Growing interest in seasonal and locally sourced foods has created a fanfare for indoor public markets, where heirloom tomatoes are sold alongside artisan breads and freshly pressed olive oil. The nationwide growth of seasonal, outdoors farmers' markets, which in most climates run from early spring until mid-fall, provide fierce competition for customers and vendors. Indoor, year-round markets are expensive, and tough to get off the ground, particularly in pricey urban areas. But Americans...

hamburger chain, said first-quarter profit rose more than analysts expected, spurred by late-night orders, breakfast-menu sales and new stores in Europe and Latin America. Costs for commodities, particularly beef, poultry and pork, have risen along with corn prices because of increased demand for the grain from ethanol makers. Burger King, seeking to extend 15 consecutive quarters of higher same-store sales, started selling a new breakfast and lunch item, Homestyle Melts, this month....

The county plans to field 230 employees and volunteers, including police, firefighters and health officials in what will double as an emergency-preparedness exercise. Howard County health officials are offering up to 4,000 free flu inoculations next month at a drive-through clinic designed to reach twice as many people as a similar exercise last year. The reason the county is willing to foot the $40,000 bill for the free shots, he said, is the hope that they will prevent young children and...

Additionally, even when the bacterial strain found in a sick consumer matched the bacteria in the beef they ate, a product recall wouldn't necessarily follow. BEIJING (AP)--Chinese police have arrested the makers of a fake vaccine that failed to prevent an outbreak of blue-ear pig disease, state media reported Monday. BEIJING (AFP)--China has brought under control a swine disease that has killed more than 80,000 pigs, led to the culling of 235,000 others and set pork prices skyrocketing, a...

One day last December, Larry Purdom shook his head as he watched five separate families sell off their entire dairy cattle herds at a sale in Springfield. Since then, as local retail milk prices edge close to $4 a gallon for whole and 2 percent milk, times have gotten significantly better for area dairymen. While federal milk marketing orders set minimum revenue via subsidies, last November this only raised dairy farmers' income by 44 cents per 100 weight of milk. In the end, dried up milk...