🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

The FIFA World Cup is coming to Atlanta, and with it, up to 10 million visitors, thousands of temporary food vendors, and a food safety infrastructure that is already stretched thin.

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, Francine and Matt pull apart the logistics of feeding a city-sized surge of international fans, from inspecting pop-up tents in 100-degree heat to the very real norovirus scenario that could turn one food truck into a multi-city outbreak.

When you pack 10 million people into a city with 28 health inspectors on the clock, something is going to fall through the cracks — the question is how much.

In this episode:

00:00:00 World Cup in Atlanta: The Numbers

00:09:25 Atlanta Health Inspectors’ Impossible Workload

00:16:01 Potential Novovirus Scenarios

00:17:59 Temperature Control and Food Safety Blind Spots

00:25:27 The Reality of Food Safety Inspections

00:28:42 Approved Vendors and Traceability

00:37:39 Atlanta is Preparing for the World Cup

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

Resources from this episode

Take a look at the article we’re talking about in this episode: Atlanta health inspectors prepare restaurants and vendors for World Cup crowds

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ Moral of the story is do not be a jerk to your health inspector.” – Matt Regusci

“The volume of people is one thing. [...] So now they've got to inspect all these temporary vendors that are gonna come in to be permitted for the World Cup.” – 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?

🎙️ 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

🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

The federal government has a plan to overhaul how food chemicals are regulated in America, but the states got there first. In Episode 171 of Don't Eat Poop!, Matt and Francine dig into Dr. David Acheson's opinion piece on who should own authority over GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) additives, and whether the proposed FRESH Act is a real solution or just another Band-Aid on a broken system.

From California's Prop 65 to a patchwork of 50 different state regulations, the episode unpacks why consistency matters and why trusting the federal government to deliver it is easier said than done.

Spoiler alert: If the feds can't get it done, third-party certifications will fill the gap. And that's not necessarily the win consumers are hoping for.

In this episode:

00:00:00 Dr. David Acheson: Who Should Own GRAS Authority?

00:07:07 Patchwork Regulation Fails Manufacturers

00:15:55 State vs. Federal Departments

00:20:00 The FRESH Act & Federal Preemption

00:22:21 The Organic Certification Parallel

00:26:52 MAHA & Food Safety Politics

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

Resources from this episode

Take a look at the article we discussed in this episode: GRAS, additives, chemicals: Who should hold the authority? By Dr. David Acheson

Food Safety Compliance Chaos: FDA Redactions, Conflicts of Interest & Mango Mayhem | Episode 165

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ If Clean Label Project ceased to exist because the federal government did their job really, really well, that would be our goal.” – Matt Regusci

“Certifications have become so watered down. They don't mean what they once did.” – 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?

🎙️ 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

_______

🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

Most conferences just recycle the same speakers on the same topics every year. Food Safety Consortium is trying to do something different, and the process behind it is more rigorous than you might expect.

In this episode of Don't Eat Poop!, Matt and Francine sit down with Rick Biros, founder of Food Safety Consortium and Food Safety Tech, to pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to build a food safety conference worth attending. From the call for abstracts to curating diverse panels to scoring speaker submissions on educational value, this is the insider scoop most attendees never get.

Spoiler alert: Great food safety conferences don't happen by accident.

In this episode:

00:00:00 What Makes the Food Safety Consortium Stand Out

00:06:42 Consortium vs. Food Safety Hazards

00:08:29 The Role of Policy in Food Safety Topics Covered

00:10:25 Speaker Selection: Abstracts, Scoring, Curation

00:16:32 The Submission Numbers

00:18:25 Preview: A Global Food Safety Audit Study

00:23:22 How Different Learning Styles Shape Conference Programming

00:27:19 Rick on Life Outside the Food Safety Conference World

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

Resources from this episode

Connect with Rick Biros here.

Take a look at our previous episodes with Rick:

• Behind the Scenes at the Food Safety Consortium with Rick Biros: Conference Culture, Compliance & Community | Episode 123
• 15 Years of Food Safety Tech: Food Safety Compliance vs Reality with Rick Biros | Episode 161

Use code POOP for 25% off registration for the Food Safety Consortium.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“How do we go to food safety conferences with the first word food and get such awful food? [...] We take great pride in serving good food.” – Rick Biros

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

_______

🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

Food safety failures don’t always start with massive outbreaks or nationwide recalls. Sometimes, they start with a bowl of homemade gumbo sitting in a grocery store display case.

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine sit down with food safety consultant and Food Safety Exchange host Michelle Wollenzien to unpack decades of retail food safety experience, convenience food risks, meal delivery disasters, food safety culture breakdowns, and why technology is moving faster than food safety compliance.

From improperly reheated meal kits to mystery gumbo in a self-service case, this episode dives deep into the real-world chaos happening behind the scenes of prepared foods, retail grocery operations, airline catering, and modern food delivery systems.

In this episode:

00:00:00 Meet Food Safety Expert Michelle Wollenzien

00:08:02 Convenience Food Safety Risks

00:14:30 The Homemade Gumbo Food Safety Incident

00:20:08 Foodborne Illness Investigations & Determining Liability

00:25:22 Food Safety Culture Is Dividing Companies

00:29:27 Technology Is Outpacing Food Safety Systems

00:33:16 Labour Shortages in Retail Systems

00:39:19 Food Safety Lessons from Living in Mexico

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

Resources from this episode

Connect with Michelle here.

Take a look at our LinkedIn Live with Michelle here.

Check out our episodes with Roger Hancock:

• Creating a Recall-Ready Food Safety Industry | Episode 42
• How the FDA Wants YOU to Fix Food Safety Recalls with Roger Hancock, CEO of Recall InfoLink | Episode 126

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“I am all on board with your innovation, great ideas, feeding the public, making it a near restaurant experience, being able to take this prepared food home or have it delivered, or however you choose to do it. But we have to keep in mind our consumers.” – Michelle Wollenzien

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

🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine dive headfirst into one of the strangest raw milk controversies they’ve seen yet: a Florida dairy selling expensive raw chocolate milk labeled as livestock feed while clearly marketing it to humans.

The hosts unpack the food safety, legal liability, and public health implications behind the “pet food loophole” that many raw milk sellers appear to use. The conversation covers everything from Listeria and E. coli risks in raw dairy to whether warning labels actually protect companies from lawsuits.

Along the way, Matt and Francine ask the question nobody expected to ask in 2026: Who exactly is buying $15 chocolate milk for livestock?

In this episode:

00:00:00 Raw Chocolate Milk Labeled “Not for Human Consumption”

00:09:03 Florida Raw Milk Labeling Loophole

00:11:34 Does a Warning Label Protect Companies from Food Safety Lawsuits?

00:18:36 Contamination Risks in Dairy Operations

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

Resources from this episode

Take a look at the TikTok we’re talking about in this episode from creator Emmy Makela: https://www.tiktok.com/@emsthegirl/video/7629027231888575774?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7608973359876458015

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“Anybody who has livestock knows that they are not providing their livestock with $14.99 half a gallon milk jugs that also have chocolate in them.” – Matt Regusci

“I wonder how many people are buying products that say not for human consumption and don't even realize it.” – 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?

🎙️ 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

🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

Another cantaloupe recall. Another round of questions about why the food industry keeps making the same mistakes — and whether the tools to fix them are already sitting on the shelf, ignored.

In this episode of Don't Eat Poop!, Francine and Matt dig into a Salmonella cantaloupe recall, the science of why cantaloupes are such a high-risk product, and a sanitizer that's been EPA- and FDA-approved for years but still can't get traction in the industry. Plus: Francine's heading to the Food Safety Summit to talk norovirus in retail, and the stories from the field are exactly what you'd expect from Don’t Eat Poop.

Spoiler alert: The solutions often exist. The problem is getting a risk-averse, relationship-driven industry to actually use them.

In this episode:

00:00:00 Novovirus in Retail

00:06:57 Cantaloupe Salmonella Recall Breakdown

00:11:58 Hypochlorous Acid: The Sanitizer the Industry is Ignoring

00:19:04 Chemical Distribution & Conflict of Interest

00:30:25 Norovirus Incidents in Grocery Stores

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

Resources from this episode

Is It Time for a “Kill Step” for Pathogens on Produce at Retail? By Eric Moorman and Hal King

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“You can't really sanitize or get rid of all the potential pathogens on the outside of a cantaloupe because of the webbed outside.” – Matt Regusci

“There's something out there that works that nobody's talking about, and there's such a resistance to this product.” – 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?

🎙️ 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

🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

If you thought chicken was the “safe” option on the menu, this episode of Don’t Eat Poop! might ruffle your feathers.

Matt and Francine dig into a bizarre (and under-the-radar) food safety incident out of Spain, where children developed allergic-like reactions not from allergens, but from biogenic amines formed due to poor cold chain management.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone in restaurant food safety, food safety training, or navigating food safety regulations. We break down the science, the risks, and what this means for foodborne illness prevention worldwide.

In this episode:

00:00:00 Get to Know Your Food Safety Podcast Hosts

00:11:00 Biogenic Amine Outbreak in Spain

00:14:47 Poor Cold Chain Management in Foodservice

00:17:56 Why Symptoms Looked Like Allergies

00:21:10 Temperature Control Matters

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

Resources from this episode

Take a look at the articles mentioned in this episode:

• Spanish scientists investigate outbreaks affecting children
• Report of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) on the risk of food poisoning due to the presence of biogenic amines in meals made from chicken meat consumed by children under 3 years of age

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“This is a food safety issue that can happen with a break in the cold chain.” – Matt Regusci

“ Spoiled-smelling meat is not the only concern. Not all bad meat stinks.” – 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?

🎙️ 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

🍽️ Francine and Matt are building a global, fun, and inclusive Food Safety Family! From the C-suite to the kitchen, they’re making safe food the norm everywhere.

👉 Follow Francine and Matt on LinkedIn for more food safety insights and updates.

What do mangoes, government redactions, and conspiracy-level blacked-out reports have in common?

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, Matt and Francine peel back the layers (and redact absolutely nothing) on a bizarre FDA Salmonella mango investigation that’s about as useful as a blank HACCP plan.

From laughably censored outbreak reports to serious concerns about food safety compliance, conflicts of interest, and transparency failures, this episode dives deep into the cracks in our food safety systems. If you’ve ever wondered how the industry is supposed to improve when critical data is hidden, or how advisory committees operate without clear disclosure rules, this one’s for you.

Spoiler alert: You can’t fix what you can’t see. And right now? There’s a lot we’re not seeing.

In this episode:

00:00:00 Food Safety Podcast Recap

00:08:22 Redacted FDA Salmonella Mango Report

00:13:04 FDA Conflict of Interest Failures

00:20:42 Still No FDA Conflict-of-interest Policy

00:23:01 Real Accountability in Food Safety Regulations

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

Resources from this episode

Take a look at the articles we discuss in this episode:

• Why does a FDA Salmonella Mango Report look like a page out of the Epstein Files?
• GAO says FDA needs to give attention to conflict of interest policies

Check out our episode with Rick Biros: 15 Years of Food Safety Tech: Food Safety Compliance vs Reality with Rick Biros | Episode 161

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“The files for the FDA look similar to the Epstein files, and the GAO is asking FDA, whatcha gonna do about conflicts of interest?” – Matt Regusci

“This is like policies and procedures. If you're not gonna implement them, don't write them.” – 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?

🎙️ 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