Quaker Steak wins honors for sauces

Quaker Steak wins honors for sauces

Sharon, pa.

Quaker Steak and Lube took first place and won multiple honors for its wing sauces at this year’s Fiery Food Challenge ZestFest.

The Sharon, Pa.-based restaurant chain won first place Golden Chile awards for its Dusted Chipotle BBQ and Thaisian sauces.

The Thaisian sauce also won second place in the condiment category, and the Triple Atomic sauce took second place in the “XXX Hot” category.

Coming in at third place in the barbecue sauce, sweet base category was The Lube’s BBQ sauce.

The Fiery Food Challenge ZestFest, sponsored by Chile Pepper Magazine, was at the Urban Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.

A panel of judges conducted a blind test for 638 entries in 85 categories.

Shannon Baker, spokeswoman for Quaker Steak and Lube, said the company entered 10 of its 25 sauce flavors into the competition.

Quaker Steak and Lube was founded in 1974 and has 41 locations in the United States and Canada.

It has won more than 100 national and international awards, including the 2010 Festival Favorite award at the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, New York.

Baby monitors recalled after 2 die

WASHINGTON

Nearly 2 million Summer Infant video baby monitors were recalled Friday after being linked to the strangulation deaths of two infants.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the electrical cords on the monitors can be dangerous for babies if placed too close to their cribs.

According to the commission, a 10-month-old girl from Washington, D.C., died in March when she strangled on the cord of a Summer Infant monitor camera that had been placed on the top of the crib rail.

In November, a 6-month-old boy from Conway, S.C., strangled in the electrical cord of a baby monitor placed on the changing table attached to his crib.

Judge: Firing for use of medical pot is OK

DETROIT

Michigan law legalizing medical marijuana doesn’t stop private businesses from firing people for drug use, a federal judge said Friday in dismissing a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said the law, approved by voters in 2008, bars authorities from prosecuting people for marijuana use but doesn’t tell private employers what to do.

Joseph Casias, 30, was an inventory-control manager at a Walmart in Battle Creek until he tested positive for marijuana in 2009. He has a medical-marijuana card and smokes pot to alleviate symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer.

Under Casias’ theory of the case, “no private employer in Michigan could take any action against an employee based on an employee’s use of medical marijuana,” Jonker said. “This would create a new protected employee class in Michigan and mark a radical departure from the general rule of at-will employment.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Casias, said it would appeal.

Vindicator staff/wire reports