BROCKTON -- E. coli cases from a tainted batch of hamburger processed at a Brockton meat packing plant appear to have spread to at least two other states, says a lawyer representing the families of two boys who became sick after eating the meat at a camp in Plymouth. He also says there have been cases elsewhere in Massachusetts not related to the outbreak at the camp.

The 10 tomatoes sitting in a Tupperware tub at the Food and Drug Administration seem to be doing nothing more than rotting, slowly. But an invisible battle is raging on the surface of the fruit, with provocative implications for food safety and the war that humans have been waging against bacteria for a century.

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A proposal fishermen believed would stop them using imported fishing bait has been dropped after a public outcry. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry wanted all imported whole fish to be irradiated to kill viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS) - a disease deadly to fish that has seriously depleted populations in the North American Great Lakes.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Agriculture Department and the Vermont state agriculture agency said they pulled operating licenses on Friday for a Vermont slaughter plant after viewing footage of mistreated veal calves.

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL -- Experts from the University of Minnesota will soon be on the frontlines working to help developing countries better respond to emerging animal diseases that pose a threat to human health.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward to implement the agency’s May 2009 final rule revoking tolerances, or residue limits, for the pesticide carbofuran. EPA continues to find that dietary exposures to carbofuran from all sources combined are not safe.

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is being prosecuted after environmental health inspectors reported finding cockroaches, mice and flies at one of its busiest UK restaurants. Officials from Westminster Council said that a cockroach scurried across a counter when they visited the fast food outlet in Leicester Square, central London.

CHICAGO -- A new antibody treatment protected animals that had been exposed to the deadly Nipah virus, raising hopes for a treatment for this and the related Hendra virus that affect humans and livestock, an international team reported on Thursday.