Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of consuming “vintage” (i.e., old) MREs from around the world, but focusing in those from the US.

Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• Meal, Ready-to-Eat - Wikipedia
• Ensuring the Safety and Quality of RTE Meals for U.S. Service Members | Food Safety
• Jeremy Zenlea | LinkedIn
• Army researchers dug into the effects of MREs on gut health, here’s what they discovered | Article | The United States Army
• Shelf-Stable Food Safety | Food Safety and Inspection Service
• Mathematical Models for the Effects of pH, Temperature, and Sodium Chloride on the Growth of Bacillus stearothermophilus in Salty Carrots - PubMed
• Mathematical Models for the Effects of pH, Temperature, and Sodium Chloride on the Growth of Bacillus stearothermophilus in Salty Carrots

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of meat from puffy or bloated packages.

Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• Basset Hound Bloat Chart
• 465. Kurtis’s Puffy Sausage — Risky or Not?
• Are “Bloated” Meat Packages Safe? We Asked a Food Safety Expert | The Kitchn
• TikTok - Always check your meat for this!
• Modified Atmosphere and Vacuum Packaging of Meat and Poultry Products: Food Reviews International: Vol 18, No 4
• Advancing sustainability through modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) for fresh food preservation: A critical review - ScienceDirect

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from eating Ballpark cheeseburger made with with self-serve sticky cheese handled by others.

Fedica text: Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• Alexandria Aces Collegiate Summer Baseball Team in Alexandria, Virginia
• A Study of Staphylococcus Aureus Growth in Model Systems and Processed Cheese - MAGRINI - 1983 - Journal of Food Science - Wiley Online Library
• High Hand Contamination Rates During Norovirus Outbreaks in Long-Term Care Facilities - PMC
• State of Handwashing Report.pdf

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from eating air cooled hard boiled eggs after a week at room temperature.

Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• 775. Coin in Cup for Freezer Safety After Power Outages — Risky or Not?
• FDA Food Code | FDA
• 210. Air cooled hard boiled eggs at room temperature — Risky or Not?
• 467. Rich’s Hard Boiled Eggs (With Bra Egg Bonus) — Risky or Not?
• Hard-Cooked Egg Shelf Life - ScienceDirect

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from drinking drinking Horatio Nelson’ embalming fluid made with brandy, with camphor and myrrh.

Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️

• Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson - Wikipedia
• Camphor overdose: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
• Nelson: A Personal History: Hibbert, Christopher: 9780201624571: Amazon.com: Books
• Christopher Hibbert - Wikipedia

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from consuming Costco free food samples.

Fedica text: Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• Food Safety Talk
• Multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections associated with in-store sampling of an aged raw-milk Gouda cheese, 2010 - PubMed
• Are Costco Samples Safe To Eat? Here’s What You Need To Know About Hygiene Practices
• Coronavirus outbreak prompts Costco to stop serving free samples

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of standing in a hotel bathroom in Athens Greece after a shower head explodes.

Fedica text: Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• Legionnaires disease in Athens
• 13th ICPMF
• About Legionnaires’ Disease | Legionella | CDC
• Legionnaires’ Disease - NYC Health
• CDC Providing a Home for Guests, not Legionella

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of Consuming a fly in wine, on two different occasions.

Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• Food Safety Talk 327: You Got It In Two (Live from AFDO 2025) — Food Safety Talk
• Roderick on the Line - Merlin Mann
• Wines - 19 Crimes
• 159. Food, Once a Fly Has Landed on It — Risky or Not?
• Task Management Software Built For Pros - OmniFocus - The Omni Group
• 201. Bug in Your Margarita — Risky or Not?
• 513. 12 Flies in a Soda Dispenser — Risky or Not?
• Epidemiology
• A systematic review of human pathogens carried by the housefly (Musca domestica L.) - PMC

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of using a beer canning line to package low acid canned food that will not be refrigerated.

Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️

• Chumbawamba - Tubthumping - YouTube
• Iron Heart Mobile Canning | The Leader In Quality Canning
• Death Wish Coffee Co. Announces Recall of Nitro Cold Brew Cans From Retailers, Online Sales | FDA
• WO2022082110A1 - C. bot prevention in coffee - Google Patents
• Canned coffee products sold under 128 coffee roaster names recalled over potential Clostridium botulinum contamination | Food Safety News

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of storing garlic confit at 37 °C (in Ben’s refrigerator) for two weeks.

Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼  Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼

• Garlic-in-oil associated botulism: episode leads to product modification. | AJPH | Vol. 80 Issue 11
• Botulism from Chopped Garlic: Delayed Recognition of a Major Outbreak | Annals of Internal Medicine
• Outgrowth and Toxin Production by Clostridium botulinum in Bottled Chopped Garlic - ScienceDirect
• Conservative Prediction of Time to Clostridium botulinum Toxin Formation for Use with Time-Temperature Indicators To Ensure the Safety of Foods - ScienceDirect
• Current Food Safety Issues of Home-prepared Vegetables and Herbs Stored in Oil
• Garlic Confit Recipe
• 78. Garlic Confit — Risky or Not?
• The Use and Performance of Household Refrigerators: A Review - James - 2017 - Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety - Wiley Online Library