Officials call for safety probe of school meat supply (Los Angeles Times) A California congressman and other lawmakers today called for an independent investigation into the safety of food supplied to schools across the nation through a federal program. The action comes in response to allegations that at-risk cattle were slaughtered at one of the school nutrition program's top suppliers. [News Source]

University to Lead Centre of Excellence in Vaccine Commercialization and Research (Newswise) Saskatoon, SK. The University of Saskatchewan will lead a $25.5-million national Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research aimed at fast-tracking vaccine development for diseases of major public health concern such as pandemic influenza, whooping cough, chlamydia, "mad cow" disease, and severe diarrheal diseases. [News Source]

Tracking Children of the (Cattle) Clones (Wired News) Now that the FDA has declared clones edible, scientists have unveiled a commercial genetic test for identifying and tracking cloned animals from the farm to the hamburger. [News Source]

Gwinnett schools put hold on beef taco filling (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Gwinnett County school cafeterias will still serve beef, just not any from the California slaughterhouse currently under federal investigation. Gwinnett is among 28 Georgia school districts that received products from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for allegedly processing cattle at a higher risk of mad cow disease. The government ... [News Source]

No Mad Cow Disease in East Idaho Schools (KPVI 6 Pocatello) Recently, some false information was reported by another local media source, information that has had some parents up in arms. It was reported that meat being served up at local schools might be contaminated with the Mad Cow Disease. [News Source]