In-N-Out fans were sent into a frenzy Tuesday after the burger joint announced changes to its ingredients. 

The California-based chain, which operates in 10 states, said it recently altered two ingredients, removing sesame flour from its buns and replacing its packets of iodized salt with sea salt.

The company said the changes are consistent with its ongoing commitment to providing quality food, pointing to a previous decision in 2025 to replace high-fructose corn syrup in its ketchup with real sugar. 

“We remain committed to serving our Customers with the freshest, highest-quality food possible. Over the years, we’ve made meaningful changes to our ingredients, and this past year was no exception. We’re pleased to share our latest updates, and we’ll continue building on that commitment for years to come,” the company said.

CALIFORNIA CITY PUSHES FOR DRIVE-THRU BAN AFTER NEIGHBORS SOUND ALARM OVER BURGER CHAIN’S PROPOSED ADDITION

An In-N-Out Burger employee holds up an order on April 23, 2017, in Culver City, California. The chain has removed sesame flour from its buns and replaced iodized salt packets with sea salt. (Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images)

The ingredient changes quickly sparked a mixed reaction online, with some customers praising the removal of sesame while others complained about the switch from iodized salt. 

“This is great news! I have a sesame allergy I developed a few years ago and I missed In-N-Out burgers,” one Facebook user wrote. 

“Removing sesame is a game changer for so many with allergies including my family. How great to be able to put In-N-Out back on the list of options,” another user said. 

IN-N-OUT TO ENTER NEW MARKET WITH MULTIPLE RESTAURANTS BY YEAR’S END: REPORT

Workers serve customers at an In-N-Out Burger outlet in Los Angeles, California, on May 7, 2025. The fast-food chain’s latest announcement quickly divided loyal customers across social media. (Daniel Cole/Reuters / Reuters)

In-N-Out did not explain whether the decision to remove sesame flour was made specifically to accommodate customers with allergies. 

The change reverses a decision In-N-Out made in 2024 after the federal FASTER Act designated sesame as a major food allergen. Because sesame is difficult to prevent from cross-contaminating other foods, the company added it to its buns in select locations as a precaution against potential lawsuits and recalls. 

However, the switch from iodized salt to sea salt drew criticism from numerous customers, with some raising concerns about iodine deficiency and related health problems. 

“Remove iodine? Sure, because apparently goiters needed a comeback,” one Reddit user said. 

“The salt was a downgrade imo. The iodized sticks to the fries better,” another Reddit user added. 

“I enjoyed your salt more before the change, which I noticed a while ago when the crystals got larger. It used to be so silky smooth,” one customer said in a post on Facebook.

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A hamburger and fries are pictured at an In-N-Out Burger outlet in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 7, 2025. The ingredient changes come after In-N-Out replaced high-fructose corn syrup in its ketchup with real sugar last year. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole / Reuters)

In-N-Out did not explain why it switched from iodized salt, which has been used in the U.S. since the 1920s to help prevent iodine deficiency and conditions such as goiter. 

Iodized salt is also typically paired with anti-caking agents, while sea salt generally does not contain them and undergoes less processing.

“Over the last two years, the energy market has faced one external shock after another,” Wilson said.

“Throughout that period, we’ve worked hard to shield our customers from the full impact, absorbing costs where we could and delaying increases for as long as it was responsible to do so.

“Unfortunately, we have now reached the point where the combined impact of wholesale energy costs and regulated network and system costs is simply too significant for us to continue absorbing.”

Wilson added that when the costs of electricity fall the company will “look to reflect that in the prices our customers pay”.

Share Energy has 41,092 customers, 417 of those are commercial customers and 40,675 are domestic.

The company is owned by local business people with long experience in the renewable electricity industry.

It is committed to sharing half its profits with its customers and based on its current trajectory, Share Energy expects the first profit share could be available in 2028.

“Despite the price increase, our commitment remains unchanged: 50% of our profit will be shared with qualifying customers,” Share Energy said in a statement.

“The amount each customer receives will depend on the profit generated and how long they have been a Share Energy customer.”

The supplier added that it will contact customers directly with the new prices, and will offer support to those who may have difficulty paying their bills.

Anthropic has been named the world’s best workplace for innovators by Fast Company, taking the top spot on the magazine’s Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 list published yesterday.

The eighth annual list ranks the top 100 companies and recognises a further 140 winners across 16 categories, according to Fast Company.

The magazine credited the AI developer’s rise to Claude Code, a tool that began as an internal aid used by Anthropic engineers to test AI models and assist with coding projects. Fast Company reported that the tool spread across the company as developers saw colleagues using it, and that its internal popularity suggested commercial potential. Anthropic released it to the public early in 2025.

According to Fast Company, Claude Code helped popularise “vibe coding” and became one of the fastest growing software tools in history, even as rivals released competing products.

Cowork release and share price fallout

The magazine said the tool’s impact accelerated with the February 2026 release of Claude Cowork, which is designed to let AI help users without a software development background automate a broader range of tasks. Fast Company reported that the Cowork release contributed to a selloff of enterprise software-as-a-service stocks.

Since February 2025, Anthropic’s valuation has risen from $61bn to nearly $1trn, Fast Company said, with an initial public offering expected as early as October. Business Matters has previously reported that the company could be valued at more than $2trn in a New York listing.

Fast Company noted that Anthropic’s reputation as the AI industry’s safety-first operator “may have evolved into something more complicated amid regulatory battles and the general controversy around the industry”, but said its culture of innovation continues to push the envelope of what is possible.

How the company says it supports innovation

The magazine reported that all Anthropic employees are encouraged to prototype new ideas and take advantage of benefits including flexible education stipends and an office environment with varied spaces designed for different working styles and needs.

“At Anthropic, ensuring our employees feel empowered to innovate is at the core of what we do,” the company told Fast Company. “Our approach rests on removing the friction, bureaucracy, and burnout that typically stand between a good idea and a shipped one.”

The company has also recently launched the Anthropic Institute, a research arm tracking the capabilities of AI technology and its impact, Fast Company said. Its work includes an Anthropic Economic Index that tracks AI’s effect on labour markets.

The recognition comes as Anthropic continues to expand its operations and hiring. Business Matters reported in July that Monzo founder Tom Blomfield had joined the company’s compute team, taking a leave of absence from his role as a partner at Y Combinator to work on AI infrastructure. In August, Business Matters reported that Volta, a six-month-old London start-up, had struck a $10bn data centre partnership with Anthropic, starting with a facility in Norway.

The full 2026 ranking is published on Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators page, which also names DoorDash Labs as its Innovation Team of the Year and Ivo Stivoric as its 2026 Innovative Leader of the Year.

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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DUBAI — The United States said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday after ballistic missiles targeted a Navy warship, and Iran answered by firing on a U.S.-used air base in Jordan and claiming strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the sharpest burst of tanker warfare in a conflict now more than six months old.

U.S. Central Command said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps twice tried to hit an American warship over two days. “The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed,” the command said. It identified the tankers as the Kaviz (also rendered Kivik), Charminar, Horizon 1 and Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, and the Derya near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub. Crews were told to leave before the ships were struck and “rendered inoperable,” CENTCOM said. It released video it said showed the Riesco burning and sinking. The vessels, it said, belonged to a “multi-billion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, traveling in Colombia, stated the new rule in one sentence. “Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” he told reporters.

The Guards said they answered with a “heavy missile strike” on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base near Azraq, Jordan, a facility used by U.S. forces. Jordan’s armed forces said 20 ballistic missiles were fired from Iranian territory. Eighteen were intercepted. Two fell in unpopulated areas. There were no casualties, Jordan said. A U.S. official said the Jordan strikes were ineffective and that all American troops were accounted for. Iran claimed hangars and shelters were wrecked. That claim was not independently confirmed.

The IRGC also said it hit two U.S. vessels — in some statements naming destroyers — eight oil tankers and 10 ships it called “non-compliant” for entering a zone it has declared off-limits in the strait. It claimed “great damage.” CENTCOM did not immediately confirm those hits. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said several merchant ships in the northern Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman had taken “disabling fire,” and that one tanker reported a nearby vessel listing, possibly after a projectile strike.

The exchange follows a similar weekend round. On Saturday, CENTCOM said it struck three Iranian crude carriers after missiles were fired at two U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier and a destroyer that “evaded” the attack. Iran said it then targeted commercial and U.S.-linked ships. Washington has now made tanker-for-tanker an announced policy: fire at a U.S. combatant, lose export hulls.

Oil moved with the smoke. Brent, the global benchmark, traded through $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since late July before easing. About one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil used to pass Hormuz. Since the war opened with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, the waterway has been mined, restricted, escorted and fought over. The United States says it is enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports and escorting some commercial traffic. Tehran says it will widen an exclusion zone from near Chabahar into the approaches of the strait and put violators on its own sanctions list, according to officials including Mohsen Rezaei.

The White House is running a dual track: sink shadow-fleet tankers and cut what remains of Iran’s civilian aviation and trade. The administration announced sanctions on 36 targets, including dozens of Iranian airlines, as the ships burned. President Donald Trump has said repeatedly that Iran will not be allowed a nuclear weapon. He has also tried at times to describe the fighting as contained even as energy prices rise into a U.S. midterm year.

Other fronts moved the same week. Houthi forces in Yemen struck targets in southern Saudi Arabia, wounding scores and setting energy sites alight, according to regional reports, widening a war that already includes Israel and Hezbollah. Neighboring mediators have floated temporary shipping corridors and mine-clearance talks. Those ideas have not stopped missiles on Jordan or hulls in the Gulf of Oman.

What can be stated from official accounts is narrow and grim. The United States says it warned crews off five tankers and destroyed them after two failed shots at a warship. Jordan says it knocked down most of a 20-missile salvo and that no one died. Iran says it hit U.S. ships and a larger group of tankers and will keep closing water. Independent confirmation of how many commercial hulls were actually holed on Wednesday is incomplete. UKMTO’s “several vessels” and CENTCOM’s video of one Iranian tanker sinking are the firmest public images.

Hormuz is not a metaphor. It is a pinch point where insurance rates, tanker routing and election-year gasoline prices meet anti-ship missiles. A war that both capitals have at times called limited is now eating the ships that pay for it. Rubio’s formula — shoot at the Navy, lose a tanker — is simple. So is Iran’s: close the gate and fire at the bases that keep it open. Neither formula lowers the price of a barrel once the next hull is on fire.

Andy Burnham told MPs today that VAT will come off electricity bills next month, in response to a question at Prime Minister’s Questions about what the government would do to help households through the winter. The 5 per cent rate is removed from domestic electricity supplies from 1 October.

“I will, Mr Speaker, and I will remove VAT from electricity bills next month,” the prime minister told the Commons. “It’s not going to solve everything for people, Mr Speaker, but it will take a little bit of pressure off.”

Dave Doogan, leader of the SNP in the House of Commons, had set out three pressures on household budgets in putting the question. Energy bills would rise again across the United Kingdom in the coming weeks, he said. Five major mortgage lenders had pushed up mortgage prices within the last few days. The cost of a barrel of oil had gone over $100 within the last few hours, he said, pushing up prices at the pumps.

“Despite this, Mr Speaker, the prime minister still seems fairly well liked,” Doogan said. “I’ll let you into a wee secret: I quite like the new prime minister, but that popularity will not pay the bills during this winter’s looming cost-of-living emergency. Will he stand up now and tell people what he is going to do to help?”

What the cut covers

The measure was announced on 21 July, in the first week of Burnham’s premiership. According to the Downing Street announcement, the 5 per cent rate comes off domestic electricity bills on 1 October at a cost to the Treasury of about £850m in 2026-27, funded by cancelling the digital ID programme, which had been due to cost £1.8bn over three years.

Downing Street put the saving at about £45 a year on a typical bill and said the Treasury expected the change to take around 0.10 percentage points off CPI inflation.

The relief applies to domestic supplies only. As Business Matters reported in July, most firms miss out on the cut: VAT-registered companies already reclaim the tax on their energy, and commercial supplies sit outside both the announcement and the price cap. Small businesses that qualify for the domestic rate and are not registered for VAT, along with charities and residential care homes, do benefit.

Bills still rising

The cut lands as household costs go up. Ofgem raised the price cap by 4 per cent from 1 October, taking the annual bill for a typical direct debit household to £1,723, up £60. The regulator said gas bills would rise by 8 per cent while electricity costs stayed broadly stable because of the VAT removal, and that about 11 million households on fixed tariffs, roughly 35 per cent of the total, were unaffected.

Neil Kenward, Ofgem’s director general for markets, said: “High international gas prices are continuing to drive energy costs in the UK. We welcome the government’s intervention to remove VAT from electricity bills, without which customers would have faced even higher costs this winter.”

Burnham signalled further help with bills at the Budget when the cap decision was published, saying the government would look at how to get energy prices down in the long term.

On borrowing costs, the Bank of England’s most recent Credit Conditions Survey put defaults on secured loans at 6.2 per cent in the first three months of 2026, the highest reading since the final quarter of 2024. Lenders have repriced since the escalation in the Middle East, pushing the average two-year fixed rate from about 4.8 per cent to beyond 5.5 per cent.

In Northern Ireland, where EU VAT rules still apply, the Executive receives comparable funding to support households instead, the announcement said.

Paul Jones

Harvard alumni and former New York Times journalist. Editor of Business Matters for over 15 years, the UKs largest business magazine. I am also head of Capital Business Media’s automotive division working for clients such as Red Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.

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