In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Deborah Blum, author of The Poison Squad, which chronicles the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the work of its primary advocate, Dr. Harvey Wiley. Deborah discusses her most shocking discoveries about the 19^th century diet, how the political and scientific landscape shaped food industry regulations, the role that media played in disseminating Dr. Wiley’s findings, and themes that can be observed from the events of The Poison Squad that are still relevant today.

We also spoke to Larry Keener, President and CEO of International Product Safety Consultants Inc., to get an industry professional’s point of view on the events of The Poison Squad, the evolution of food safety since that time, and the book’s themes that are still relevant today.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Conrad Choiniere, Ph.D., Director of the Office of Analytics and Outreach at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), about his work leading FDA's Toxic Elements Working Group, as well as the agency’s efforts and considerations related to the Closer to Zero initiative, which aims to reduce the health risks posed by toxic elements in the U.S. baby food supply. We also review the results of FDA's Total Diet Study (TDS) related to toxic elements in baby food samples. 

Additionally, we spoke to Kruti Ravaliya, M.S., Consumer Safety Officer in the Division of Produce Safety at FDA's CFSAN, about how FDA intends to implement Subpart E of the Produce Safety Rule—the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Proposed Rule on Agricultural Water—including the recently extended compliance dates for pre-harvest agricultural water requirements. Finally, Bob Ferguson, President of Strategic Consulting Inc., speaks about his latest Food Safety Insights column on the projects and priorities that food processors put on hold during the pandemic and are now revisiting.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Gillian Kelleher, President, and CEO of Kelleher Consultants LLC and the Chairperson of the Educational Advisory Board (EAB) for the 2023 Food Safety Summit. Gillian speaks about the importance of organizational food safety and quality (FSQ) programs, as well as how FSQ professionals and food businesses can drive positive improvement.  

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Tia Glave and Jill Stuber, seasoned food safety and quality (FSQ) consultants and the founders of Catalyst LLC., about the realities of coaching a food company through its food safety culture journey. We also discuss the ways in which FSQ leaders can drive positive change in their organizations’ food safety cultures and why the FSQ leader plays an integral role in accomplishing this goal.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Dr. Markus Lipp, Senior Food Safety Officer at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about FAO’s work in food safety amid a multitude of intersecting challenges and factors such as climate change, food security, the cultural importance of food, and countries’ economic and geographic differences.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Tim Stubbs, Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Product Research at the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy (IC), about the IC’s work in uniting the dairy industry to tackle common food safety goals through research, knowledge-sharing, practical programs, best practices, education, and other initiatives.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Dr. Charles Hofacre, the Principal at The Southern Poultry Research Group, and Dr. Bill Potter, a Food Safety Technical Advisor at Elanco Animal Health, about a multi-hurdle approach to controlling Salmonella in poultry, pre-harvest intervention strategies for pathogen contamination, and USDA’s renewed focus on Salmonella in poultry.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Marc Cwikowski, Founder and Managing Director of All Food Consulting and Co-Founder at World of Auditing, about how food companies can develop risk-based audit strategies, the importance of aligning business priorities with audit priorities, ways that food companies can maximize the value of audits, how auditing can improve traceability and transparency, achieving preparedness for supply chain challenges, and the future of food safety auditing.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interviewed professionals from the industry, regulatory, and nonprofit sectors, live from the show floor of the Food Safety Summit, which took place on May 9–12 in Rosemont, Illinois. We discussed food safety management systems, the New Era of Smarter Food Safety, recall modernization, supply chain disruptions, food fraud, and humanizing food safety through effective messaging.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we interview Joe Stout, the recipient of Food Safety Magazine’s 2022 Distinguished Service Award, on his four-decade career as a sanitarian, the myriad challenges of sanitation work, the solutions offered by hygienic design, and ways that companies can cultivate a healthy sanitation culture.