Even the best detergent can’t make up for bad laundry practices. Throw a red shirt in with your sheets and you're now in the pink. Mix and match fabric types and you'll end up with lint on your best blouse. Here are four rules to live by from the laundry pros at Consumer Reports plus some laundry pair picks from our washer and dryer tests.

Get sorted

Start by separating lights and darks, paying particular attention to red items, which are notorious bleeders. It’s also a good idea to sort items by fabric type. Keep towels, sweatshirts, and other items that shed lint away from sheets and other smooth fabrics that tend to pill. Close zippers; they can snag easily on other items. Wash jeans inside out to avoid streaky lines. If you have a high-efficiency (HE) top-loader that lacks a special cycle for waterproof and water-resistant items, avoid washing those items because they can cause loads to become unbalanced, leading to excessive shaking.

Pretreat stains

The sooner you treat the stain, the better. Pretreatment products such as Shout and Resolve are often helpful with many stains. Most liquid detergent can also be applied directly to stains. Powders can often be mixed with water to form a paste that can be applied to stains; refer to package for directions. You can also soak affected items in a solution of detergent and water. Many washing machines have a soak cycle that makes it easy, or you can fill the tub manually if you have a top loader. To treat underarm stains, our tests have found soaking shirts in OxiClean to be effective.

Load it properly

An overstuffed washer won’t get clothes clean. Conventional top-loaders hold about 6 to 16 pounds of laundry; high-­efficiency top- and front-loaders hold 20 pounds or more. See the manual or manufacturer site for your model’s recommendations. For best results in a top loader, start filling the tub with water, add detergent, then add clothes. The best time to manually add bleach is a few minutes after the agitator starts running. Bleach is best reserved for white cottons, including sheets and undershirts; note that it can degrade the elastic on underwear and swimsuits.

Don’t overdose

In addition to being a waste of money, using too much detergent can leave residue in your clothes, and it’s not great for your washing machine, either. Confusing detergent caps with difficult-to-read fill lines make it easy to overdo it. Purex is on to a good thing with its Power­Shot Super Concentrated detergent, which automatically dispenses the right amount of detergent. It was an also-ran in our performance tests, but we hope other brands adopt similar auto-dosing bottles. In the meantime, use a permanent marker to highlight the fill line you use most regularly.

Recommended laundry pairs

• Kenmore Elite 41072 front-loader and Kenmore Elite 81072 electric dryer.
  Price: $1,000 each
• LG WM8500HVA front-loader and LG DLEX8500V electric dryer.
  Price: $1,450 each
• Maytag Maxima MHW8100DC front-loader and Maytag Maxima MED8100DC dryer.
  Price: $1,400 each
• Samsung WF56H9110CW front-loader and Samsung DV56H9100EW electric dryer.
  Price: $1,450 washer, $1,500 dryer
• Whirlpool Duet WFL98HEBU front-loader and Whirlpool Duet WEL98HEBU electric dryer.
  Price: $1,500 each

More great choices

For more matching washers and dryers, including the quietest couples and the best pairs for $1,600 or less, read "Washer-dryer pairs that cleaned up in Consumer Reports' tests."

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

The White House this week unveiled the first-ever national standards to address carbon pollution from power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, which would cut carbon pollution from power plants by 32 percent by the year 2030, aims to improve public health and promote greater energy efficiency.

Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, a long-time supporter of efficient energy solutions, praised the plan when it was announced. Not only will it reduce the pollutants that cause dangerous, unhealthy soot and smog and focus on making energy production cleaner and more efficient, but it can also help cut consumers' utility bills.

After years of gathering input and development, the final Clean Power Plan gives each state individual flexibility to implement the plan. In fact, many states are already well on their way in moving toward cleaner sources of energy. If states continue to look for the most cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable resources available, the benefits are expected to include:

Consumer savings

• Save the average household nearly $85 a year on their energy bills in 2030.
• Save consumers $155 billion from 2020 to 2030.

Climate and health benefits

• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.
• Prevent up to 3,600 premature deaths.
• Prevent 90,000 asthma attacks in children.
• Prevent 300,000 missed workdays and school days.

The Clean Power Plan has a long road ahead of it. Industry groups are expected to challenge it in courts and Congress. But we believe this plan could change the future of our electricity in the United States for the better if it’s given the chance to work.

Consumers Union will continue to push for more efficient, more affordable energy solutions that benefit consumers—just as we have for years. In addition, we will also work with our many partners to encourage states to make sure their plans are consumer friendly and cost effective. Check back with us for updates on how states are doing on their plans.

In the meantime, want to know how efficient your state’s power is? Take a look at this infographic to see where your power comes from.  

This feature is part of a regular series by Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. The nonprofit organization advocates for product safety, financial reform, safer food, health reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.

Read past installments of our Policy & Action feature.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

If you’re undertaking a full bathroom remodel, seriously consider outfitting it with aging-in-place features, even if you don’t need them right now. Because they’re so well-designed, they won’t be conspicuous, and if you—or someone you are selling your house to—need them one day, you’ll be good to go. If you can’t do a remodel, you can still retrofit an existing bathroom with some easy yet meaningful fixes:

Switch showerheads

Handheld showerheads elegantly solve multiple problems. You can keep the showerhead stationary when you want to and still adjust it daily whether a 6-foot-2 adult needs it or a 4-foot-2 child does. Plus you also get the flexibility of a handheld for hard-to-reach places or those times when the family dachshund needs a spray wash.

Use the space you have

If your bathroom isn’t large enough to accommodate a curbless shower, look for a replacement shower enclosure that fits into the tub’s existing footprint and is easy to step into. Choose a color that contrasts with the floor so that the edge is easy to see.

Replace the toilet

The seat of a standard toilet is about 14 or 15 inches above the floor. Most comfort- height toilets are 17 to 19 inches high, which can make it easier to get on and off. Ten of the 12 recommended toilets in our tests are comfort height and range in price from $100 to $425.

Turn up the task lighting

Lights in the shower should be bright enough for shaving, bathing, and reading shampoo labels. Choose a recessed light and lightbulbs designed for use in wet areas. LEDs have dropped in price, and once you change one, you won’t need to again for years. CFLs are cheaper, but frequent on/off cycling—common in bathrooms—will shorten a CFL’s life.

Top comfort-height toilets from our tests

• St. Thomas Creations Richmond ECO, $350.
• American Standard Champion 4 Max, $240.
• Delta Riosa C43906, $270.
• Glacier Bay N2428E, $100, at Home Depot.
• Kohler Kelston K-3754, $275.

More great choices. For more top-performing toilets, including WaterSense water-saving models, check our full toilet Ratings and recommdations.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

You’d think that choosing a color would be the biggest challenge of paint prep. But stare down a shelf of cans crammed with claims and you’ll see how confusing the labels can be. Consumer Reports' paint experts explain which terms you can take seriously and which ones are just slick marketing. Get more details and tips on selecting the right products by checking our paint buying guide and Ratings.

Enamel

The word once indicated that an interior paint was oil-based, providing a tough finish and high gloss. These days, you’ll see it on paint cans for all finishes, including flat. If you think that means the finish is tougher than nonenamel paint, be aware that our tests haven’t found that to be the case.

Washable

All the word means is that once the paint dries, you can scrub the surface and the paint won’t come off. As for stain resistance, our testing revealed that there are very few paints that actually repel stains. You might be similarly confused by the term “stain blocking,” which means only that the paint will prevent the sappy knots of bare wood from showing through.

One gallon

Sorry, but you can’t even take that claim at face value. We found few cans that contained 128 ounces; some were up to 8 ounces short. Why? Manufacturers leave room for retailers to add a tint.

Environmentally friendly

The claim, which isn’t well-defined, suggests that a paint has low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or none at all. (When paint dries, VOCs are released into the atmosphere. They have been linked to pollution, smog, and respiratory problems.) All of the paints we tested are friendlier to the enviroment because they meet stricter federal standards, although some are better at the job than others. (Our paint Ratings have the details.) But even paints with zero VOCs aren’t odor-free; other paint chemicals emit a smell.

Mildew-resistant

You won’t see those words on all cans, but we found that almost every paint we tested did resist mildew. That’s because manufacturers have added chemicals that kill spores and prevent mildew from growing.

Can you trust "plus"?

Add a superlative—“premium,” “premium plus,” “premium plus ultra”—to a paint’s name and the price goes up. Performance does, too, but not always. See our paint Ratings for specifics.

Top paints from our tests

Interior paints

• Behr Marquee, $43, at Home Depot
• Valspar Reserve, $44, at Lowe's
• Behr Premium Plus Ultra, $34, at Home Depot.
• Clark + Kensington Enamel, $32, at Ace
• Benjamin Moore Aura, $54

Exterior paints

• Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior, $39, at Home Depot
• Clark + Kensington Exterior, $35, at Ace
• Behr Premium Plus Exterior, $30, at Home Depot
• Sherwin-Williams Duration Exterior, $68
• Benjamin Moore Aura Exterior, $68

—Kimberly Janeway

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

The smoke and smell from burning wildfires like those in the West can create unhealthy air quality both outside and inside your home. If local authorities have asked you to evacuate your home, you should listen.  If not, you can check local air quality at airnow.gov.  Type in your zipcode to get detailed information and also check the wildfire map. Here are some dos and don’ts for dealing with wildfire smoke inside your home plus some air purifier picks from Consumer Reports tests.

How to clear the air

Keep doors and windows and fireplace dampers closed. Even if you have a portable air cleaner, it can become overwhelmed when too many particles are in the air and won’t clean as effectively.

Buy extra filters to have on hand. Activated charcoal filters typically need to be changed every three months. But you may need to change them more often if wildfire smoke hangs in the air for days or weeks. A lingering smoke smell while the air purifier is running is a sign you need to switch to a higher setting, or change the filter if the unit is already on high.
 
Run your window or central air. But set the fan on recirculate or close the fresh air intake so smoky air isn’t coming in. And remember to change that filter too. In Consumer Reports’ tests of whole-house air purifiers, Filtrete’s Healthy Living Ultimate Allergen Reduction 1900 MPR, $20, did an impressive job of removing smoke and dust.

Don't make matters worse. Burning candles or wood in the fireplace and smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products will add to the smoke in your home.  And don’t vacuum when air quality is at its worse as it can stir up particles already in your home.

Top air purifiers from our tests

Portable air purifiers with activated charcoal filters can help remove small particles in smoke. The Honeywell HPA300, $250, and the Whirlpool Whispure AP51030K, $300, removed the most smoke at lower, quieter settings in our tests. Both can clean large rooms. The Honeywell 50250 and Honeywell 50255 are less expensive, $160 and $180, but weren’t as effective on lower settings and were very noisy on higher, more effective settings.

For more choices check out our air purifier Ratings of 40 portable room and whole-house (labeled home) air purifiers. Our air purifier buying guide will give you a rundown on the latest advances in this product category.

 –Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman (@cklehrman on Twitter)

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

If you’re looking for the latest and greatest in refrigerator design, the bottom-freezer category has the most to offer—maybe a sleek French-door model or one of the new four and five-door fridges on the market. But there’s a reason top-freezers are still the best-selling configuration. For thousands of dollars less than their more stylish counterparts, a capable top-freezer delivers comparable performance, storage, and energy efficiency, especially if you choose one of these top picks from Consumer Reports' latest refrigerator tests. You might even be able to get it in attractive stainless steel.   

Haier HT21TS45SW, $800

While all top-freezer deliver value, this 32-inch-wide model from Haier goes above and beyond, enough for a CR Best Buy designation. At $800, its price is about average for the category, but it earned a top spot in our refrigerator Ratings thanks to its outstanding energy efficiency, solid temperature control, and quiet operation. It also serves up an impressive 17.5 cubic feet of usable capacity, enhanced by such features as gallon door storage and spillproof shelves. 

Frigidaire Gallery FGHI2164QF, $1,100

This top-freezer comes in smudge-proof stainless steel, which is partly why it costs more than most. Our testers were impressed by the 30-inch-wide model’s solid temperature control and superb energy efficiency. Its respectable 15 cubic feet of usable capacity feels larger thanks to the customizable door bins and pullout shelf, designed for snacks, beverages, and other items you reach for often.

GE GTE18ISHSS, $900

This $900 refrigerator is among GE’s top-freezers manufactured at its home factory in Louisville, if you want to buy American. It scored solid marks in our temperature and energy-use tests to earn a spot on our recommended list. Its 14 cubic feet of usable capacity is on the smaller side, though it has some helpful organization features, including gallon door storage and half shelves, handy when you need to keep taller items in the refrigerator.

Frigidaire FFHT1821QS, $600

Spending $600 on a refrigerator could mean serious compromises—unless it's this 30-inch-wide model from Frigidaire. The 30-inch-wide model is extremely energy efficiency, maintains very good temperature control, and its usable capacity is just shy of 15 cubic feet. The tradeoff for all that value is a lack of convenience features. But if you can live with the bare bones design, this workhorse should deliver years of service.

Kenmore 78032, $1,000

This $1,000 Kenmore, which is Sears house brand, combines value and reliability—in fact, Kenmore is the least repair-prone brand in our latest appliance reliability survey. As for performance, temperature control is about average, or a notch below the best top-freezers, but it offers the most usable storage capacity by a good margin, and it’s pretty full-featured for a top-freezer, with touchpad controls, spillproof shelves, and more.
             
With all this praise for top-freezers, we wouldn’t want to leave the impression that every model in the category is a winner. In fact, our latest tests turned up some serious duds, including models from Frigidaire, Maytag, and Whirlpool that all delivered subpar temperature control. Be sure to check our refrigerator Ratings before making any final purchase.       

—Daniel DiClerico (@dandiclerico on Twitter)   

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

Keeping your feet in top condition takes time, so we wondered whether products such as the new battery-operated PedEgg could make it faster and easier. In previous tests, Consumer Reports' volunteer panelists found the original PedEgg—which works sort of like a kitchen microplane—to be a better callus remover than a pumice stone.

But the new battery-powered versions claim to give you smooth, beautiful feet in minutes, without manual rubbing. So we pitted two heavily promoted brands, the Amopé Pedi Perfect and PedEgg Power, against the original PedEgg.

For our test, we asked 20 volunteers to use one of the battery-run gadgets on one foot and the original PedEgg on the other. Most agreed that the motorized gadgets took less work, but all three devices did the job.

The downside: You won’t get perfectly baby-soft feet with these gadgets, and the battery models left lots of skin dust on our testers’ floors. Also, most of the skin experts we talked to cautioned that the devices contain sharp blades or mechanized grinding surfaces that can damage your skin if you’re not careful.

Don't let stylish shoes give you unhappy feet.

Original PedEgg Professional, $12

The claim. “Gently removes dry skin.”

Testers’ notes. This manual foot file isn’t as quick and easy to use as battery-operated devices, but it’s just as good a callus remover. Several test panelists said it was easier to control than the battery-powered foot files.

PedEgg Power, $21
(batteries not included)

The claim. “The fastest, easiest way to remove calluses.”

Testers’ notes. Panelists gave it high scores, but several noted that they were disappointed in the amount of time it took to remove calluses. Some said the design of the roller—narrow and a bit indented—made it difficult to get at some calluses. It also created a mess of skin dust.

Amope Pedi Perfect, $38
(with batteries)

The claim. “Beautifully smooth skin after one use.”

Testers’ notes. No device will get rid of really thick-skinned calluses in one swipe. All three of the devices we tested took a while to remove those areas. And one panelist said it was “easy to go too far” with the Amopé Pedi Perfect, which took off too much of her skin. It also left behind big piles of skin dust.  

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

You may have the best mattress money can buy, but if you’re being kept awake at night when your partner is tossing and turning, you may want to reconsider. Some mattresses are better than others at muting vibrations from one side of the bed to the other when someone changes position or gets up during the night. That’s why Consumer Reports conducts a stabilization test on every mattress it tests. Here are the seven best mattresses for couples—they make it easier for both partners to get a good night’s sleep.

No more bouncing

All of the best mattresses in our tests meet or exceed the threshold that earns our judgment of bounce resistance. These mattresses are less likely to relay vibrations when someone shifts positions. Still, some innersprings we recommend do better than others in this test. Among those, the $1,100 Charles P. Rogers St. Regis Pillowtop was among the best in our tests and delivered impressive back support. (All prices listed are without the foundation.) The $1,275 Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid Trust Cushion, a bit better for side sleepers, did about as well at muting vibration.

Moving with ease

The foam beds we recommend are fine at muting vibration and all except the $2,750 Comforpedic IQ180 are notably good at making it easy to change positions. Keep in mind that lower scores on the stabilization test indicate mattresses on which changing positions is more likely to wake up your partner, particularly a light sleeper. Of the foam mattresses in our tests, the Ikea Morgongava, $1,000, was among the best at allowing easy movement. The Spring Air Back Supporter Natalie, $1,200, from Costco did about the same.

Firmness options

Choose the Bob’s Discount Furniture Bob-O-Pedic, $800, and you can get it in firm or soft—or, for couples who can’t agree, a combination of the two. And both the Sleep Number i8 Bed, $3,000, and the less pricey Sleep Number c2 Bed, $700, have separately inflatable air bladders beneath their foam layers. That way you can adjust each half to the respective sleep partner’s preference. Both Sleep Number beds are especially good at resisting bounciness and easing movement. But don’t assume that any adjustable-air bed lets each sleep partner adjust firmness individually. The Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Choice Supreme, $3,200, which missed our picks list, has air bladders that go left to right rather than head to foot—meaning that adjustments made to one side affect the other as well.

Full Ratings and recommendations

Only by trying out a mattress for at least 15 minutes in each of your favorite sleep positions can you truly know how comfortable a bed feels. In addition to our stabilization tests, we also measure back and side support. For those sleeping preferences, see our Ratings of 35 mattresses, along with our survey-based Ratings of mattress brands and stores. And be sure to read our mattress buying guide before shopping.

—Ed Perratore (@EdPerratore on Twitter)

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

Look for smoke alarms, thermostats, lighting, and other home products you can control using your phone or tablet, and you'll find a selection at your local home center or even Staples. But if you also want to browse electronics, fitness trackers, and exercise equipment, you'll have to look elsewhere. Sears is hoping to be the go-to-place for “all of the above.”

The retailer initially told Consumer Reports of its plans to roll out store space in more than 200 stores in addition to one San Bruno, California, store in which it has devoted 3,900 square feet to a Connected Solutions department that’s organized like rooms of a home. Three other stores, in the Chicago area, will have smaller, 2,000-square-foot Connected Solutions departments.

The other stores won’t get such royal treatment, but for 200 selected stores, Sears will be adding a Connected Solutions section. You can find it adjacent to the electronics department, whose sales staff will be trained to answer questions on the smart products—for example, on product compatibility and installation.

In other Sears stores, many connected products can still be found but in the particular departments where they would be located if they're not connected, such as smoke alarms in the home products section. Sears has also given connected products their own space on Sears’ website. One lagging exception to the inventory—smart major appliances. GE, LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool offer smart functions with several models for remote monitoring and control plus easier diagnosis, but so far you'll only find remote-service diagnosis in the Kenmore line.

All bets are off, however, on what the increased focus on smart products might do to the overall bottom line. Not long after we attended a Manhattan demonstration of the Connected Solutions line, Sears Holdings released second-quarter figures that showed a more than 14-percent loss for its year-to-date domestic store sales.

Want a look at more smart products?

Consumer Reports has tested many connected products, some of which we grouped together in the report, “"Run your Home from your Phone." We continue to buy additional, similarly connected products and describe their additional functionality on the products’ individual model pages.

—Ed Perratore (@EdPerratore on Twitter)

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

A dated bathroom can scuttle a home sale. Drab tile and dated fixtures are a turn-off, especially if the color scheme is reminiscent of a bygone era. And even if your house isn't on the market, it pays to update the bathroom to make it both safer, more comfortable, and easier to access for everyone. If you're in the middle of a remodel or considering one, here are three nice touches to consider.

Running out of hot water?

Before you blame your teenager or spouse, the culprit may be in your utility room. If you’ve recently remodeled your bathroom (folks with multiple showerheads and body sprays or soaking tubs, we’re talking to you), then you may need a larger water heater to keep up with increased demand. That’s because running several showerheads or body sprays at once, even water-saving ones, adds up. And filling up a soaking tub can easily drain a small water heater. Check out our water heater buying guide for what you need to know before you replace your old one.

Look, Ma, no hands!

The best touchless-toilet we found isn’t a toilet at all. It’s a retrofit kit that installs in the toilet tank and replaces the trip lever with a cap. A hand-icon decal tells you where to wave. The Kohler K-1954-0 kit, $50, runs on four AA batteries and beeps when they’re running low. But the kit can’t be used on toilets with a flush button on top or on dual-flush, pressure-assist, ballcock-valve toilets. For more on toilets, see our full toilet Ratings and recommendations.

Go for the flow

Speakman claims that its Reaction low-flow showerheads, $25 to $66, offer water savings and a powerful spray. It claims the built-in turbine concentrates and optimizes pressure, boosting the velocity of water without letting in cool air. In addition to testing the showerheads in our labs, we installed the 2- and 2.5-gallon-per-minute versions in the showers in the locker rooms at Consumer Reports. More than 20 staffers “took one [shower] for the team.” (We didn’t ID which showerhead used 2 gpm and which used 2.5 gpm.) Both met their claimed gpm.

Staffers liked the feel and forcefulness of the 2.5-gpm showerhead slightly more than the 2-gpm version. About half said they’d buy one of the two models. The biggest gripe: The Reactions have only one setting. They’re available with a translucent gray, blue, or green frame. For more choices, see our full showerhead Ratings and recommendations.

For more news and information on bathroom remodeling, see:

Create a beautiful bathroom for the ages

5 steps to a safer bathroom

4 easy bathroom updates you'll be happy you made

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

Before you toss a shirt soiled with wine, gravy, or mustard into the washer, make sure you make every effort to remove the stain first. It's good to plan ahead for such mishaps and to keep dishwashing liquid, nail-polish remover, Fels-Naptha and other cleaning agents on hand. In addition to the items that you toss in the wash, most of these remedies will work on carpets and furniture, too.

Juice

Blot with solution of 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid (like Ivory) in 1 cup warm water. Red-dye remover works on red fruit punch.

Gum

Dab with extra-strength Bengay, heat with hair dryer, scrape with press-to-seal bag. Blot with detergent solution and rinse.

Gravy

Pretreat with a paste of Fels-Naptha soap, then wash. Repeat if necessary. Don’t put item in the dryer until the stain is gone.

Mustard

Apply repeated applications of detergent solution to remove solids. When stain is reduced, rinse and dry in bright sunlight.

Lipstick

Blot with acetone-based nail-polish remover, followed by the detergent solution, and rinse.

Wine

Blot with water. If stain remains, try detergent solution. 3 percent hydrogen peroxide is effective on red wine.

Best laundry detergents from our tests

• Persil ProClean Power-Liquid 2in1, 25 cents per load, at Walmart
• Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release, 25 cents
• Tide HE Plus Bleach Alternative, 23 cents
• Tide Ultra Free & Gentle, 28 cents (for standard top loaders only)

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

You might attribute your failure to choose fruit over a doughnut or tofu over a burger to poor willpower. But relying on self-control is tough when unhealthy foods are heavily promoted. Fortunately, researchers have learned how simple changes in our environment and habits can help us to eat smarter without a great deal of extra effort.

Customize dishes and cups

The benefit: Control portion sizes. One trick to eating less is using smaller dishes. But if your goal is to eat more healthy food, go big. Research led by Brian Wansink, Ph.D., director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, found that people eat more when food is served on bigger dishes—because portions appear smaller. So if you eat salad or veggies from a large plate, you're likely to serve yourself more and eat more. Use small plates for foods such as refined grains (white rice, pasta), red and processed meats, and, of course, dessert.

Color-code your meals

The benefit: Improve nutrition and tempt your palate. Eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables ensures that you get a good mix of healthy nutrients, and it also helps to bring your plate to life. For example, you can perk up your grilled fish or chicken by adding tomatoes and green Swiss chard.

Make healthy foods visible

The benefit: Eat more good-for-you foods. "You're likely to reach for what­ever you see first when you open the refrigerator or your cabinets," says Maxine Siegel, R.D., manager of food testing at Consumer Reports. One study found that people increased their fruit and vegetable consumption almost threefold by moving produce from the fridge's crisper drawer to the top shelf. Storing less healthy items in opaque containers helps, too.

Make it look nice

The benefit: Healthy foods with visual appeal taste better. A study conducted at the Culinary Institute of America found that diners who were served the same chicken dish two nights in a row liked it more when it was artfully arranged. And you don’t need the skills of a "Top Chef" contestant.

A simple stack of vegetables or whole grains on the bottom, a chicken breast in the middle, and a colorful garnish on top gives a meal height and dimension.

Play around with shapes, too, recommends chef and food stylist Khalil Hymore of New York City. "In a salad, I might shred the kale, julienne an apple, and halve the cherry tomatoes," he says. "If everything were the same size, it wouldn't be as interesting."

Eat only at the table

The benefit: You'll eat less and feel satisfied. According to one study, eating as a family at the dining room or kitchen table is linked with having a lower body mass index (BMI), possibly, researchers suggest, because it's easier to focus on the meal in that environment.

Eating with the TV on, however, is linked with a higher BMI, probably because it's distracting. A separate review of research found that when people are distracted, they consume about 10 percent more calories—and they also eat more at subsequent meals.

Nonstick skillet: Sauté or pan-fry foods with less butter or oil so that you don’t add additional calories. Calphalon's Simply Nonstick 10" Omelette Pan ($40 to $60) is a Consumer Reports Best Buy.

Kitchen scale: Eyeballing portion sizes is hard and can lead to underestimating your calorie intake. Even if you don't use a scale every day, it's helpful to double-check portions every few months.

Blender: Whip up smoothies, healthy soups, vegetable purées, and dips. The Dash Chef Series Digital Blender ($230 to $260) was one of the top models in Consumer Reports' recent tests.

—Ian Landau

This article appeared in the September 2015 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

What are the top prescribed drugs for insomnia—Ambien? Lunesta? Yes, but there's another: a three-decade-old generic antidepressant called trazodone, which causes drowsiness as a potentially useful side effect. A recent U.S. study in the journal Sleep found it to be one of most commonly used medications to treat sleeplessness.

Trazodone was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1981 as an antidepressant. Though doctors can legally prescribe trazodone (and all drugs, for that matter), for any treatment, the drug is actually not approved to treat insomnia. Today, there's no branded form of trazodone—you can only get it as a generic—but there is a long-acting version available called Oleptro.

In a few studies, trazodone is reported to improve sleep during the first two weeks of treatment. But the drug has not been studied for longer than six weeks, so little is known about how well it works or its safety past that point. Also, an effective dose range has not been studied.

There's very little clinical trial evidence on whether it's effective as a sleep aid when a person does not have depression, and only modest evidence when there is. Treatment guidelines from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommend trazodone for chronic insomnia without depression only when drugs like Ambien and Lunesta have failed.

But numerous doctors are convinced, based mainly on their own experience, that trazodone is an appropriate sleep medication for many people, even when there's no depression. Here's why trazodone has become so popular—and what to do if your doctor suggests you try it.

Trazodone: Risks and benefits

While trazodone is rarely used to treat depression alone any more, it's widely prescribed, off-label, at lower doses for treating insomnia, for several likely reasons.

First, trazodone has one distinct advantage—and possibly a few others. It's generic, so it's considerably cheaper than many of the other widely prescribed sleep medications—about $3 for a week's supply. That's compared to other sleep drugs like generic zolpidem (Ambien), generic eszopiclone (Lunesta) or generic Sonata (zalepon) that run about $15 for a week's supply. And while some of the insomnia drugs are classified by the FDA as controlled substances that require doctors and pharmacists to take additional steps before they're prescribed or dispensed; trazodone is not a controlled substance, so doctors can prescribe it without those constraints.

In addition, many physicians apparently believe that trazodone is safer than other frequently prescribed sleep medications. But because there are not studies that actually show it is safer, whether or not that is true remains unknown.

It's true that the other drugs approved to treat insomnia can impair your ability to recall new experiences, and may even—although rarely—cause you to walk, eat, have sex, or drive a car while still essentially unconscious. We could find no evidence to date of those problems having been reported with trazodone. Moreover, many doctors seem to believe that trazodone is less likely than even the newer sleep drugs to cause dependency and, when discontinued, renewed insomnia. Yet there's little evidence to prove or disprove those ideas.

And, trazodone has certain risks of its own. In particular, it's more likely than the newer sleep drugs, particularly the short-acting ones, to leave you feeling drowsy the next day, which increases the chance of accidents. It can also cause abnormally low blood pressure and, in turn, dizziness or even fainting, particularly in seniors.

Trazodone can also cause heart-rhythm disorders. It might possibly weaken the immune system. And some evidence suggests it can cause priapism, or persistent erection, a medical emergency that may require surgery and can lead to impotence if not treated promptly. Moreover, a black-box warning in the package insert notes that trazodone, like other antidepressants, can increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and adolescents.

Trazodone: Should you take it?

For the average person who has occasional brief bouts of insomnia, making certain changes to your lifestyle may help, including: avoiding big meals, alcohol, smoking and exercising late at night or working or watching TV in bed. (See sidebar for a full list.) If those don't work, our medical advisors recommend first trying an inexpensive over-the-counter drug containing an antihistamine such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Nytol, Sominex, and generic) or doxylamine (Unisom Nighttime Sleep-Aid and generic)—but only use those for a few nights.

If your insomnia last longer than a few nights and this continues for several weeks, you should see your doctor to determine if other conditions or drug side effects could be disturbing your sleep. If those are ruled out—or if your insomnia persists despite treatment of the underlying problem—nondrug sleep treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy appear to yield better, more lasting results than medication. If possible, try that before resorting to medication, which can undermine your motivation to make the behavioral changes.

If your doctor recommends sleeping pills for more than a temporary bout of insomnia without mentioning nondrug therapy, you should mention it yourself. For more on such treatment, see our Best Buy Drug report on drugs to treat insomnia.

Of course, medication is sometimes needed for persistent insomnia—when nondrug treatment is refused, unavailable, or ineffective, or when the sleep disturbance is affecting your ability to carry out your daily activities. Here are the main considerations for using drug trazodone to treat insomnia:

• Insomnia without depression. Because there's so little supporting evidence, sleep experts generally recommend trazodone for insomnia only after the newer sleep drugs have failed. Trazodone may improve sleep initially, as found in one small study, but that effect could fade after several weeks. Researchers theorize that this could be due to residual sleepiness in the daytime, so a person is less physically active , which may contribute to the ability to sleep well at night.
  
• Insomnia with depression. Some conditions, such as depression, have a complex and intertwined relationship with insomnia, and the best treatment for these two issues together has not been determined. If you have both, discuss the options with your doctor, based on the severity of the depression, the nature of your sleep problem, your medical history and susceptibility to side effects, any possible drug interactions, and, of course, your personal preferences.  

Usually, the most important consideration is managing the depression, which should be treated separately with a more effective antidepressant medication, counseling, or both. A separate drug can then be prescribed for the insomnia—either a newer sleep medication or low-dose trazodone. Studies have suggested that trazodone plus another antidepressant can improve sleep in these cases. Alternatively, trazodone might be taken alone, at a higher, antidepressant dose, to treat both problems.

Although trazodone may improve sleep at first, the effect may not continue past several weeks. Taking trazodone may also worsen sleepiness during the daytime, and morning grogginess. Plus, the side effect of sedation may not actually improve depression or insomnia.

Precautions to take

• Because trazodone may not work well to treat insomnia after a few weeks, check in with your doctor periodically to discuss how or if it's still working.
• If you have trouble getting to sleep, take it several hours before you go to bed; if you have trouble staying asleep, take it within 30 minutes before bedtime.
  
• Avoid trazodone if you're recovering from a heart attack. Inform your doctor if you have abnormal heart rhythms, weakened immunity, active infection, or liver or kidney disease. Use it cautiously if you have heart disease.
• Watch for adverse effects. That's especially important for people over age 55 or so since they're more susceptible to falls caused by dizziness or drowsiness and to abnormal heart rhythms. Close monitoring is also crucial if you're taking trazodone with another antidepressant.
• As with any sleep medication, never mix trazodone with alcohol, and use it cautiously if you're taking other sedating medications or antihypertensive drugs. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about other possible drug interactions.
• If you develop an erection that is unusually prolonged or occurs without stimulation, discontinue the drug and contact your physician. Also call your doctor if you develop fever, sore throat, or other signs of infection while taking trazodone.

Poor sleep habits and how to correct them

This article and related materials are made possible by a grant from the state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, which is funded by the multistate settlement of consumer-fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin (gabapentin).

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

The race for counter space continues apace with new specialty appliances hitting the market seemingly every day. One of the latest is the Black & Decker 5-Minute Pizza Oven & Snack Maker, which promises to cook a fresh or frozen 12-inch pizza in just five minutes. Such claims may be as irresistible to a family of pizza lovers as they were to the testers in Consumer Reports labs. We bought the $150 pizza oven recently and got to work.

Black & Decker says the oven has a “thickness selector for optimal results.” The selector amounts to five settings: Bake, Snacks, Regular Pizza, Rising Pizza, and Deep Dish Pizza. Preheat and cooking time is controlled by a timer and that’s where it gets tricky. The oven heats to 375 ° F when on the Bake and Deep Dish settings. It heats to 600 ° F or higher when on the Snacks, Regular, and Rising settings. The setting you pick automatically adjusts the intensity of the infrared elements, which affects the way the food cooks.

Finding the perfect settings for the pizzas in our tests required a bit of tweaking to get the best combination of preheat time and oven setting. For example, when we cooked a take-and-bake pizza with a par-cooked crust, we found that 5 minutes of preheating and using the Rising setting produced the best results. Other settings resulted in pizzas that were overdone on top and underdone on the bottom. But the same preheat time and setting didn’t work for homemade pizza or frozen pizza with a thinner crust. Again, trial and error led to better results.

In the end, all of the pizzas cooked faster in the Black & Decker pizza oven than in a conventional oven and preheat time was speedy. In fact, the whole process from start to finish required less time than it takes to preheat a pizza stone in a regular oven. The trade-off was often a less crispy crust.

Cooking frozen foods on the Snacks setting was another adventure. We tried fish sticks, chicken nuggets, and Hot Pockets. When we put only a few pieces on the ceramic tray, we ended up with burned bottoms and undercooked interiors. The food cooked more evenly when we filled the tray with snacks.

As you might imagine, the oven gets pretty hot with surface temperatures topping 240 ° F. The owner’s manual instructs users to wear oven mitts or use potholders whenever touching the oven. The high heat can pose a safety risk to consumers who are the most likely to buy a pizza oven—families with small children.

The bottom line. Only you can decide if you want to devote almost 220 square inches of counter space to a shiny new appliance. (The oven is 18-inches wide, 12-inches deep, and 10-inches tall.) But the oven did live up to its promise of cooking pizza faster than you can in an oven so if your freezer is typically stocked with frozen pizzas then this oven may be for you.

The best ranges from our tests

Prefer to cook pizza the old-fashioned way—in the oven? Here are some electric and gas ranges that aced Consumer Reports' baking tests.

• Kenmore 95052 electric smoothtop, $1,100
• GE Cafe CS980STSS electric smoothtop, $2,800
• Samsung NX58F5700WS gas range, $1,600
• GE PGS920SEFSS gas range, $2,800
• Jenn-Air JGRP430WP pro-style range, $4,000

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

In an over-caffeinated world, sometimes it’s nice to slow down and smell the coffee. That’s the attraction of the KitchenAid Siphon Coffee Brewer, a throwback to simpler times when brewing coffee was both an art and a science. If you’ve ever tasted coffee from a siphon coffeemaker, you may wonder why this brewing process fell out of favor. But machines like the $250 Siphon Coffee Brewer are reviving a process that, for die hard fans, never went away. Consumer Reports tested the KitchenAid and, yes, we get the appeal.

How It Works

KitchenAid calls the siphon brewing process “theatrical” and it does command your attention. The brewer has two sections connected by a siphon tube—an upper spherical chamber and a lower carafe. Ground coffee is added to the top section and evenly distributed over a washable cloth filter. Water is added to the bottom, which sits on a heating element. As for extra features, you don’t get any—and you won’t miss them.

Turn it on and the water in the carafe begins to heat. As it gets warmer, vapor builds forcing the heated water through the tube into the upper chamber where it mixes with the grounds. The circulating vapor swirls the water around in the grounds to the point where the coffee seems like it’s boiling. It's not. Meanwhile, the heat below shuts off and as the water vapor cools it creates a vacuum that draws the coffee back down into the carafe. The whole process takes about eight minutes from start to finish for the maximum eight cups.

The KitchenAid Siphon Coffee Brewer doesn’t fit neatly into any category of our tested coffeemakers—drip, pod, and electric French press. To compare its brew performance to other machines we measured the temperature range and how long the machine maintained optimal brewing temps, and it brewed close to industry standards. We weren’t impressed with the carafe, which is heavy and can be difficult to fully empty. Cleaning the machine takes a little more time and a lot more water.

Need a New Coffeemaker?

If the price of the KitchenAid Siphon Coffee Brewer is too high and the brewing process too complicated, you’ll find more than a dozen drip coffeemakers in our coffeemaker Ratings that meet the industry standard for optimal brewing. And this isn’t the machine for you if you brew your coffee in a hurry. For that, opt for a single-serve pod machine or a to-go drip coffeemaker that fills a travel mug or two—see our Ratings of more than 25 single-serve pod machines and check our coffeemaker buying guide.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

If you’ve been spending a lot of time working outdoors, take note: it’s still tick season, and those tiny beasts can cause big health problems. I know this first-hand because one of the blood-suckers made my 180-pound husband so sick last month that he was nearly hospitalized.

The problem is that right now, in some areas of the country, up to half of ticks can be infected with diseases such as Lyme, compared with just 25 percent of ticks earlier in the summer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the reason for the increase is that the spiderlike creatures have had more opportunity to pick up disease-causing bacteria.

And they’re not picky eaters. Ticks feed on rodents, pets, and deer, though they acquire illnesses like Lyme from mice and chipmunks. Their tick bites then spread disease to people who spend a lot of time outside, like my husband.

Find what really works against bug bites and how to get rid of ticks in your yard.

Tick reality check

“Mosquitoes kill more people than ticks do, but ticks can infect people with more than one disease at a time,” says Marc C. Dolan, M.Sc., a senior research biologist for the CDC in Fort Collins, Colo.

That’s why it’s important to keep up your guard when you’re outside—even this late in the summer. “I spend one week a month working in tick habitats,” Dolan says, “I’ve never gotten sick, but I’m diligent about wearing insect repellent, tucking my pants into my socks, and wearing long pants and boots.”

Because ticks grow larger at each life stage, they’re easier to spot in the fall if one hitches a ride on you. Still, a tick bite may go unnoticed because its saliva contains a numbing agent. So daily tick checks are important, too.

Dolan says if you see a tick you need to remove it quickly, within 24 to 36 hours, to prevent it from transmitting Lyme disease. But other diseases may be transmitted in minutes, not hours.

Remove the tick with fine-tipped tweezers or, as a last resort, your fingernail. Special tick-removers you see advertised don’t actually work any better, he says. Make sure to use direct, even pressure to pull the tick straight out—don’t twist it. Then, flush it down the toilet or wrap it in tape or a sealed plastic bag. Never crush the tick with your fingers because infected material can come out of the damaged tick.

Should you panic?

Once you remove a tick you might be worried about getting sick. You should discuss your concerns with your doctor, says Ben Beard, Ph.D., chief of the CDC’s bacterial diseases branch in the Division of Vector-borne Diseases. Sometimes an antibiotic may be warranted if all of these conditions are met:

• Lyme disease is common in the area where you live or have recently traveled.
• The tick bite is from a blacklegged (deer) tick.
• The tick was attached for more than 36 hours (based on how engorged it is with blood or when you were likely exposed to it).
• You’re able to take the antibiotic within 72 hours (3 days) of removing the tick.
• You’re not allergic to the antibiotic.
• You're 8 years old or older.
  
• You’re not pregnant.

"Antibiotics are powerful drugs and should only be taken in situations where they are likely to be effective,” Beard says.  

What to do if you get sick

Despite all this, what if you come down with flulike symptoms—fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches? You might be confused because you didn’t develop the usual bull’s-eye rash (my husband didn’t) that an estimated 70 to 80 percent of people do get. Or maybe you don’t recall having gotten a tick bite at all.

Still, if you live or recently traveled in certain parts of the country, Consumer Reports’ medical advisers say you should suspect a tickborne illness and call your doctor so that treatment can start quickly and you can get some relief from your misery.

Tickborne diseases can be severe and even deadly if not treated early. “The sooner you get treatment the better, especially for the elderly or those with weak immune systems,” says Orly Avitzur, M.D., Consumer Reports’ medical director.

My husband fell ill swiftly, starting with night sweats, chills, and a splitting headache. He woke up with a high fever and, on the advice of his doctor, we went to the emergency department on a Sunday afternoon.

The doctor on duty at the hospital recognized an illness he had seen so often in New York and prescribed an antibiotic called doxycycline right away, though blood tests were still pending. My husband's symptoms didn’t really start to subside until about 48 hours later. The diagnosis of Lyme wasn’t confirmed until weeks later in follow-up blood tests because it usually takes that much time for the antibodies against the disease to develop.

My husband is back to cutting the grass and whacking the weeds, but now he reaches for the insect repellent first.

—Sue Byrne (@SueCRHealth)

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

Consumer Reports spends a lot of time telling you about the top-performing refrigerators in our tests. After all, those are the ones we want you to end up with in your home. But aren’t you curious about the stinkers, too? Here’s a breakdown of what it takes to become a bottom dweller in our refrigerator Ratings—and why you definitely don’t want one sitting in your kitchen.

Inconsistent temperatures. Flunking our temperature performance test is the surest way to sink in our Ratings, since we put the most weight on this test. We like refrigerators to maintain an optimum 37 degrees F in the refrigerator and 0 degrees F in the freezer, whether we're measuring temperatures on a top or bottom shelf, in the back of the unit or on the inside front door. Temperatures should stay uniform even as we crank up the heat in our climate-controlled chambers where refrigerators are tested. Bottom-rated models fall well short of the mark. For example, hot spots inside the Maytag MRT318FZDM top-freezer climbed as high as 41 degrees F in the refrigerator compartment and 4 degrees in the freezer. Those kinds of inconsistencies can really affect food quality.

Big energy draws. Refrigerators have become much more efficient in recent years, thanks to tougher federal standards. But we still come across some energy hogs in our tests. Take the Samsung RF28HMELBSR, a four-door French-door refrigerator that, based on our energy-use tests, would cost an average of $158 per year to operate. That’s more than double what the most efficient models in the category cost. Over the life of the unit, that could mean $1,000 or more in added energy costs.

Raucous compressors. Noise is especially important if you have an open kitchen where the refrigerator is within earshot of the adjacent living area. We measure it using a panel of listeners along with noise-meter readings. Loudness alone usually isn’t enough to a ruin a refrigerator’s score, but it can definitely contribute. For example, the Frigidaire FFTR1831QS top-freezer was hurt by a combination of subpar noise and inconsistent temperatures.

As for the very best models in our refrigerator Ratings, they excel in all three of these performance tests, delivering pinpoint temperature control, the lowest energy use, and whisper-quiet operation. It’s worth noting that the manufacturers of the three duds mentioned here also have top-rated models—a reminder that when choosing a refrigerator, or any product from Consumer Reports' tests, you can’t buy by brand alone.                 

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

The American love affair with ground beef endures. We put it between buns. Tuck it inside burritos. Stir it into chili. Even as U.S. red meat consumption has dropped overall in recent years, we still bought 4.6 billion pounds of beef in grocery and big-box stores over the past year. And more of the beef we buy today is in the ground form—about 50 percent vs. 42 percent a decade ago. We like its convenience, and often its price.

The appetite persists despite solid evidence—including new test results here at Consumer Reports—that ground beef can make you seriously sick, particularly when it’s cooked at rare or medium-rare temperatures under 160° F. “Up to 28 percent of Americans eat ground beef that’s raw or undercooked,” says Hannah Gould, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

All meat potentially contains bacteria that—if not destroyed by proper cooking—can cause food poisoning, but some meats are more risky than others. Beef, and especially ground beef, has a combination of qualities that can make it particularly problematic—and the consequences of eating tainted beef can be severe.

Indeed, food poisoning outbreaks and recalls of bacteria-tainted ground beef are all too frequent. Just before the July 4 holiday this year, 13.5 tons of ground beef and steak destined for restaurants and other food-service operations were recalled on a single day because of possible contamination with a dangerous bacteria known as E. coli O157:H7. That particular bacterial strain can release a toxin that damages the lining of the intestine, often leading to abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and in some cases, life-threatening kidney damage. Though the contaminated meat was discovered by the meat-packing company’s inspectors before any cases of food poisoning were reported, we haven’t always been so lucky.

Between 2003 and 2012, there were almost 80 outbreaks of E. coli O157 due to tainted beef, sickening 1,144 people, putting 316 in the hospital, and killing five. Ground beef was the source of the majority of those outbreaks. And incidences of food poisoning are vastly underreported. “For every case of E. coli O157 that we hear about, we estimate that another 26 cases actually occur,” Gould says. She also reports that beef is the fourth most common cause of salmonella outbreaks—one of the most common foodborne illnesses in the U.S.—and for each reported illness caused by that bacteria, an estimated 29 other people are infected.

Will you change how you cook beef based on this information? Let us know by adding a comment at the end of this article.

Watch: Veggie Burgers Put to the Taste Test

The Risks of Going Rare

It’s not surprising to find bacteria on favorite foods such as chicken, turkey, and pork. But we usually choose to consume those meats well-cooked, which makes them safer to eat. Americans, however, often prefer their beef on the rare side. Undercooking steaks may increase your risk of food poisoning, but ground beef is more problematic. Bacteria can get on the meat during slaughter or processing. In whole cuts such as steak or roasts, the bacteria tend to stay on the surface, so when you cook them, the outside is likely to get hot enough to kill any bugs. But when beef is ground up, the bacteria get mixed throughout, contaminating all of the meat—including what’s in the middle of your hamburger. (Find out what happened when our Consumerist colleagues tried four ways to cook a burger that’s safe to eat but doesn’t taste like leather.)

Also contributing to ground beef’s bacteria level: The meat and fat trimmings often come from multiple animals, so meat from a single contaminated cow can end up in many packages of ground beef. Ground beef (like other ground meats) can also go through several grinding steps at processing plants and in stores, providing more opportunities for cross-contamination to occur. And then there’s the way home cooks handle raw ground beef: kneading it with bare hands to form burger patties or a meatloaf. Unless you’re scrupulous about washing your hands thoroughly afterward, bacteria can remain and contaminate everything you touch—from the surfaces in your kitchen to other foods you are preparing.

“There’s no way to tell by looking at a package of meat or smelling it whether it has harmful bacteria or not,” says Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Food Safety and Sustainability at Consumer Reports. (Download a PDF of the center's full report on beef.) “You have to be on guard every time.” That means keeping any raw meat on your countertop from touching other foods nearby and cooking ground beef to at least medium, which is 160° F. Eating a burger that’s rarer can be risky. In one 2014 E. coli outbreak, five of the 12 people who got sick had eaten a burger at one of the locations of an Ohio pub chain called Bar 145°, which was named for the temperature “of a perfectly cooked medium-rare burger,” according to the company’s website.

We urge you to #BuyBetterBeef and continue the conversation with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Vine.

Putting Beef to the Test

Given those concerns about the safety of ground beef, Consumer Reports decided to test for the prevalence and types of bacteria in ground beef. We purchased 300 packages—a total of 458 pounds (the equivalent of 1,832 quarter-pounders)—from 103 grocery, big-box, and natural food stores in 26 cities across the country. We bought all types of ground beef: conventional—the most common type of beef sold, in which cattle are typically fattened up with grain and soy in feedlots and fed antibiotics and other drugs to promote growth and prevent disease—as well as beef that was raised in more sustainable ways, which have important implications for food safety and animal welfare. At a minimum, sustainably produced beef was raised without antibiotics. Even better are organic and grass-fed methods. Organic cattle are not given antibiotics or other drugs, and they are fed organic feed. Grass-fed cattle usually don’t get antibiotics, and they spend their lives on pasture, not feedlots.

We analyzed the samples for five common types of bacteria found on beef—clostridium perfringens, E. coli (including O157 and six other toxin-producing strains), enterococcus, salmonella, and staphylococcus aureus.

The routine use of antibiotics in farming has contributed to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, so once-easy-to-treat infections are becoming more serious and even deadly. We put the bacteria we found through an additional round of testing to see whether they were resistant to antibiotics in the same classes that are commonly used to treat infections in people. Last, we compared the results of samples from conventionally raised beef with the sustainably raised beef to see whether there were differences in the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria between the products.

The results were sobering. All 458 pounds of beef we examined contained bacteria that signified fecal contamination (enterococcus and/or nontoxin-producing E. coli), which can cause blood or urinary tract infections. Almost 20 percent contained C. perfringens, a bacteria that causes almost 1 million cases of food poisoning annually. Ten percent of the samples had a strain of S. aureus bacteria that can produce a toxin that can make you sick. That toxin can’t be destroyed—even with proper cooking.

Just 1 percent of our samples contained salmonella. That may not sound worrisome, but, says Rangan, “extrapolate that to the billions of pounds of ground beef we eat every year, and that’s a lot of burgers with the potential to make you sick.” Indeed, salmonella causes an estimated 1.2 million illnesses and 450 deaths in the U.S. each year.

One of the most significant findings of our research is that beef from conventionally raised cows was more likely to have bacteria overall, as well as bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, than beef from sustainably raised cows. We found a type of antibiotic-resistant S. aureus bacteria called MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), which kills about 11,000 people in the U.S. every year, on three conventional samples (and none on sustainable samples). And 18 percent of conventional beef samples were contaminated with superbugs—the dangerous bacteria that are resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics—compared with just 9 percent of beef from samples that were sustainably produced. “We know that sustainable methods are better for the environment and more humane to animals. But our tests also show that these methods can produce ground beef that poses fewer public health risks,” Rangan says.

Cows: They Are What They Eat

The majority of beef (about 97 percent) for sale comes from “conventionally raised” cattle that begin their lives grazing in grassy pastures but are then shipped to and packed into feedlots and fed mostly corn and soybeans for three months to almost a year. The animals may also be given antibiotics and hormones. That practice is considered to be the most cost-efficient way to fatten up cattle: It takes less time, labor, and land for conventionally raised cattle to reach their slaughter weight compared with those that feed on grass their whole lives. “The high-carbohydrate corn and soy diet causes cattle to become unnaturally obese creatures that would never exist in nature,” says farmer Will Harris, who decided 20 years ago to switch to raising grass-fed cattle at White Oak Pastures, his 2,500-acre fifth-generation family farm in Bluffton, Ga. “Conventional cattle reach 1,200-plus pounds in 16 to 18 months. On our farm, it takes 20 to 22 months to raise an 1,100-pound animal, which is what we consider slaughter weight.”

Cows’ digestive systems aren’t designed to easily process high-starch foods such as corn and soy. Cattle will gain weight faster on a grain-based diet than on a grass-based one. But it also creates an acidic environment in the cows’ digestive tract, which can lead to ulcers and infection. Research shows that this unnatural diet may also cause the cattle to shed more E. coli in their manure. In addition, cattle may be fed a variety of other substances to fatten them up. They include candy (such as gummy bears, lemon drops, and chocolate) to boost their sugar intake and plastic pellets to substitute for the fiber they would otherwise get from grass. Cattle feed can also contain parts of slaughtered hogs and chickens that are not used in food production, and dried manure and litter from chicken barns.

Conventional cattle farmers defend their methods, however. “If all cattle were grass-fed, we’d have less beef, and it would be less affordable,” says Mike Apley, Ph.D., a veterinarian, professor at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, and chair of the Antibiotic Resistance Working Group at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a trade group. “Since grass doesn’t grow on pasture year-round in many parts of the country,” he says, “feedlots evolved to make the most efficient use of land, water, fuel, labor, and feed.”

Life on the Feedlot

Farmers such as Will Harris are also concerned about the humaneness of crowding cows into feedlots. “Animals that have never been off grass are put into a two-story truck and transported for 20-plus hours with no food, water, or rest,” Harris says. The animals are crowded into pens; the average feedlot in the U.S. houses about 4,300 head of cattle, according to Food & Water Watch’s 2015 Factory Farm Nation Report. On some of the country’s biggest feedlots, the cattle population averages 18,000.

“You always know when you’re approaching a feedlot. The unmistakable stench hits you first, then you see the hovering fecal dust cloud, followed by the sight of thousands of cattle packed into pens standing in their own waste as far as you can see,” says Don Davis, a cattle farmer in Texas and president of the Grassfed Livestock Alliance. The manure contains potentially dangerous bacteria that gets on the cattle’s hides and can be transferred to the meat during slaughter. The conditions also stress the cattle, which makes them more susceptible to disease, and any illness that develops can quickly spread from animal to animal.

To control for that, cattle are often fed daily low doses of antibiotics to prevent disease. According to Apley, cattle in feedlots are given antibiotics to prevent coccidiosis, a common intestinal infection, but he notes that those drugs aren’t medically important for people. He also said that cattle are given an antibiotic called tylosin to ward off liver abscesses. That drug is in a class of antibiotics that the World Health Organization categorizes as “critically important” for human medicine. What’s more, in our tests we found that resistance to classes of antibiotics used to treat people was widespread. Three-quarters of the samples contained bacteria that were immune to at least one class of those drugs.

Antibiotics were also given to cattle to promote weight gain (although just how the drugs do that is unknown), but in 2013 the Food and Drug Administration issued voluntary guidelines to stop that practice. Previously, ranchers could buy those drugs over-the-counter and give them to their animals, but the FDA has proposed that antibiotics be used only under the supervision of a veterinarian. “That doesn’t mean, though, that anti­biotics can’t be used for disease prevention anymore,” says Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumer Reports. “Vets can still authorize their use to ‘ensure animal health,’ so the status quo of feeding healthy animals antibiotics every day can continue.” Widespread daily and unnecessary use of antibiotics in healthy animals in turn fuels the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which has become a serious public-health threat.

Meat Monopoly

More than 80 percent of beef produced in the U.S. is processed by four companies. Cattle can be slaughtered at high-speed rates—as many as 400 head per hour. Those slaughterhouses use a variety of methods to destroy bacteria on the carcass after the hide has been removed, such as hot water, chlorine-based, or lactic acid washes. But when so many cattle are being processed, sanitary practices may get short shrift. The result is that bacteria from cattle’s hides or digestive tracts can be transferred to the meat. “USDA has a presence in these plants to do inspections—though it’s against the companies’ wishes,” says Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food & Water Watch. “The economic power of the Big Four gives them a lot of political weight to push back against USDA inspectors’ efforts to enforce existing rules and to fight against any tighter safety standards being enacted.” And, she adds, “the sheer volume of beef that big-company plants crank out means that a quality control mistake at a single plant can lead to packages of contaminated beef ending up in stores and restaurants across 20 or 30 states.”

The Better Burger Starts Here

Cattle can have a healthier (and more humane) upbringing if they graze in pastures for most—if not all—of their lives. “The most sustainable beef-production systems don’t rely on any daily drugs, don’t confine animals, and do allow them to eat a natural diet,” Rangan says. And what’s good for cows is good for people, too. “Our findings show that more sustainable can mean safer meat.” That’s why Consumer Reports recommends that you buy sustainably raised beef whenever possible. Sustainable methods run the gamut from the very basic ‘raised without antibiotics’ to the most sustainable, which is grass-fed organic. (Find out which labels to look for when shopping for beef.)

“We suggest that you choose what’s labeled ‘grass-fed organic beef’ whenever you can,” Rangan says. Aside from the animal welfare and environmental benefits, grass-fed cattle also need fewer antibiotics or other drugs to treat disease, and organic standards and many verified grass-fed label programs prohibit anti­biotics. Sustainably raised beef does cost more (learn why grass-fed beef costs more), but it’s the safest—and most humane—way for Americans to enjoy our beloved burgers . . . cooked to medium, of course.

We urge you to #BuyBetterBeef and continue the conversation with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Vine.

How Much Bacteria Is in Beef?

We tested 300 samples of conventional (181 samples) and more sustainably produced (119 samples) of raw ground beef purchased at supermarkets, big-box, and “natural” food stores in 26 metropolitan areas across the country. We classified beef as being more sustainably produced if it had one or more of the following characteristics: no antibiotics, organic, or grass-fed. Here are the percentages of samples in each type that contained each of the five bacteria we tested for and the samples that contained two or more types of bacteria.

Where Superbugs Lurk

Superbugs are bacteria that are resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics, making infections caused by them difficult if not impossible to treat. In our tests of 300 samples of raw ground beef, we found that conventional beef was twice as likely to be contaminated with superbugs than was all types of sustainably produced beef. But the biggest difference we found was between conventional and grass-fed beef. Just 6 percent of those samples contained superbugs.

Editor's Note: Funding for this project was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Any views expressed are those of Consumer Reports and its policy and advocacy arm, Consumers Union, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

This article also appeared in the October 2015 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

Cordless outdoor tools reduce the hassle of maintaining gas-powered gear. But when Consumer Reports tested the $240 Echo CST-58V2AHCV, a 58-volt straight-shaft string trimmer sold at Home Depot, we were plagued by a battery issue for days. Then our testers stumbled upon a fix that the manufacturer later confirmed resolves the issue. Here are the details.

The problem occurred while we were testing two different samples of the Echo CST-58V2AHCV with fully charged batteries. When our tester pressed the power-on trigger, the motor would cut out a second or so later, stopping the spinning of the trimmer head. This occurred over and over for a total of more than 250 tries between the two trimmers.

In discussions with TTI, which manufactures Echo’s cordless 58V line, we learned that all tools in the 58V line can potentially run into the same problem. In addition to the Echo CST-58V2AHCV, which uses a 2-amp-hour battery, a 4-amp-hour version, the Echo CST-58V4AH, $270, has also experienced the problem, according to some user reviews on Home Depot’s website. TTI told us that batteries made since February do not have the problem, but stores selling the 58V line have not pulled older products off the shelves.

The other 58V Echo tools, such as the leaf blower, hedge trimmer, and chain saw, use the same battery system. But the tools most likely to have the problem are the two string trimmers. We had no such issues with the $270 Echo CBL-58V2AH leaf blower when we tested it.

Once we got past the battery issue, we found the Echo CST-58V2AHCV notably aggressive, outperforming other cordless string trimmers in tall grass and weeds. It was also superb at edging thanks to its small debris guard, which let our testers see what they were cutting. But that same aggressive cutting, coupled with the unit’s 13-pound weight, dragged down its score for trimming grass quickly and neatly. The 4-amp-hour version is heavier still.

Our testers discovered the fix by chance. Pressing the check battery button, a last-ditch attempt to get the trimmer working, made all the difference. While this button ordinarily indicates the battery’s charge status, in this case it also served to keep the battery from switching into protection mode and cutting off power to the motor. The next time you fully charge the battery, however, the problem can reoccur.

If you still want to buy this trimmer, we recommend you wait; as of today, there are no plans to offer a battery swap. And if you already own either version of the trimmer, you’ll need to press the check battery button at least once after you’ve fully charged the battery. We think Echo should offer a fuss-free battery swap wherever the 58V line is sold.

Need a new string trimmer?

The Echo CST-58V2AHCV is just one of the newly tested string trimmers that we'll be adding to the nearly 90 models already in our string-trimmer Ratings in the coming weeks. For a gas-powered model, consider the Stihl FS 38, $130. For a lighter-duty model, take a look at the Homelite UT33600A, $70. Both have curved shafts. Among cordless models, consider the straight-shaft GreenWorks 21142, $90, and the Ryobi RY24210A, $130. Unsure about your options? Check out our string trimmer buying guide.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.

Ever wonder where all of your energy dollars go? Knowing where your home’s biggest energy hogs are can help you focus your efficiency efforts. Tens of millions of homes have underinsulated attics, leaky ductwork, and other energy problems. Even many newer, more efficient homes have outdated appliances and lighting. Here’s a breakdown of energy use and costs in the average residence, along with steps you can take to bring your costs in check. There will be some regional variation—for example, cooling costs, and potential savings, will be much higher in warmer climates. Here are 20 ways to save, starting with the biggest energy hogs in your house.

Heating: 43 percent

• If you have a forced-air system, having your duct­work sealed by a pro can save you hundreds each year because 25 to 40 percent of conditioned air (hot and cold) is lost to leaks.
• Plug drafty windows and doors with caulk or weather stripping.
• Insulate the attic adequately. The typical residence needs 11 inches of fiberglass or rock wool or 8 inches of cellulose insulation.

Water heating: 16 percent

• If your water heater is among the 41 million units in the U.S. that are more than 10 years old, consider an upgrade. This fall Energy Star is working with utilities and retailers that offer rebates to ­consumers who make the switch. Go to energystar.gov/waterheaters.
• Wash your clothes in cold water. Our top-rated laundry detergents deliver superb cool-water cleaning in our tests.
• Install low-flow faucets and showerheads throughout the home. They’ll save water as well as energy.

Appliances: 9 percent

• Consider trading in an older refrigerator. A current Energy Star refrigerator uses 50 percent less energy than a refrigerator from 2001. Of course, you should retire the old model rather than keeping it running in the basement or garage.
• Older washing machines are also worth trading in, especially after a tougher new federal standard that took effect in March 2015. If your old unit is more than 10 years old, it’s costing you about $180 more per year than a new one.
• Run the dishwasher only when it has a full load, and use the “rinse hold” feature sparingly because it uses 3 to 7 gallons of hot water each time.

Cooling: 7 percent

• If your home has central air that’s more than a decade old, a reliable new system could be up to 40 percent more efficient. Work with a reputable contractor who will size the system correctly; you might be able to downsize if you’ve made other efficiency upgrades, such as new attic insulation.
• Install a programmable thermostat, which can automatically adjust the temperature in your home for maximum savings and comfort (in summer and winter).
• Don’t replace windows just to save energy. But if your windows are failing, choose new windows with a low-E coating that reflects heat yet lets light in.

Lighting: 5 percent

• Switch to high-efficiency LEDs, which use up to 80 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. Find the right bulb in our lightbulb Ratings.
• Place dimmable fixtures on dimmer switches. They’ll enable you to save even more energy by maintaining lower light levels.
• For outdoor fixtures, save energy with a motion sensor or a photocell that turns the lights on at dusk and off at dawn.

Electronics: 4 percent

• Ask your cable company to upgrade the set-top boxes in your home to ones that meet the latest 4.1 Energy Star specification, making them 35 percent more efficient on average.
• Unplug computers, stereos, and video game consoles. They draw power even when they’re off.
• Trade in that decade-old flat-screen TV. Based on our tests, it costs about $66 per year to run, compared with $25 or so for a new high-efficiency television.

Other: 15 percent

• Plug your laptop’s AC adaptor into a power strip that can be turned off. That saves energy because the transformer in the adaptor draws power even when the laptop isn’t attached.
• If you have a stand-alone freezer with manual defrost, still a common feature, don’t let frost build up more than ¼ inch, because that will affect the efficiency of the unit.

Source for energy-use breakdown: Energy Information Administration. (Total doesn’t equal 100 because of rounding.)

This article also appeared in the October 2015 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.