Those of us here in the United States have heard some disturbing news about the threat of mad cow disease recently.

Bloomberg has a good recap of the most recent concerns and the impact on markets and stocks.

The Washington Post suggests the USDA is being vague in its reasons for re-testing for mad cow disease in brain tissue from a cow declared disease-free seven months ago.

The foreign (non-American) press is having a field day, especially in countries that look to pick up the slack if American beef is banned: Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to name a few. Meanwhile, the news from the U.S. is rather quiet -- comparatively few news reports and what little there are, seem to be very short.

So what does this all have to do with RFID?

A lot.

RFID has been discussed as having the potential to help secure a safe food supply. Read this earlier post on the subject of RFID to fight mad cow disease that I wrote last year.