But Sneed said she and most school lunch program managers did not know that the cooked beef they use in school lunches could have come from cattle contaminated with E. USDA officials say they do not track how much meat is put into "cook only" categories, but interviews with a half-dozen inspectors suggested it is a significant amount. coli loophole" affects millions of pounds of beef each year that tests positive for the presence of E. USDA said in a statement that "procurement of ground...

Agriculture Department rules to sell raw meat that, during processing, tested positive for the bacterium, a kind of food poisoning that can cause severe stomach cramps, kidney failure or even death, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday. Some public health experts, however, say the loophole helps producers mask unsafe levels of the bacterium in meat-processing facilities, a possible explanation for an unexplained recent rash of E. coli was discovered in it, the newspaper said, and General...

Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner said in late October it is taking "too long" to resolve the bilateral beef trade dispute stemming from Japanese fears of mad cow disease. The source said Washington deems it insufficient for Tokyo to raise the age limit partly due to the cumbersome and costly procedures needed to confirm cattle age. Tokyo is considering raising the limit to cattle aged 30 months or younger. government source said Saturday. Bush is poised to turn up the heat on Japanese...

That, coupled with the fact that my grandparents also raised lambs and cows for their small dairy, provided plenty of fresh meat, milk and eggs. The fact that they relied on the chickens for food made it important to keep intruders like bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, skunks and opossums away from the chicken coop. Last week, we were inundated with smoke from the fires burning on the southern end of the state - a small price to pay, compared to the poor folks who lost their homes and...

One of Florida's original industries "Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree," as Anita Bryant sang in commercials in the 1970s is shrinking, battling and evolving as it confronts disease and development, globalization and dehydration, periodic freezes and serial hurricanes. One of Florida's original industries "Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree," as Anita Bryant sang in commercials in the 1970s is shrinking, battling and evolving as it confronts disease and development, globalization and...