Japan to increase safety inspections on U.S. beef (Asahi.com) Japan will strengthen its checks on U.S. beef imports--but not impose a new ban--after the discovery of cattle parts from California at high risk of mad cow disease contamination, officials said Thursday. [News Source]

Contact 2 - Grass Fed Beef (FOX 2 News St. Louis) After E.coli and mad cow scares, and millions of pounds of meat being recalled this year alone, demand for safer, healthier beef is on the rise. Contact 2 traveled to Doniphan, Missouri, a small farming community that's home to American Grass Fed Beef, a farm owned by veterinarian Patti Whisnant and her husband Mark. Together they raise thousands of Angus cattle on one thing alone: grass. [News Source]

Spinal Column Found in U.S. Beef in Japan (donga.com) A spinal column, which is a suspected source of mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was found in U.S. beef that had been kept in storage by a Japanese fast-food chain operator. [News Source]

Beef with banned parts found in Japan (Moldova.org) The Japanese Farm Ministry Wednesday said it had discovered beef imported from California with animal parts banned after a mad cow disease scare in 2003.Officials announced small amounts of spinal column parts -- banned along with brains -- were found in a shipment of 700 boxes of beef that has been stored in Tokyo since August.Yoshinoya Holding Co, operators of a chain of eateries with a ... [News Source]

Beef with banned parts found in Japan (UPI) The Japanese Farm Ministry Wednesday said it had discovered beef imported from California with animal parts banned after a mad cow disease scare in 2003. [News Source]

CJD tragedy linked to growth hormone. Between 1959 and 1985 nearly 2,000 children in the UK whose growth was stunted because of a deficiency in the secretion of growth hormone in their pituitary glands were treated with a hormone from the pituitary glands of corpses. Several died after a batch of the hormones became infected. [News Source]

FDA to expand restrictions on livestock feed. The Food and Drug Administration will unveil this week a federal rule that will place new restrictions on what U.S. livestock can be fed. [News Source]

Banned spine parts turn up in U.S. beef. A high-risk material that violates a bilateral trade accord has been found in beef imported from the United States, the farm ministry announced Wednesday. [News Source]

U.S. beef tainted by part, Japan says. A spinal column was found in a U.S. beef shipment in violation of a trade accord that prohibits parts believed to pose a risk of mad cow disease, Japanese officials said Wednesday. [News Source]

Japan to increase quarantine checks on U.S. beef imports. Japan will increase its checks on U.S. beef imports--but not impose a new ban--after the discovery of cattle parts from California at high risk of mad cow disease contamination, officials said Thursday. [News Source]