Sunday, November 22, 2009 - Page updated at 04:33 p.m.

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES

From left, second-graders Danny Chung, Alimurtada Al-Shimari and Alan Huynh dive into lunch recently at Mount View Elementary in South Seattle. While Washington state's school-lunch program was not affected by a nationwide recall of peanut products earlier this year, the state remains concerned because it relies on food commodities supplied through the federal government to keep the cost of school meals low. Read story

Washington businesses break ties to industrial-food chain

In the confusing web that is the nation's industrial food-supply system, small companies in Washington state are trying to untangle themselves, taking over processing, commissioning independent testing, buying more things locally and checking out sources more carefully.

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