Chew on this: Essential stories from the past week January 2013

What’s up this week? The price of chicken wings, among other things. We also share reports of a clever but clumsy new reviewer scam, the decline in the popularity of gift cards, news about internal theft at a high-profile restaurant and a study showing that what you see is not always what you get when it comes to food.

• Chicken wing demand soars. Buffalo Wild Wings, McDonald’s and other chains are fueling demand for chicken wings — and pushing prices of the item beyond the Super Bowl (Bloomberg).

• Scam alert. The ReviewerCard is an identification card that purports to secure its holders better service by warning restaurant and other business owners, "I write reviews" (Eater).

• Are gift cards over? The proliferation of digital devices is cutting into the popularity of gift cards (CNBC).

• Masa missing $100 grand. A former bookkeeper at the fine-dining New York restaurant allegedly pocketed the tidy sum over a year (The New York Times).

• Food fraud is on the rise. A recent scientific examination has found rising numbers of fake ingredients in products from olive oil to spices to fruit juice (ABC News).