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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! 

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