🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Monica Pancare, CP-FS. a veteran environmental health food inspector, straight from the Food Safety Consortium 2025.

She brings a unique perspective, having been around food safety from its inception and having been involved on both sides of the industry, first in operations and now as an inspector.

Joined by Francine, they commiserate about how things were in the late 1970s and 1980s, what has changed, and the trials and tribulations of being the one who watches the kitchen.

In this episode:

💩 [01:15] Meet Monica Pancare, a veteran of the food safety industry

💩 [02:31] Gloves, questionable 1970s practices, and the origin of ServSafe

💩 [05:27] What we didn't know in the 1980s and Marriott Hotels' food safety

💩 [08:51] Monica's pivot to an environmental health food inspector role

💩 [10:14] The benefits for an inspector of starting out in operations

💩 [12:39] Defining which establishments are high risk or low risk

💩 [15:46] The craziest violation Monica's ever seen

💩 [18:09] Francine and Monica's experiences with pests, upsets, and threats

💩 [21:24] What happens when Monica finds big problems in an establishment

💩 [24:42] If the bathrooms are clean, is the rest of the establishment clean?

💩 [25:54] The difference between a training issue and a procedural one

💩 [28:59] What to look for in a restaurant as a consumer

💩 [31:23] Why Monica chose to attend the Food Safety Consortium

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

For a whole retelling of Francine's craziest stories from her time as a health inspector, check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen?

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ Knowledge is power. Knowledge is key. I believe that you always need to keep your finger on the pulse and really have a good, strong knowledge of what's out there in the industry as it changes.” – Monica Pancare

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen?

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Ryan Dunn, the Vice President of Sales at DeVere Chemical, our official sponsor.

They talk about how sanitizing is key when it comes to ensuring food safety, but having the best sanitizers in the market or the best training around will never be enough if there isn't a strong culture of safety in place.

Because they know that cultural change starts at the top, they share practical advice that food safety leaders can start implementing right away to turn the existing culture around, making safety the number one priority from upper management to the plant floor.

In this episode:

💩 [01:42] Get to know Ryan Dunn and his serendipitous journey to DeVere

💩 [05:52] How each training is 100% unique to the client at DeVere

💩 [08:24] Real results: from multiple violations to a culture of safety

💩 [12:38] How to convince leadership to invest in food safety

💩 [16:09] When a whole shift quit instead of taking the training

💩 [17:07] Resistance to change starts at the top

💩 [20:10] A simple mindset shift that can change the way we lead

💩 [23:35] 4 leadership lessons to build a strong food safety culture

💩 [31:00] A tool to find out what your crew needs and wants 

💩 [32:07] The power of managing each individual as their own person

💩 [33:50] Make sure to meet Ryan at the next industry conference

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Learn more about how DeVere Chemical can take your operation's food safety to the next level at deverechemical.com.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

" We've taken the personality out of management. I think people just feel disconnected. I hear it all the time. They're disconnected from their relationships with their leaders, and their leaders are disconnected with their crew." – Ryan Dunn

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Ryan, Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Alex O'Brien, the Dairy Safety & Quality Coordinator at the Center for Dairy Research, also known as the Wisconsin cheese food safety guy.

Milk safety has been a recurring topic on the podcast, especially given the growing demand for raw milk, but this is the first time the focus has been on cheese itself.

So, tune in to discover how to make cheese safe. You'll learn how the cheese-making process affects its safety, important lessons about environmental monitoring, and how to make raw milk and cheese a little safer.

In this episode:

💩 [01:27] Alex O'Brien's many hats as the Wisconsin cheese food safety guy

💩 [04:46] The factors that make cheese safe, even unrefrigerated

💩 [10:06] How to get high-quality milk even through a crappy milking process

💩 [13:27] What's behind cheese outbreaks post-pasteurization

💩 [16:52] It doesn't take much unpasteurized cheese to make you sick

💩 [18:53] How to ensure cheese plants are safe and some cautionary tales

💩 [25:40] The four different types of food safety people

💩 [28:45] The difference between cleaning and sanitizing

💩 [30:14] When food safety people have a foodborne illness

💩 [32:58] Thermal pasteurization versus UV pasteurization and raw milk

💩 [37:59] How to make raw milk and cheese a little safer and save lives

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Catch up with the episode where we talked to Bob Comstock about his UV-based pasteurization process, Episode 131 | How a Little Sunlight in Your Milk is Going to Profoundly Change the Dairy Industry.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ If you're finding [Listeria] in your environment more than 10% of the time, you have a problem, right? So, I like to emphasize that you want to find it, but if it's so prevalent and you keep finding it in the same spot and you can't figure it out, then it's a problem.” – Alex O'Brien

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Alex, Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

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!

This is a replay of Episode 89. In this episode:

💩 [02:46] An exciting start to the Food Safety Consortium 2024

💩 [05:33] The best networking event in food safety 

💩 [08:42] The difference being in Washington D.C. made

💩 [10:25] The interviews they did and that are coming your way

💩 [12:24] The Women in Food Safety networking event

💩 [14:48] The sense of community around industry colleagues

💩 [16:49] The missed opportunities of our legal system

💩 [17:58] What you can expect in the upcoming episodes

💩 [18:50] A taste of fame

💩 [19:57] Matt’s and Francine’s biggest takeaways from the Consortium

💩 [22:46] Food safety concerns aren’t the same all over the world

💩 [25:00] Concerns about the FDA’s Reorganization Plan

💩 [26:14] The right reason for wearing black gloves

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Register for the Food Safety Consortium 2025, from October 19-21, here. Use the discount code POOP for $200 OFF. See you there!

Catch up on our interview with Rick Biros, the organizer of the Food Safety Consortium, on last year’s edition, Episode 37 | Integrating Cannabis into The World of Food Safety with Rick Biros.

Learn more about Women in Food Safety.

Catch up on the episode about the FDA’s plans to cut food funding to the states, Episode 69 | A Look at the FDA’s Reorganization Plan and Some Food Safety Mythbusting.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“Really, truly, the Food Safety Consortium is the best networking event that I have ever been to.” – Matthew Regusci

“Corporate culture has got to change before we can change food safety culture, and that's where we need to start. I know that's where the difference is going to be made.” – Francine L Shaw

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by David Hatch from Neogen, one of the world's largest suppliers of food safety testing platforms.

Get ready to learn all about food safety testing, such as what type of technology is available when it comes to testing (get results within seconds), and how the tests work in practice to keep food safe.

Unfortunately, you’ll also learn about the sad truth about most of the food safety industry being almost 2 decades behind when it comes to actually being able to do anything with the important data that it collects.

Tune in to hear the reasons why and how David and Neogen are working to change the tide.

This is a replay of Episode 64.

In this episode:

💩 [03:46] Meet David and Neogen 

💩 [06:49] The type of testing that most companies use and how it works

💩 [09:38] The importance of testing in food safety

💩 [12:38] The problem of managing testing information on spreadsheets and paper

💩 [16:33] David’s mission at Neogen to bring food safety to the present

💩 [18:28] Using spreadsheets doesn’t actually mean the process is digitized 

💩 [19:51] What it takes for food safety to become preventative instead of reactive 

💩 [21:08] What’s great about the Food Safety Consortium

💩 [28:03] The other side of Neogen: making food safe upstream

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Register for the Food Safety Consortium 2025, from October 19-21, here. Use the discount code POOP for $200 OFF. See you there!

Neogen website neogen.com. 

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“The problem is that the corporate management at food companies hasn't found a way to justify the digital transformation that needs to take place. And it's not that they don't want to, it's that the food industry operates at the lowest margins of any industry in the world. On average, it's only a 2.8% margin, which is the lowest in all industries in the world.” – David Hatch

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

We'd love to hear from you!

Connect with David, Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about how the majority of people are finally seeing that food irradiation may be a good solution for keeping food safe.

Between personal anecdotes, lessons from their journeys in food safety, and a new Food Safety News article, our hosts remember how this technology was first received decades ago, celebrate the big change in consumer opinion, and point out the biggest hurdles to its full adoption in the US.

In this episode:

💩 [01:03] When conversations about food irradiation first came around

💩 [02:10] Matt and Francine's childhood go-to foods

💩 [08:16] People's strong initial reactions to the idea of irradiated food

💩 [10:17] People don't like change, and they're still not seeing the "ir-"

💩 [12:07] The hardest thing in food safety and how Matt got into the industry

💩 [16:37] The review that revealed a growing acceptance of food irradiation

💩 [20:14] Will companies start adopting food irradiation?

💩 [22:07] How the FDA is getting in the way of change

💩 [25:38] What needs to change for food irradiation to be widely used

💩 [28:28] The great Listeria problem and the technology of the future

💩 [30:30] The FDA needs more change management people

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Catch up with our last episode, where Matt shares his story, Episode 132.

Learn about Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in this LinkedIn post by Francine.

Check out the Food Safety News article our hosts are talking about, Review reveals growing support for food irradiation.

Listen to the episode with Bob Comstock about his UV-based technology for making milk safe, Episode 131.

Learn more about FSMA 204, which has been punted yet again, in Episode 109.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ Change management [is] the hardest thing in food safety. It was 20 years ago. It's still the same today. Change management is the hardest thing because getting people to change their habits is exactly what we do in food safety, and it is the hardest thing to do over and over and over and over again.” – Matt Regusci

“ I think [food irradiation is] a good thing. I also think that hypochlorous acid is a good thing, but nobody wants to change the way they do things. Everybody's like, it's the same old, same old that we've been doing for years. People don't like change.” – Francine L Shaw

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

Get ready for an intensely personal, raw, and possibly uncomfortable episode of Don’t Eat Poop! Warning: In case alcoholism is a sensitive topic for you, proceed with caution.

In the face of a recent Celsius Astro Vibe energy drink recall due to a mix-up at the factory, which resulted in High Noon vodka seltzer alcohol inside Celsius cans, our hosts Matt and Francine are approaching this recall in a different way.

To better illustrate how serious this mishap is and its possible consequences, Matt opens up on his complicated decades-long journey with alcoholism and how he's finally managed to recover from it in the past two and a half years.

Tune in for this brave story and more information on this possibly disastrous recall.

In this episode:

💩 [03:00] Matt's early introduction to alcohol

💩 [04:06] From his teenage years all the way to COVID

💩 [05:44] When Matt's addiction to alcohol got really bad

💩 [09:45] The breaking point and Matt's hard road to sobriety

💩 [18:13] The physical aspects behind addiction

💩 [21:10] The feelings that come up in the process of recovery

💩 [24:59] The mistakenly alcoholic Celsius Astro Vibe recall

💩 [25:49] The risks if these mislabeled cans fall into kids' hands

💩 [27:00] Understand High Noon's monumentally terrible whoops

💩 [30:58] The seeming lack of quality control in these factories

💩 [32:12] Energy drinks and their differences

💩 [34:53] The recent diet Coke and regular Coke mix-up

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Listen to the song Paralyzed by NF.

Learn more about Alcoholics Anonymous and find the one nearest to you at aa.org.

Check out the NBC article Matt refers to when talking about the Celsius recall.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ An alcoholic who is in recovery, getting a drink that has alcohol in it, and they don't know, that could be very bad. Will it kill them? No, that one alcohol drink is not going to kill them. Will it kill them because they start drinking again, and then everything goes down? Potentially.” – Matt Regusci

“ Sometimes I wonder if some of these places even have quality control. I don't know. They have to, at some level, but you have to wonder.” – Francine L Shaw

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In episode 127 of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine talked about a technological breakthrough that could zap the pathogens out of raw milk while preserving its beneficial components.

Well, in this episode they are joined by the man behind it all, Bob Comstock, the Founder and CEO of Tamarack Biotics, the company that's developed this UV-based pasteurization process.

Tune in to discover how this technology makes nutritious and safe milk, how it will replace thermal treatments, and how it's already making its way to the rest of the world.

In this episode:

💩 [01:11] Meet Bob Comstock and his journey with Tamarack Biotics

💩 [02:57] How this UV-based technology makes milk safe

💩 [06:44] The differences in milk after different treatments

💩 [08:51] Improving milk's bioavailability and restoring immune function

💩 [11:10] The 3 reasons this technology will change everything

💩 [11:44] The FDA and the history of making milk safe

💩 [12:47] How TruActive kills only the pathogens and leaves the rest

💩 [15:40] Solving the biggest challenge in processing milk with heat

💩 [16:40] Replacing heat with UV without changing dairy infrastructure

💩 [19:00] Why the FDA is slowing down the adoption of this technology

💩 [23:00] How UV-treated milk can prevent children from developing allergies

💩 [25:07] This is already making its way to the rest of the world

💩 [26:05] Making infant formula better and more nutritious

💩 [29:33] Why plant-based milks can't compare with the real thing

💩 [31:29] How this technology will affect the raw milk industry

💩 [35:39] The groundbreaking approval from the FDA and the global rollout

💩 [37:35] Research centers for dairy, food technology, and nutrition  

💩 [40:16] The very real dangers of raw milk (take care of your cats)

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Catch up with the episode where we first talked about Bob Comstock and his innovative technology,  Episode 127 | Zapping Pathogens Could Be a Breakthrough For Making Raw Milk Safe.

Learn more about Tamarack Biotics here.

Catch up with one of the podcast's best episodes on raw milk: Episode 22 | Is It Safe to Drink Raw Milk? Food Safety Specialists Break It Down.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“This approval we got from the FDA was groundbreaking. It's opening an enormous door because they've affirmed that we're legal pasteurization of milk and that we're actually safer than heat. It's not a compromise in safety that some people might think from an alternative to heat, but it's safer.” – Bob Comstock

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Bob, Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are diving into the 2025 IFIC Food and Health Survey, a robust study that reveals confidence in U.S. food safety has hit an all-time low.

Tune in for their analysis on the big shifts that have happened in consumer opinions and concerns over the past few years, and their opinion on what this means for food suppliers going forward.

Keep in mind that there is a lot of their trademark humor throughout the episode. Don't always take things at face value, unless they're actual stats. Beware!

In this episode:

💩 [01:18] Matt's going from 11 to 12 forever kiddos

💩 [07:32] Francine's health scare (don't worry, she's alright now)

💩 [09:55] Confidence in U.S. food safety has hit an all-time low

💩 [12:00] How different generations relate to the safety of their food

💩 [15:43] Why overall confidence dropped so much so fast

💩 [17:46] The pressure is on for food suppliers to catch up 

💩 [19:55] The shift in consumers' major concerns around the U.S. food supply

💩 [24:17] Consumers are becoming more worried about foodborne illnesses

💩 [28:50] Growing concern over heavy metals, chemicals, and food dyes

💩 [33:52] Americans' views on the safety of imported food

💩 [37:21] Key results from the 2025 IFIC Food and Health Survey

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Check out the Food Safety News article our hosts are talking about, Confidence in U.S. food safety hits an all-time low.

Learn more about the Clean Label Project Certification at cleanlabelproject.org.

Catch up on our previous episode for more on the Shakes Outbreak, Episode 129 | A Recap of 2025’s Major Outbreaks (So Far) with Bill Marler.

Catch up on the episode where we talked about what MAHA is trying to push, Episode 125 | FDA Spikes the Ball and Claims Success.

Watch Emmy award-winning documentary, Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food.

Learn all about the WanaBana Cinnamon Applesauce Pouches Lead and Chromium Poisoning Outbreak with Episode 51.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“The food industry is going to have to shift. It just is. It's not a, if it's going to, it's a when it's going to because it won't be able to compete with other companies that address these issues. It just won't.” – Matt Regusci

“ I don't think even three years ago that [...] people were aware of foodborne illnesses so much. Yeah, they existed. But [...] I don't think it was something that was really even thought about. Which makes me believe that things like Poisoned and the podcasts that are out there talking about these things are helping.” – Francine L Shaw

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Together, we can raise awareness and make a positive impact in the world of food safety!

Share your thoughts and feedback on the show, and feel free to offer any topics you would like to hear discussed.

We'd love to hear from you!

📲 Connect with Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

📕 Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon! 

🎙️ BE A GUEST ON DON’T EAT POOP!

Fill out this form to tell us more about yourself. We’ll reach out via email within 30 days with next steps if you’re selected.

_______

Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant. 

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready. 

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical 

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Bill Marler, the nation's leading foodborne illness attorney, to discuss some of the major outbreaks of 2025 (so far), those who aren't doing what they're supposed to, and how we can push for changes towards food safety.

Buckle up because not only are there many, but they're very frustrating ones.

We'll revisit the Boar's Head Outbreak as new violations have been found in other plants, and the company is reopening the plant from the outbreak. We'll tackle the Darwin Dog Food case, which has been linked to a four-year-old child who became infected with E. coli O157:H7 and developed HUS, as well as the Listeria Shake Outbreak in long-term care facilities, with 14 dead.

In this episode:

💩 [01:11] Sexy tractors and feeling politically out of place

💩 [04:07] Do the Boar's Head executives even care?

💩 [08:06] What Boar's Head is doing and what they should've done instead

💩 [16:15] The frustrating E. coli-contaminated Darwin Dog Food case

💩 [18:53] FDA's failure to enforce a product recall from Darwin

💩 [24:14] How Bill is finally getting justice for the Shake Outbreak victims

💩 [29:42] How companies can save lives by testing their products

💩 [33:29] When authorities redact documents and withhold critical information 

💩 [37:58] The Romaine Lettuce outbreak that remains a "mystery"

💩 [42:49] How Bill Marler is unfortunately having to do the FDA and CDC's jobs

💩 [50:04] The incredible success of the fight against E. coli in hamburgers

💩 [55:04] Addressing the Poisoned documentary skeptics

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Read the Marler Blog post with the 35 pages of non-conformances on Boar's Head's plants.

Read about the frustrating E. coli-contaminated Darwin Dog Food case.

Read about the Listeria Shake Outbreak in long-term care facilities.

Here's the video with the keynote speaker saying we should "Put Bill Marler out of business".

Watch Bill Marler and Darin Detwiler’s Emmy award-winning documentary, Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food.

Read about the multi-state E. coli outbreak where the FDA and CDC chose to Romaine Silent.

Catch up with past Bill Marler episodes:

Episode 17

Episode 18

Bonus Episode

Episode 92

Episode 100

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ I don't know why FDA won't name the romaine lettuce guys, even though they did when the same guys were growing onions. I don't have a good answer to that question other than I just think it sadly, undercuts the authority of public health, that they seem to be an honest broker in the process. It breaks my heart.” – Bill Marler

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