U.S. Food and Drug Administration has awarded the Minnesota Department of Agriculture $600,000 grant to help the department quickly trace contaminated food to grocery stores and other distribution points.

Reichel Foods, of Rochester, is recalling about 15,880 pounds of ready-to-eat meat products because of a possible contamination with listeria. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture says the recalled products are 5.6-ounce packages of Armour Active Packs Turkey and Cheese Wrap and Armour Active Packs Ham and Cheese Wrap.

The funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration comes in the wake of several food recalls -- ranging from ground turkey meat to cantaloupes. The money will be put towards training and developing an action plan to be used during food safety events.

Authorities believe they have uncovered a scam in which a man bought food stamp cards at half their value from dozens of homeless-shelter residents in the St. Paul area and then redeemed them at two grocery stores, the Star Tribune reports.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar tells the Duluth News Tribune the U.S. Agriculture secretary is pledging to use money from their budget to re-start the program and keep it running through the end of the year.

Up to 16 people have died, and many more have gotten sick, in what federal officials are calling the worst food-borne illness outbreak in over a decade. The fruit, grown in Colorado, was shipped to Minnesota, among other states, but no deaths or illnesses have been reported here.

Metro counties contribute almost two-thirds of the money going into the the Legacy Fund set up by a constitutional amendment. But parks in those counties get far less than half of the Legacy grants. Debates to make the distribution more 'equitable' are contentious.

A new report is one of few to measure mercury contamination in songbirds, which rely on insects for food. Until recently, scientists believed mercury contamination was mostly a problem for aquatic birds that eat fish. The report says "the scope and intensity of the impact of mercury on fish and wildlife in the Great Lakes region is much greater than previously recognized."