Apple juice controversy top of Google users' minds this week

(shutterstock/Elena Itsenko/shutterstock.com)

A controversial story about high levels of arsenic found in popular apple juice brands and a pending strike at a major grocery store chain in the US were top of mind for Google users this week, with terms like "apple juice" and "grocery strike 2011" reaching breakout levels.

According to Google Insights, as of 2:30 pm GMT September 21, "apple juice" was the top search term, at breakout levels, over the last seven days in the category of Food and Drink news.

A breakout search means that the term has experienced a change in growth greater than 5000 percent.

Last week, Dr. Mehmet Oz, American tv talk show host of The Dr. Oz Show , caused a stir with claims that a popular apple juice contained high levels of arsenic. The US Food and Drug Administration responded with a battery of their own tests and concluded that only trace amounts of inorganic arsenic - the type that's poisonous to humans - were found.

This week's list of top 10 food news searches is populated with variations of the term 'apple juice,' as well as 'grocery strike.'

The other big food story involved more than 54,000 workers at grocery chains Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons and millions of customers in Southern California who narrowly averted a strike this week. The union reached a three-year labor contract with the chains on Monday.

Meanwhile, other popular food-related news searchers include a Japanese search term for Girls Bar, presumably for an adult entertainment website, Girls Bar Walker in Japan.

Rounding out the top 10 list is the ubiquitous Charlie Sheen.

Here are the top 10 food news searches over the last 7 days:

1. apple juice (Breakout)
2. grocery strike 2011 (Breakout)
3. ralphs (Breakout)
4. ?????? (Breakout)
5. strike (+1,300%)
6. strike grocery (+1,500%)
7. grocery (+600%)
8. apple (+400%)
9. walker (+250%)
10. charlie sheen (+120%)