When it comes to producing food that's safe to eat, companies either pay a lot up front to improve their factory safeguards or pay a lot later when things go wrong. Department of Agriculture came under fire this week after the Tribune reported the USDA's nearly three-week delay in deciding to mount the recall. Topps Meat co. of New Jersey paid the ultimate price for a massive safety slip-up, announcing Friday it was closing its business six days after it was forced to issue the...

The result has been a public health debate that has stretched from Congress to courtrooms across the nation, leading to tens of millions of dollars in judgments. He got sick while mixing butter flavoring at a Missouri microwave popcorn plant, developing a ravaging lung disease that has tormented a small but alarming number of food workers across the nation. Scientists, doctors, politicians, food companies, labor unions, lawyers and others have weighed in -- some pointing angry fingers at...

The rate of identical twins is pretty steady throughout the world at about 0,5 percent of all births, according to a 1995 study by Belgian researcher Fernand Leroy, who has worked extensively on twins. The town's high incidence of twins has baffled fertility experts - underscoring a more regional twin trend and an array of elaborate African rituals around them. Overall, almost five percent of all Yoruba births produce twins, the Belgian study said, compared with just around 1,2 percent for...

The free publication lists both time- and use-related cost figures for machines from tractors and chisel plows to combines and sugar beet wagons. No one should do custom work unless the charge will cover operating costs and use-related depreciation, plus return for ones risk and time. Time-related costs, also referred to as overhead costs, accrue to the owner whether or not a machine is used. Interest, insurance, personal property taxes, housing and some depreciation fall into the...

Write a Letter to the Editor. Popcorn Worker's Lung: Workers in several microwave popcorn and food-flavoring plants have been diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliternas, a rare and serious lung disease usually found in dairy farmers, bird lovers and others who breathe in excessive amounts of mold and bird droppings. Popcorn Worker's Lung: Workers in several microwave popcorn and food-flavoring plants have been diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliternas, a rare and serious lung disease usually...