Press Releases

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 12/05/09 -- Parents who have not yet managed to score a Zhu Zhu Pet this holiday season might want to breathe a sigh of relief. The Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster Mr Squiggles, the Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Dragonoid, and the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Learning Farm were three of this holiday season's hot toys with higher-than-mandated amounts of several toxic chemicals, GoodGuide announced today.

GoodGuide, which provides health, environment and social responsibility ratings on consumer products, tested the top holiday toys from Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Amazon. "We rated the most popular toys as these are the ones that will end up under the most Christmas trees this year," said Dara O'Rourke, CEO and co-founder of GoodGuide. "These are big brand toys with two of them -- Zhu Zhu Pets and Bakugan Maxus Dragonoid -- nominated for Toy of the Year awards by the Toy Industry Association."

The tests administered by GoodGuide revealed the higher-than-allowed presence of two potentially toxic elements: antimony and chromium. Depending on the level of exposure, antimony can lead to cancer, lung and heart problems and impacts on fertility. And certain forms of chromium can be associated with cancer and reproductive hazards. The new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act introduced mandatory limits on the amount of these elements in toys in February of 2009.

"While most people won't have heard of these elements since the time they studied the periodic table at school, they do have known health effects which is why the rule went into place to limit them in toys," said O'Rourke. "The toy industry has done a lot to improve product safety, particularly when it comes to lead, but our tests reveal that some surprisingly big name toys are still slipping through the cracks with other toxic chemicals."

The current federal standard for both antimony and chromium is 60 ppm (parts per million). GoodGuide tests revealed the following amounts:

-----------------------------------------------    -----------    --------
Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Dragonoid                     466-807 ppm    Chromium
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Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Helios                        143-756 ppm    Chromium
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Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Laughing Farm             193 ppm      Chromium
-----------------------------------------------    -----------    --------
Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster Mr Squiggles                    93-106 ppm    Antimony
-----------------------------------------------    -----------    --------
International Playthings My First Purse (Purple)      76 ppm      Antimony
-----------------------------------------------    -----------    --------

"As a father, I know how highly anticipated some of these holiday gifts can be," said O'Rourke. "At the same time, every parent wants to make sure they are giving their child a safe toy." Parents can check out the ratings at www.goodguide.com before they buy.

On the good news front, out of the 15 hottest holiday toys rated by GoodGuide, none of them had lead in them and two of them scored a perfect 10 on Health & Safety. The star performers are:

-- LEGO Star Wars The Clone Wars Fan's Vote Anniversary Edition - Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, and

-- ChixOs Pink Design-A-Luxury Loft

The remaining toys were found to have one or more of the following toxic chemicals at concerning levels: arsenic, bromine, chlorine, antimony, chromium, or tin.

In addition to the ratings of the 15 hot holiday toys, consumers can find ratings for more than 700 new toys and over 2000 toys total at www.goodguide.com. These ratings are produced in partnership with HealthyStuff.org, a project of The Ecology Center.

A Thermo Scientific NITON XL3t series X-ray fluorescence analyzer was used for GoodGuide's analysis. XRF technology is a method for determining levels of specific elements found within a wide variety of surfaces and materials. The top layer of a toy is analyzed which is what children are most likely to be in contact with. The GoodGuide research team tested multiple samples of each toy and different parts from each sample.

About GoodGuide

GoodGuide helps consumers find safe, healthy, and socially responsible products and companies. GoodGuide currently offers detailed product information for personal care, household chemical, toy and food products on its website at www.goodguide.com, through its iPhone application and on online commerce websites. By making information about consumer products transparent, GoodGuide's goal is to help people shop smarter and motivate companies to offer even better products.

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For more information, please contact:
Suzanne Skyvara
Skyvara Communications
Tel: (415) 453-4880
Cell: (415) 290-6928
Email Contact

Workers Ensure Emergency Deliveries Are Transported

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamster members employed by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Red Cross are hard at work educating the public about the unfair labor conditions that they endure that could potentially put Philadelphia's blood supply at risk. More than 100 employees went on strike and set up a picket line Thursday when their issues were ignored by their employer.

Red Cross management in Philadelphia has routinely understaffed their operation and scheduled frontline employees to work 12-14 hour shifts. Long shifts in conjunction with working seven or more straight days may prevent workers from being at their best while doing the vital work of transporting blood supplies.

Workers also expressed their concern with the false statements put out by Red Cross regarding emergency transport of blood products during the strike.

"Although we are on strike, we are doing everything we can to make sure that life saving blood products arrive at their destinations on time," said Carl London, a member of Teamsters Local 929 and the chief shop steward at the Red Cross in Philadelphia. The allegation that we are blocking urgent deliveries is symptomatic of Red Cross' disrespect for their employees. "We actually went out of our way to ensure that any emergency vehicles were given access."

"The public needs to know that we are concerned about our members' safety at the Red Cross, and in turn the safety of the blood supply," said Rocky Bryan, vice president of Teamsters Local 929. "The collection and transport of blood products is an occupation our members take very seriously. Above all they want to perform their jobs at the best of their ability so that there is no margin for error."

*Supporters of the workers are encouraged to join the Teamster members today, Saturday, December 5 at the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers 2009 Fourth Annual Blood drive at the Wachovia Center, 3601 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 8:30 a.m.

SOURCE Teamsters Local Union 929, Philadelphia, PA

PALO ALTO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 12/05/09 -- FanSnap®, the live event ticket search engine for fans, today announced the availability of college football bowl tickets. FanSnap.com displays detailed, ticket-level results from dozens of ticketing providers.

NCAA men's football ticket searches on FanSnap routinely turn up listings representing thousands of tickets per game for sale by season ticketholders and professional ticket resellers -- the most comprehensive view of tickets available. Fans have already begun searching for bowl tickets with FanSnap.

Citi BCS National Championship Game tickets -- Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)

Jan 7, 2010 at 5:00PM -- 4,000+ tickets

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl tickets -- University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, AZ)

Jan 4, 2010 at 6:00PM -- 6,000+ tickets

FedEx Orange Bowl tickets -- Land Shark Stadium (Miami, FL)

Jan 5, 2010 at 8:00PM -- 4,000+ tickets

Citi Rose Bowl tickets -- Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)

Jan 1, 2010 at 1:30PM -- 1,000+ tickets

Allstate Sugar Bowl tickets -- Louisiana Superdome (New Orleans, LA)

Jan 1, 2010 at 7:30PM -- 5,000+ tickets

Chick-fil-A Bowl tickets (Peach Bowl) -- Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA)

Dec 31 at 7:30PM -- 9,000+ tickets

Outback Bowl tickets -- Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL)

Jan 1, 2010 at 11:00AM -- 6,000+ tickets

Konica Minolta Gator Bowl tickets -- Jacksonville Mun Stadium (Jacksonville, FL)

Jan 1, 2010 at 1:00PM -- 6,000+ tickets

Capital One Bowl tickets -- Florida Citrus Bowl (Orlando, FL)

Jan 1, 2010 at 1:00PM -- 11,000+ tickets

AT&T Cotton Bowl tickets -- Cowboys Stadium (Arlington, TX)

Jan 2, 2010 at 1:00PM -- 17,000+ tickets

AutoZone Liberty Bowl tickets -- Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Memphis, TN)

Jan 2, 2010 at 4:30PM -- 1,000+ tickets

Valero Alamo Bowl tickets -- Alamodome (San Antonio, TX)

Jan 2, 2010 at 8:00PM -- 8,000+ tickets

For a complete list of bowl games and available tickets, go to FanSnap.com and enter "bowl tickets" in the search box.

About FanSnap

FanSnap.com is the live event ticket search engine for fans. Our mission is to provide the most comprehensive, accurate, fast and easy-to-use resource for fans to find and compare tickets they desire to sports, concerts, and theatre events. FanSnap provides free ticket search results for dozens of the leading ticket providers, including TicketNetwork, StubHub, RazorGator, Las Vegas Tickets, Gold Coast Tickets, eBay, Barry's Tickets, AllShows.com, and Ace Ticket. Our detailed ticket-level search results are made possible by the combination of strategic industry partnerships and systems integration, as well as our FanSnap TicketData(SM) systems and patent-pending dynamic FanSnap Maps(SM). Palo Alto, CA-based FanSnap was founded in 2007 and is funded by General Catalyst Partners and Highland Capital Partners.

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PRESS CONTACT:
Christian Anderson
christian@fansnap.com
m: (206) 251-3469
http://FanSnap.com/blog
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MAUI, Hawaii--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Maui Celebrity Series at The Hard Rock Cafe on Friday, December 18th, 2009 with Brian Evans, William Shatner, and Davy Jones on Maui.

Each month, a different celebrity will appear in this 300 seat venue, making the experience for the consumer something truly to remember. On January 15th & 16th, the legendary Roseanne Barr will perform, and on February 17th, "Queer as Folks" star Hal Sparks will perform with Brian Evans, each doing their own concert set.

The state has suffered due to the economic turndown, and the series was developed to attempt to bring tourism back to the state. The brainchild of Brian Evans, who performs as the opening act for Jay Leno and Joan Rivers, among others, was to convince those he has opened for to come perform at the small venue.

"It's obviously been many years since the likes of Joan Rivers and Roseanne Barr have performed in a venue holding only 300 people, but people these days just don't have the resources to lay out hundreds of dollars for a single ticket to a show these days. We wanted to develop something different, where the guest not only enjoy the cool vibe of The Hard Rock, but actually have an opportunity to meet and greet with the celebrity they are coming to see while they just happen to be on Maui. It will truly be a unique experience for all," says Evans.

Tickets are now on sale at www.groovetickets.com, and more information may be obtained at www.themauicelebrityseries.com. Tickets can also be purchased by calling The Hard Rock box office at (808) 667-7400.

"Obviously, tickets are going to go fast when you only have 300 to sell, so we're hoping people jump on them before they end up on Ebay," laughs Evans. A portion of each ticket benefits World Hunger, and the series is sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines, Enterprise Rent A Car, and Royal Lahaina Hotel in Lahaina, Maui.

The series is currently featured in the new December issue of Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, page 175.

    Source: The Maui Celebrity Series at The Hard Rock Cafe

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As a precautionary measure, due to mislabeling, College Inn is initiating a voluntary recall of College Inn(R) No MSG Chicken Broth sold in individual 14 1/2 oz. cans.

All other sizes and varieties of College Inn(R) Chicken Broth are correctly labeled and therefore are not affected by this voluntary recall.

College Inn is voluntarily recalling College Inn(R) No MSG Chicken Broth in individual 14 1/2 oz. cans due to the presence of wheat (an allergen) which was not declared in the ingredient statement. Also, the label incorrectly states that the product does not contain Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). The following product is subject to the voluntary recall:

Product Name                          Best By Dates

College Inn(R) No MSG Chicken Broth   All Dates
Individual 14 1/2 oz cans             (Only products labeled "No MSG")

People who are allergic to wheat may run a risk of serious adverse health consequences by consuming this product. To date, no illnesses have been reported in connection with this mislabeling.

Individuals without an allergy to wheat and without a sensitivity to Monosodium Glutamate may continue to enjoy this product.

College Inn products are 100% guaranteed. Consumers can visit www.CollegeInn.com, or contact its Consumer Hotline at (800) 552-7684 for further information about the voluntary recall and for instructions on obtaining replacement product. College Inn values the health and well-being of its consumers, and regrets this situation.

About College Inn

College Inn is a subsidiary of Del Monte Foods Company. For more than 80 years, College Inn(R) brand has been cooking up quality, great-tasting chicken, beef and vegetable broths and stocks to give consumers that great homemade taste they grew up with.

The College Inn(R) family of products also includes low sodium and organic options. Visit www.CollegeInn.com for more information.

    Source: Del Monte Foods Company