular hosting gig on ABC's The Chew, and the Food Network also distanced themselves from the troubled chef.
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(#3) Ina Garten's Refusal To A Make A Kid's Wish Come True – Twice
Ina Garten, AKA the Barefoot Contessa, comes across as the sweet, nurturing aunt everyone wishes they had. But in 2011, she complicated that perception by denying a Make-A-Wish Foundation request from a six-year-old boy with leukemia. The little boy, Enzo Pereda, wanted to meet and cook a meal with Garten. But Garten, who has a television show and was in the process of promoting a book at the time, declined. Then, a year later, when Make-A-Wish put in the request again, they were once again given a no from Garten.
After the news got out, Garten invited Pereda onto her show. Pereda, however, had "moved on" and instead fulfilled his wish of swimming with dolphins.
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(#4) Anne Burrell’s Alleged Employee Discrimination
Chef Anne Burrell worked alongside Mario Batali on Iron Chef America before launching a few shows of her own, including Worst Cooks in America and Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. In 2009, Centro Vinoteca – a West Village restaurant where she was formerly employed as chef – sued her for discriminating against female employees. The lawsuit alleged Burrell called the employees a string of derogatory names and made remarks about their bodies and personal lives.
The chef eventually reached a settlement, and Burrell never publicly commented on the case or the allegations against her.
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(#5) Robert Irvine’s Embellished Resume
Robert Irvine was known as a take-no-prisoners restaurant makeover guru and former military cook with an impressive swath of high-profile friends and experiences from all over the world. There was just one problem: he lied about his resume in 2008. He claimed he had a British knighthood, cooked for four former American presidents, and was friends with Prince Charles – he even said he had a hand in baking the prince and Diana's wedding cake.
After the media exposed his lies, Michael Symon replaced Irvine on Dinner: Impossible. The Food Network, however, later allowed Irvine back on its airwaves.
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(#6) Giada De Laurentiis's Rumored Infidelity
Giada De Laurentiis and her husband, Todd Thompson, filed for divorce in 2014 after 11 years of marriage, and soon rumors were flying about De Laurentiis's alleged infidelities. She publicly denied cheating, but has been tied to men including Matt Lauer, John Mayer, and fellow Food Network chef Bobby Flay over the years.
De Laurentiis denied a relationship with Flay saying,"Well, we're very good friends... but I don't think that's ever going to happen because I'm smarter than that."
She was also accused of breaking up another marriage in the wake of her own divorce.
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(#7) Guy Fieri's Alleged Homophobic Remarks
According to David Page, creator and former producer of Guy Fieri's show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Fieri gets inappropriate. "Any time any woman mentioned 'cream,' Guy went into [an inappropriate] riff," Page told City Pages in 2011. "When cutting the show, you had to tell the editors to watch Guy's eye line, because it's always on breasts."
Page also alleged Fieri made homophobic comments and was uncomfortable around LGBTQ+ people, claiming that they “weird me out.” Fieri's reps vehemently denied he was anti-gay in any way, and he remained on the air at the Food Network.
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(#8) Ree Drummond's Culturally Insensitive Wings
Ree Drummond, AKA The Pioneer Woman, amassed her own empire of books, products, and businesses built around her homey brand. But she found herself in hot water in 2017, after a 2012 episode of her Food Network show resurfaced.
During the segment, she serves her family spicy Asian-style chicken wings. Their response is less than enthusiastic. Drummond responds, "I'm just kidding, guys! I wouldn't do that to you!" and feeds them American-style wings instead. Critics found the whole segment problematic and racist, and pushed for better overall Asian representation on Food Network.
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(#9) Sandra Lee’s Kwanzaa Cake
Sandra Lee is known for making "semi-homemade" dishes that marry homemade ingredients with store-bought products. She aims for a level of culinary skill that any home chef can emulate, and her lack of pretension makes her extremely likable to television audiences. But she made a misstep circa 2008 with her creation of a now-infamous Kwanzaa cake, which consisted of store-bought angel food cake covered with canned frosting, piled with canned apple pie filling, and sprinkled with corn nuts.
Controversy ensued, not just because the cake was a hodge-podge of ingredients, but because of perceived cultural insensitivity on Lee's part. Lee apologized, saying, "I would never want to offend or hurt anyone. I don't care if you're white, red, or blue, or from Mars or India. I just want you to have a nice life."
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(#10) Nigella Lawson's Alleged Drug Use
Nigella Lawson is arguably the most beloved British chef since the Two Fat Ladies, but she's not been immune to scandal. In 2013, Lawson's ex-husband Charles Saatchi accused Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo, two of the couple's former assistants, of defrauding them of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The Grillo sisters claimed that Lawson told them they could spend the money if they didn't reveal her drug use to Saatchi.
Lawson later admitted to having used cocaine on two occasions but said, "I have never been a drug addict. I've never been a habitual user. There are two times in my life when I have used cocaine."
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Food safety means that food is non-toxic, harmless, in line with the nutritional requirements that should have, does not cause any acute, sub-acute, or chronic harm to human health. According to Beno’s definition of food safety, food safety is “a public health problem of toxic and harmful substances in food affecting human health”. Food safety is also an important area in food processing, storage, and marketing to ensure food safety and food safety, reduce the risk of disease, and prevent food poisoning, said interdisciplinarity, director of the Center for Food Safety.
The random generator tool lists 10 items, most notably the 10 biggest product-related scandals in foreign history. There are many shocking stories that you may have read about in newspapers and the media, such as Paula’s Deen Racist Slurs, Anne Burrell’s legitimate Employee Discrimination, Giada De Laurentiis’s rumored influence, etc.
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