Thursday, March 18, 2010

How to get up after a fall: Tylenol in 1982

In September of 1982, seven people died after taking Extra-strength Tylenol that had been laced with cyanide. The market share of Tylenol plummeted from 37% to 8%.


(picture from consumerist.com)

Johnson and Johnson dealth with this incident very wisely. First of all, it issued an immediate recall of its products off the markets suffering a loss of $100 millions dollars. Second, it introduced a tamper-evident seal packaging as the first pharmaceutical company to comply with FDA's packaging guidelines. This combined with special offers and a new advertising campaign, Johnson and Johnson was able to make a comeback and is now one of the most respected companies in the world.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

baking powder vs. soda

I have always wondered what the difference between the two is, since all the recipes seem to call for one specific thing over the other, though they look the same. Both cause the dough to rise by releasing carbon dioxide.

Baking powder
includes an acidifying and a drying agent
includes baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch
used in cakes, biscuit recipes

Baking soda
is sodium bicarbonate
is bitter taste if no acidifying agent is included in the mix
used in cookie recipes

Baking soda's so versatile-y useful in non-cooking situations too! Like cleaning stuff, reduce odor, relieve sunburn, and even put out fire.

I made strawberry shortcakes yesterday and made the whipping cream too:

Mmmmm, delicious!