In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Steven Mandernach, Executive Director at the Association of Food and Drug Officials, straight from the Food Safety Consortium 2024. “I never thought of it that way” is something you’ll catch yourself saying throughout this episode full of gems.  Prepare yourself to better understand the harsh realities of being a food inspector, the consequences of the planned budgetary cuts by the FDA to food inspections, how...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine have just gotten back from the Food Safety Consortium 2024 and they’re sharing everything while it’s still fresh in their minds. You will hear all about their experience and their biggest takeaways. You will also be in the know about the amazing interviews they have coming your way. So, don’t miss this event recap! In this episode: 💩 [01:32] An exciting start to the Food Safety Consortium 2024 💩 [04:19] The best networking...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about the hot topic of the past few weeks: the deadly McDonald’s E. Coli outbreak. This is a multistate outbreak with cases in 13 states and one death so far. Tune in to learn more about the facts surrounding the outbreak as well as Matt’s and Francine’s expert opinions on the situation. They’ll also address the food safety controversy around Donald Trump’s publicity stunt at a McDonald’s on October 20, 2024. In...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Doug Farquhar, the Director of Government Affairs of the National Environmental Health Association, at the 2024 FDA Retail Food Seminar & IEHA Annual Education Conference. Doug is on a mission to encourage US states to adopt more recent versions of the FDA Food Code (only 4 states have adopted the most recent version so far) but this gets really tricky because of federalism. Tune in as he sheds some light on...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are sharing with you the Ask Us Anything! LinkedIn Live they did on Sep 25, 2024, during Food Safety Awareness & Education Month. This event was unscripted and they answered questions as they came, and there were some amazing ones. They covered the need (or not) for new regulations, the differences between the EU and the US regulations, the future of food safety especially the role of AI in that, and much more. There was...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Deborah Blum, at the 2024 FDA Retail Food Seminar & IEHA Annual Education Conference. She is the author of “The Poison Squad”, one of Matt’s favorite food safety books.  Together they explore her outrageous findings from the time before regulations that she shares in the book, as well as ways to make things change for the better. In this episode: 💩...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Patrick Quade, Founder and CEO of Iwaspoisoned.com, at the 2024 FDA Retail Food Seminar & IEHA Annual Education Conference. They talk about Iwaspoisoned.com, which is a food safety crowdsourcing website. People can come to the website and report a food safety issue, and that data is then used to detect outbreaks, clusters, and trends in real time. Tune in to hear about the great impact this technology can have...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are looking into their very own crystal ball and diving into “The Future of Food Safety” on their Keynote at 2024 FDA Retail Food Seminar & Annual Education Conference. They talk about what golden calves they think are going to die over the next couple decades and why they're going to die with emerging technology and increase in consumers. As usual, they say what needs to be said regardless of how controversial. So tune in...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, food safety industry veterans Matt and Francine are taking you through a list of 29 common foods that are approved in the United States, but banned in other countries. Prepare yourself to be surprised by the bad foods and thoroughly entertained by our hosts and the stories of how they consume these products in their daily lives. In this episode: 💩 [02:21] Skittles 💩 [03:30] Mountain Dew 💩 [04:48] Little Debbie Swiss Rolls 💩 [08:05] Frosted Flakes, Honey...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine welcome back an esteemed guest onto the podcast, the food safety expert and advocate Dr. Darin Detwiler.  He’s here to spread the word about the Global Glove Safety Day initiative, taking place on September 18th, during Food Safety Education Month. This day serves as a compelling reminder that food safety is truly #InOurHands, both in a literal and figurative sense. Of course, they also tackled some big food safety issues that...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are turning their attention to the Olympics where some of the athletes were unfortunately drinking poop while competing in the river Seine. You’ll hear all about the controversial situation, including the “cleaning” of the Seine River and the Olympic athletes that fell ill after swimming in the polluted river waters. They also take a detour to talk about potable and non-potable water and take a long hard look at the failings of...

In this bonus episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, Francine and Matt are joined by a very special guest, Bill Marler, a leading expert in food safety. Together, they dive into the Boar’s Head Listeria outbreak, shedding light on how things went so wrong and why it’s crucial for food companies to take responsibility when outbreaks like this occur. You’ll hear about Boar’s Head’s food safety failures, the rise in Listeria cases across the U.S., and why transparency and accountability are the only way...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Carly Bader, Manager of Science at Willow Industries, a cannabis decontamination technology company. Just like foods and beverages, cannabis can also be contaminated with microbial diseases such as salmonella and E. coli. In this episode, you’ll learn more about that as well as some ways used to make cannabis safe for all consumers. Also, tune in to hear about Carly’s exciting first experience at the Food Safety...

After the Quaker Oats food recall case study was featured in the last episode, food safety industry veterans Francine L. Shaw and Matt Ragucci decided to bring back this important episode that was aired shortly after that recall happened. In this conversation, Matt and Francine spotlight an important discussion on developing standard food safety procedures in homes and the role of consumers in demanding safer food through better food safety regulations. Towards the end, there is a humorous...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are once more talking about the Quaker Oats Salmonella Recall, this time in light of the public FDA letter that got sent to PepsiCo about the case. They are doing a case study of this food recall, breaking it down, and making it meaningful for the people that are on the ground managing or working on facilities like this. Food Safety Talk: Make sure to stay tuned for all you need to know about hand washing. In this episode: 💩...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about a Listeria outbreak in Canada that was traced back to Silk and Great Value brand plant-based milk, both produced in the same Danone Canada facility. Tune in as they make sense of what went wrong, talk about the consequences of such a recall, and educate us about Listeria. They also tackle the risks of raw milk, as well as the logistics behind it. In this episode: 💩 [01:21] Conferences that are coming up 💩...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about Chinese food safety after an outrageous cooking oil scandal in China. Tune in for all the details, some insight into how it happened and what it may mean for food safety in China. Also learn about the shocking number of diseases spread through food. In this episode: 💩 [02:37] China’s cooking oil scandal 💩 [06:00] Chinese government and Chinese food safety 💩 [08:49] How this oil scandal probably happened 💩...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about something that does not fall within the realm of food safety but still needs to be discussed because it affects millions of women: tampons. They are going over some recent studies that show there are lead, arsenic, and other potentially toxic chemicals in tampons and panty liners.  This is probably the most difficult episode they’ve ever recorded since this topic is no joke. So, get ready for a wild ride. In...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about chicken, more specifically about how you should NOT wash raw chicken. The problem is that the majority of Americans wash raw poultry even though that does more harm than good. So, today our hosts are tackling this big issue. Since salmonella is already in debate they are also talking about the risks behind homemade mayonnaise which becomes more prevalent during these summer months. In this episode: 💩 [01:20]...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about two of people’s favorite things: chocolate and coffee. Unfortunately, it’s for a not-so-great reason: major product recalls. Tune in to learn all about the recall of over 4 million pounds of chocolate potentially contaminated with salmonella. As well as the recall of 242 different canned coffee products potentially contaminated with botulism. In this episode: 💩 [01:15] The two recalls 💩 [04:49] A new Peanut...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine take on the challenging but important topic of child labor. This is relevant for food safety because the majority of working children worldwide work in agriculture. This is a topic that is close to Matt’s and Francine’s hearts as both worked many different jobs when they were still children and teenagers. So, you’ll get to hear about their personal experiences and opinions about child labor and more. This week our hosts are...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are going through the list of the 10 Worst Food Safety Scandals in recent history, which include both national and international outbreaks that resulted in serious health consequences, deaths, and widespread outrage. You will hear about what some of these outbreaks were like from the inside as Matt and Francine share their experiences from either working with the affected companies or writing extensively about the subject as it...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about the recently approved FDA’s reorganization plan, which will hopefully bring positive changes to the organization. They discuss all the major changes being made to the FDA, including their opinions on each of them. They also talk about the acronym nightmare this is already proving to be. But that’s not all, today Matt is busting down a widely believed food safety myth that might just shock you, so make sure to...

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are, unfortunately, talking about a new multi-state outbreak, this time it’s cucumbers that are carrying salmonella and putting people in the hospital. Prepare to learn all about this most recent outbreak, as well as how outbreaks like this happen and how multi-state outbreaks have been changing over the last few years. Make sure to listen to the end so you don’t miss out on hotel bathroom jerky and all that’s not quite right...