Filtering by Tag: Coffee

Food Safety Talk 216: Not a Shoeborne Disease

Added on July 24, 2020 by Don Schaffner.

The podcast opens (as it usually does) with a discussion of Skype and podcasting. Ben quickly moves to a discussion of his perfected coffee receipe with a teaser regarding the details to come on Twitter later. Ben updates the podcast on his latest purchase, while Don just wants an Anthony Fauci bobblehead. Don mentions a recent guest appearance on another podcast before the guys launch into yet another discussion of the possibility of COVID-19 being transmitted by food (spoiler alert, probably not). The guys then segue into a discussion of an ongoing Salmonella outbreak, not yet linked to a vehicle. Ben asked Don about his opinion on 3-D printed chicken nuggets, and the show wraps up with a discussion of the safety regarding black garlic.

Food Safety Talk 212: Air Bunnies

Added on June 1, 2020 by Don Schaffner.

Don and Ben welcome guest Andrew Clarke to the podcast. Andrew previously made a very short guest appearance in episode 211, although he sounded like Dark Vader. The show opens with Andrew talking his company, Loblaws. Ben quickly steers the conversation to coffee before everyone gets congratulated for all of their awards. Ben once again talks about fanny floating in his hometown in an effort to explain why he's bad at drink tickets, and he also blames Renee. The food safety talk returns as Andrew talks about GFSI and food safety culture, which morphs into COVID-19 talk, masks and risk reduction for risk both real and imagined. Andrew ends of the show with a tantalizing tea teaser for next time.

Food Safety Talk 80: Literally the hummus I'm eating

Added on September 19, 2015 by Don Schaffner.

The show opens with a discussion of Don's mic stand and quickly segues into "Linda's Famous Cigar Story", and Ben's annual pollen throat. After a discussion of their various ailments, Don wishes Ben an almost 37th birthday.

Ben is currently expecting a new macbook, which was discussed on Episode 116 of the Talk Show. Don shares his recent experiences looking at Apple Watch in the Apple Store, and his preference for the Milanese Loop and his new burr grinder and aeropress.

When the talk turns to food safety, Ben talks about his work with Family & Consumer Sciences in North Carolina, (called Family and Community Health Sciences at Rutgers University) and how Ben has recently changed his training practices from classroom lecture to supermarket and restaurant inspection field trips based on inspiration from Dara Bloom.

This inspires Don to talk about the work he's doing to help documentary film makers doing a story on shelf life dating of foods especially milk. Ben shares some of the myths circulating about expired milk including this bogus article from Livestrong, and the work he's doing on expired food and food pantries.

From there the discussion moves to other shelf life myths including the egg float or shake tests, and why they are bogus, as well as places to go for good egg information, because someone on the Internet will always be wrong.

The discussion turns to recalled hummus recall messaging and Ben's post hockey snacking tips.

As the guys wrap up the show they briefly talk about Blue Bell ice cream and the doses of Listeria that might have made people sick and the future of food safety given the advances in molecular biology, clinical microbiology and whole genome sequencing. Ben shares some final thoughts on Salmonella in spices and how whole genome sequencing might impact that industry too.

In the brief after dark, Ben and Don talk about yoga, and getting healthy, the Turing Test, and the new Star Wars movie trailer.

Food Safety Talk 76: Get 'em really hot

Added on May 14, 2015 by Ben Chapman.

This episode starts with a discussion of Ben’s taste in music, and then quickly moves into documentaries. Ben recently watched Jodorowsky’s Dune, on Don’s recommendation. This documentary has some ‘artful nudity’ that leads to a discussion of perverts on airplanes and the appropriateness of reading material such as Fifty Shades of Grey while crammed into an airplane seat. The conversation naturally transitioned into a discussion of microphone stands and coffee. Ben notes that owning a Nespresso machine has changed his life; he ranks it among his top 10 life changing things (including his wife and children). The guys then discuss other pop-culture topics including Deflate-Gate and TV shows The Affair, Portlandia (which had an episode satirizing raw milk), and Garfunkel and Oates. Note that Portlandia is required viewing before attending IAFP 2015 in Portland this summer

Ben leads off the actual food safety talk by mentioning sprouts and the number of outbreaks associated with them. The guys then discuss experiments to validate sprout cooking processes including charred bean sprouts. Ben then brings up the idea of baking cookies in a car and a visit from Linda Harris (who now downloads and listens). From there the talk turns to pathogen reduction validations for baking processes spurred by the Wegmans recall of baked fruit desserts last summer, presumably because they contained peaches recalled for Listeria.

The FDA’s Reportable Food Registry, along with CDC whole genome sequencing of pathogens, is enabling more illnesses to be linked to products, as seen in Salmonella Braenderup linked to nut butter. Ben predicts more businesses will have to issue recalls because of validation issues, and the investigations that accompany these recalls will isolate pathogens from within facilities that can be linked to other illnesses which have occurred over months and years prior.

The discussion then turns to the very bad blizzard that New Jersey never had. Don discusses the similarities between the models for weather forecasting and models in food safety. Both situations have consequences for over or under reacting; both present risk management and risk communication difficulties.

A tweet from The New Yorker made Don mad: Bill Marler may be all that stands between you and Salmonella. This resulted in Don tweeting back to The New Yorker. Ben mentioned it was probably just Betteridge’s Law of Headlines. Bill Marler is probably not all that stands between you and Salmonella; as there are a few more people trying to do the right thing. The guys then go on to discuss how Marler and Caroline Smith DeWaal, a lawyer with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, have become controversial but generally respected food safety personalities over the years.

Don recently was quoted in an article about the safety of various cuts of meat (and Barfblogged here). Don and Ben were so happy Don was quoted correctly, they were able to ‘ding’ their podcast bell; a auditory high-five.

Pork has a reputation for being dangerous but decreases in the prevalence of Trichinella and Americans tendency to overcook pork have reduced the actual risk, so Ben wanted to discuss a recent MMWR Trichinellosis report. Don mentions ‘The Batz Report’ which determined the top 10 pathogen-food combinations with the greatest burden in public health. This led to a discussion of sample size, detection limits, consumption rates, and risk messaging, leading to the conclusion that cultural practices in food preparation adds complexity to the determination of risk.

Food Safety Talk 33: Fresh Produce Punk Rock Hippieness

Added on February 7, 2013 by Don Schaffner.

Don starts by battling Skype again while Ben gets organized. The guys shared their favorite Starbucks coffee orders, which Don takes to go in his Marco-approved ™ Contigo travel mug. While these mugs can be challenging to wash, the guys agreed that washing them (or other dishes) in the bathroom was never a good idea. Even John Gruber knows that storing dishes in the bathroom is a bad idea, as he pointed out in a recent episode of The Talk Show. Ben then went into a coffee-fuelled rant about Getting Things Done, his favorite Canadian TV series ‘The Newsroom’, The Lumineers, Bad Religion and The Wire’s Stringer Bell. Don countered with Fat Boy Slim, the Luther, Bramwell, Ripper Street, and Transmetropolitan.

After a shout-out to Renee Boyer’s Food Safety class at Virginia Tech they talked about listener Bridgette’s link to “Dear Abby - Changing baby on eatery table takes the cake” and her comment that perhaps that common sense isn’t that common at all.

Next on the agenda was a discussion of the recent CDC report on foodborne disease attribution and how fresh produce is associated with greatest amount of foodborne illness, while poultry is linked to the greatest number of deaths. Don explained how the MDP’s retail sampling results match up reasonably well with actual illness estimates, according to his crude risk assessment. Ben was looking for information on what people could do to reduce the risks, as Don recently shared on WebMD. Ben was also surprise by the amount of deaths associated with norovirus (shown in the Technical Appendix 1 of the CDC report), the majority of which are associated with nursing homes. As the guys dug deeper into the results they unearthed more questions than answers and they cautioned against blindly trusting data. As Don learned from reading Chumbawuba liner notes.

Ben and Don then discussed the recent Food Safety News article “Does The “No Illnesses” Language Belong in Recall Notices?” and whether the wording impacts on how consumers react.

The focus then turned to the FSIS “Let's Talk Chicken” podcast. The guys found the scripted nature very difficult to connect with. Instead they found CDC’s approach in “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse” much more engaging. Don felt that passion was important in podcasting and cited the Obsession times Voice talk by Merlin Mann and John Gruber at SXSW. Don also noted that he listens to Neutral, and his new favorite podcast, for the voice, and not the content.

In the after dark the guys chatted about using American Apparel for making T-shirts, creating Food Safety Talk Decals, iPads, Ben’s hockey obsession and 2 Little Superheroes.

Food Safety Talk 33: Fresh Produce and Punk Rock Hippieness

Food Safety Talk 17: Blood, Sugar, Nakaochi Scrape, Magik

Added on May 9, 2012 by Ben Chapman.

Don and Ben talk about bands that usually don't suck (but sometimes do), alternatives to conferences where the audience is talked at (although that's not always bad) and salmonellosis linked to meat scraped from the backbone of tuna.

Ben's favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers album, which he was listening to prior to the recording.
One of Don's new listens (and a guy from Canada, whom, of course, Ben knows - because everyone in Canada knows each other): Jim Dalrymple/The Loop.
One of those bands who cranks out good radio singles but their albums have been disappointing to the dudes.
Sometimes cheeses from Quebec have food safety issues.
Ben's drug of choice, the venti triple latte.
Food safety summit, where Ben was prior to the podcast.
Conference for Food Protection, Where Don was prior to the podcast.
David Tharp, the Tupac of food safety.
Ben knows a roundtable when he sees one, just like pornography.
A talk Ben gave via Skype.
What people who view or give webinars might look like.
CDC report of Salmonella in sushi product-linked outbreak investigation.
Moon Marine USA Corp's FDA recall.
Nakaochi scrape, what some have called tuna's pink slime.
Ben's food safety infosheet on the sushi outbreak (that Don so graciously reviewed).
Sushi eaters rejoice, slime from india (from barfblog).
An outbreak where a tiny bit of contamination became a big issue, spreading from a central location.
Mike Doyle who doesn't eat bagged lettuce, and his big purple teal gloves.
Dried spices, at some point all have been on a mule somewhere.
Bumblefish Sushi sent a letter to Rutgers that the guys thought was good.
Where Ben and Don said that supplier names eventually come out (here or here).
Where fixing the "when and how to go public" goes.
What the food supply chain might look like.
In the post-show, Don and Ben figure out how to create a social media food safety conference. They decided they would get one of these (or these).
4 day throwaway from UNL.

Food Safety Talk 17: Blood, Sugar, Nakaochi Scrape, Magik