Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 3, 1995                   TAG: 9511030015
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

Branch & Associates Inc., a Roanoke-based general contractor, has been awarded contracts on two college projects for the commonwealth of Virginia.

One is a contract for $2,457,096 for renovation of McGuffey Hall on the Radford University campus. The complete interior renovation includes finishes; mechanical, electrical and fire sprinkler systems; windows; and exterior wall renovation.

The project, which will house new classroom space, is scheduled for completion in July.

The second contract, for $5,534,000, is at the University of Virginia's Clinch Valley College in Wise. Branch is building a three-story, 34,000-square-foot education and development center, connected by a walkway bridge to the existing Zehmer Building.

The new facility will be used for instruction and office space for the visual arts, language, mathematics and natural science departments. Partial renovation of the Zehmer Building is also included. Completion is scheduled for December 1996.

- Staff report

Hot dog labels may kill appetite

WASHINGTON - Expect something new on the label for hot dogs, bologna and other processed foods that use a mushy paste of poultry scraps: ``Mechanically separated poultry.''

Starting in a year, the batter-like blend of soft tissue will have to have this new label, the Agriculture Department said Thursday. The ingredient is now labeled ``chicken'' or ``turkey.''

Under mechanical separation, food processors recover bits of meat from necks, backs and trimmed carcasses that would otherwise be wasted. This is done by crushing the bones and running the mass through a sieve or other screen.

The product ends up containing bone, marrow and certain minerals as well as flesh, although regulations limit the amount of calcium and bone matter.

The new rule is designed to make labeling more honest. But consumer groups say the term ``mechanically separated'' doesn't really describe much.

- Associated Press