Food Safety Talk 136: Unknown Puppy Exposure

This show opens with Ben talking about his experiences at a recent "invitation only" meeting with Sonny Perdue (and 100 of his closest friends) and how he (Ben) almost got arrested for doing research. Don counters with his appearance on the Do By Friday podcast to talk about Sous Vide-ing shoes and bras, and more. The guys respond to listener feedback on unclear coffee recall notices, and donating expired foods. The discussion turns to junk science, and puppy-borne disease before wrapping on naming beers and pubs by neural network.

Show notes so you can follow along at home:

• Sonny Perdue
• CRISPR
• Dr. Richard Linton
• USDA, Risk Assessment & Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Agricultural Communications Major, Auburn University
• FSIS Mass Media Campaign Plan
• Loitering
• Fortunate Son, Do By Friday podcast
• How to Make Mind-Blowingly Delicious Burgers with Sous Vide - YouTube
• Food Safety Talk 85: I'm the Jerky Police (with Dan Benjamin)
• Food Safety Talk 79: You’re Into Botulism Country (with Merlin Mann)
• Death Wish Nitro: Safety Recall – Death Wish Coffee Company
• A Weeknight Meal That Needs No Introduction - The New York Times
• Ewen Todd
• Food Waste : ReFED | Rethink Food Waste
• Debra Palmer, Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers SEBS)
• Transfer of Escherichia Coli to Lemons Slices and Ice during Handling
• Canadian Center of Science and Education FAQs
• Multistate Outbreak of Multidrug-Resistant Campylobacter Infections Linked to Contact with Pet Store Puppies
• Trendy beer names, invented by neural network
• Don’t use a neural network to name your next pub

Food Safety Talk 136: Unknown Puppy Exposure

Don Schaffner and Ben Chapman

Food Safety Talk 43: I'm Sorry I Smeared Poo

Don is now a VIP in Brazil, at least as measured by Internet speed, while Ben was trying to get some grad students onto the interwebs. The guys then talked a bit about pop culture and follow up, including how John Oliver is stepping into 'The Daily Show’, Don’s TiVo usage, Adventure Time on Netflix and Poop and Produce. The guys felt a little challenged by their rapid recording schedule, having only recorded a show a few days ago, and syncing their notes for the show using Dropbox. Don shared his podcast equipment challenges and some of his São Paulo photos (such as this, this and this). Ben shared his own peaceful Sunday morning experiences and the awesome Australian Laborastory.

In the Bug Trivia segment the guys covered Trichinella spiralis. This little nematode is also known as the ‘pork worm’ though it is no longer commonly found in pork in developed countries. Ben likes this little critter and uses it to illustrate great public health communications that resulted in pork generally being cooked overly well. And Don was proud of the small role he played in getting the safe cooking temperature changed for chicken.

The guys then shifted from overcooked pork to undercooked beef burgers. Ben shared some of the work his summer students were doing on ordering burgers and the risk information that is provided by serving staff. Don described how he would calculate the risk of illness from consuming a burger that was cooked to 145°F (62.7°C), something that the inquisitive Marge Perry was interested in.

Ben noted that the USDA was going to implement a labeling rule for mechanically tenderized meat and the guys were happy to take the credit for this change. But they were the disappointed by other food safety failures going on around the country, such as the large outbreak related to Firefly restaurant. The guys seriously question the food safety practices at Firefly given the large number of foods associated with the outbreak. But applause went to the public health folks for being very quick in releasing the outbreak investigation reports.

Food Safety Talk 43: I'm Sorry I Smeared Poo

Don Schaffner and Ben Chapman

Food Safety Talk 37: Inoculating the Plane

The guys started with some follow up on The Wire, The Newsroom, what colored food does to your poop, Mike Batz’ link to Craig Goldwyn’s Huffington Post article on sprouts, T. gondii in Romanian animals, and F’ed up.

Aaron’s email then prompted a discussion about Plague Inc., the CDC’s interest in it and CDC’s own game Solve the Outbreak. The guys were impressed by how progressive the CDC is in terms of social media and new ways of engaging the public.

Don then provided some info about HDScores, a company that plans to make Restaurant Inspection Scores from 3100 jurisdictions from the US, Canada and UK widely available. This prompted a discussion about making restaurant scores available to the public in an interpretable way.

Ben shared his experiences from a recent trip to Calgary, where his 4 year old son Jack got sick, possibly with Norovirus. Ben was fascinated by Delta Airlines’ approach of dealing with the vomit problem, which involved plastic bags to contain the risk and coffee pods to manage the smell. Don was familiar with the approach thanks to Roderick on the Line. Ben didn’t agree with Delta’s decision to take them off plane first (thus inoculating the plane).  It reminded him of two different articles. Both Don and Ben were glad Delta had a plan, even if they didn’t quite agree with the whole plan.

Don then wanted to ask Ben about a Meatingplace article by Richard Raymond entitled Is our food safer than five years ago? (free registration needed to read). Ben explained why he didn’t agree with Richard’s arguments. Don agreed and asked aloud about conspiracy theories, not dissimilar from those surrounding New Coke.

Don then wanted get Ben’s take on the IFT’s March 2013 media update. In fact both Ben and Don thought that these updates were way over the top and it reminded them of "The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons” and Doug Powell’s comment on Barfblog “I'm immediately suspicious of people … who say trust me.” Ben especially didn’t like that organizations say “trust us” and without telling people what the risks are and why they should be trusted. The discussion of food processing reminded Don of Richard Wrangham’s great book "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.”

The last thing on Ben’s agenda was Doug’s comparison between the porn industry and the food industry, which had resulted in a fair bit of backlash against the legendary Doug. Ben noted that Doug’s point was how the two industries differed in how they manage the risks, which people missed. And boy… you mention porn and people get excited.

Food Safety Talk 37: Inoculating the Plane

Don Schaffner and Ben Chapman