• Massachusetts’ Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission is under scrutiny by the state treasurer after spending an amount nearly equal to its annual budget to resolve employment cases involving harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. [Globe]
• Looking for an investment? “Classy Rick’s Bacon & Leggs,” the Peabody strip joint that appears in Adam Sandler’s upcoming I Hate You, Dad, is up for sale.
• Like we’ve been telling you, organic and natural pet food is on the rise, so much so that some PetCo locations have a special store-within-a-store dedicated to the products. [LAT]
• A new study shows that using a bigger fork causes people to eat less of the food on their plates. So, small plate, big fork? [Marie Claire UK]
• Some countries have grain stores, but China keeps a frozen-pork reserve, which it plans to release to the market now that prices are up. Weird. [NYT]
• Try as it might, PepsiCo just can’t beat Coke, which continues to gain shares in the drinks market. [Street]
• New Zealand is the latest country to suffer higher inflation owing partly to rising food costs. [RTT News]
• The year-old drought affecting the swath of the southern U.S. from Florida to Arizona is being dubbed a “once-in-a-generation” disaster. [Financial Times]
