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Food fights aren't supposed to involve chemical spray and trips to the emergency room. But after a fifteen-minute, 200- to 300-person food fight at South High School in Minneapolis turned into a violent brawl, police had to intervene. According to a sergeant, students were throwing "anything they could get their hands on," sending four people to the hospital with minor injuries. So far, no arrests have been made, but the cops are reviewing surveillance video. These kids should probably dye their hair and start donning disguises; the charges can be extensive. School officials maintain that the cops sprayed above the crowd, but students are complaining about the effects: Mace doesn't taste as good as pie to the face. [Earlier, AP]

Curtis Duffy's Grace in Chicago has earned, in two months of being open, national acclaim as one of America's most ambitious restaurants, Duffy's eyes set on every prize to be had. What few have known, and only rarely came out in the press about Duffy, was that his ambition and drive as a chef — which led him from a Colorado country club to Charlie Trotter's, Alinea, and two Michelin stars at Avenues before opening his own restaurant — was rooted in a troubled childhood, which climaxed horrifically with the murder-suicide of his parents in 1994, when Duffy was 19.

Throughout this scandal, food-manufacturing companies have protested that hidden horsemeat is an issue of mislabeling, not food safety. News broke today that adulterated meat ended up in school meals, hospital food, and restaurant dishes in Britain, which is particularly alarming because yesterday, public authorities announced that small amounts of the meat contained a powerful equine painkiller. The phenylbutazone drug is potentially harmful to humans, but the chances of getting sick are low: Out of 206 horse carcasses, eight tested positive for phenylbutazone, and only six of those carcasses were exported to France (French meat wholesaler Spanghero is the current culprit). Horsemeat isn't typically harmful; the issue here is that these horses weren't sourced responsibly and raised to become part of the food chain. [AP, NYT, Earlier]