A Mc-BLT has just become a Mc-BL. McDonald’s announced that due to concerns over the possibility of salmonella contamination on its fresh produce, it will no longer include freshed sliced tomatoes on it’s sandwiches. Others, such as Giant Eagle supermarkets in Pittsburgh or many Winn-Dixie Stores will also be pulling potentially tainted tomatoes from the shelves. Grape tomatoes will continue to be used in McDonald’s salads but many people will be missing out on what was perhaps the only healthy aspect to the sandwiches of McDonald’s: lycopene-rich tomato slices. Just another reason to avoid fast food!  (Photo from Bruce Marlin TM through WIkipediaCommons).

Maryland’s newest and largest vineyard. The Baltimore sun reported that a new Maryland vineyard and winery is nearing completion in the Appalachian foothills of Western Maryland. Richard Siebert and his Knob Hall Winery will become the largest vineyard in Maryland, totaling some 60 acres when it’s all planted in early 2009. Located on 175 acres of his family farm, Knob Hall will hope to put out 30,000 gallons of high quality juice with the help of winemaker John Levenberg. While I have yet to find any Maryland wine all that inspiring, some of the wines of Maryland’s 24 vineyards are good to pretty good. Hopefully as local interest in wines goes up and winemaking technology continues to improve, so will the wines of our great state.

Not so noble after all? In the wake of allegations that some Brunello di Montalcino producers have been using other grape varietals than the Sangiovese clone known as Brunello in their prized wines another wine scandal has surfaced. Decanter.com is reporting that Italian wine authorities are now investigating the possibility that some producers of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are also guilty. Currently only two producers are being investigated, according to the article. While these wines are made from Sangiovese, as well as other local grapes, the wine in question may have used grapes from other wine regions in Italy making these wines possible frauds.