Food Safety Talk

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Food Safety Talk 63: The Great One Jul 14, 2014

Show notes

Don and Ben revert back to their old Skype issues with the perceived blame being on Ben, but it was actually Don. Don announced that there will be help for people like Ben who aren’t so good at time and attention at IAFP 2014 the infamous Merlin Mann will be there. About 0.1% of IAFP annual meeting attendees will be excited to see him - including Ben and Don. Ben mentions his excitement that Professor Dr. Donald Schaffner, PhD was name checked on Back to Work Episode 173. The first mention of The Wire comes at 12 minutes which the guys then give a shout out to Baltimore resident Manan Sharma who mentioned that that’s his favorite part of the show. In follow-up from Episode 61, friend of the show MDD says that there are not rats in Alberta Ben and Don remark while there may not be any snakes in New Zealand and Ireland (although Ben thinks that Don is thinking of potatoes) there are rats in small pockets in Alberta While Alberta has had a rat eradication program since the 1950s, a colony of Norwegian rats, of Roanoke Island proportion, was found in Medicine Hat in 2012 and 2014 Ben tells Don that he wears big pockets, because of the rats issue and on a pilgrimage to Edmonton to see a statue of The Great One his pockets were not checked. The guys then talk about a question from IAFP’s Dina (not Dinah). Dina asked the guys to discuss their thoughts on a recent JFP paper about non-intact steak cooking using temperature, flipping/turning and different cooking methods. The practical, take-home message (as dictated using Dragon Dictate that flipping and covering with a lid (which allows cooking to occur both through conduction and convection heat) and using a thermometer for all cuts of meat helps reduce risk. Ben talked a bit about some future work that his group is doing looking at mechanically tenderized beef messaging, perception and behavior- including cubed steak (which is sometimes two pieces of meat slapped together and run through the cuber- although not by wikipedia). The discussion then went towards steak eating preferences as detailed by FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver’s cadre of numbers nerds who dissect a lot of pop culture and sports questions. The guys then both talked about message variability projects they have going on. Ben’s group is looking at cook book recipes (and how the messages and instructions in the culinary world often are not evidence-based). And Don’s group is looking at messaging on handwashing signs, something that his second favorite graduate student, Dane, is undertaking. In outbreak flashback the guys talked about 1854’s Broad St. Pump cholera outbreak. Using a map and analyzing cases of human disease, John Snow, largely recognized as one of the founders of epidemiology, created a blueprint for the next generation of disease hunters. Removing the handle on the pump was recognized by ending the outbreak except that modern epi-curve analysis suggests that the outbreak was already on the decline. Ben’s favorite part was what one of his undergraduate professors, Anthony Clarke talked about in class 15 years ago: the monks in a local monastery did not get sick because they didn’t drink the water, just home brewed beer. The guys then ended the show talking about an outbreak linked to food service hamburgers made from Wolverine Packing (or Wolverine’s Packing with adamantium slicers and grinders) beef. It’s unclear whether illnesses are linked to undercooked burgers or cross contamination - although anecdotally undercooked burgers have been reported. One of Ben’s graduate student’s Ellen Thomas has been working on a project related directly to this type of product, where secret shoppers have been speaking with servers at burger-serving family style restaurants throughout the U.S. The results of the project will be shared at IAFP in Indianapolis. In after dark the guys chuckle and guffaw about Ben’s Beatles references and Time and Attention and Tony Robbins who Ben thinks is in prison. But he’s

Food Safety Talk 62: Uncomfortably Numb Jun 16, 2014

Show notes

The show opens with Don talking about his visit to the dentist right before the podcast. The conversation turns to Don's dentist and his job satisfaction, and on to other important jobs, like airline pilots. Ben then talks about his talk in Nashville about behavior change and his first visit to the the Conference for Food Protection, which evolves into a discussion of handwashing and hot air hand dryers. The outbreak flashback segment is in the parking lot this week, but a listener question from the Bob and Melinda Gates foundation is not. Before the question is answered however, disco music, video games, author Alan Moore, the movie Mystery Men, the Keith Richards biography and YYZ must all be discussed. Eventually they get around to answering Bob's question regarding recalls and discuss the difference between recalls and market withdrawals From there the discussion moves to a Hershey's soy lethicin recall in Canada, FDA's reportable food registry, a Clostridium perfringens outbreak and a recent article from The Acheson Group blog. The show ends with a Pink Floyd reference, and in the After Dark, Don discusses the hazel app on his Mac.

Food Safety Talk 61: I Needed a Semenko Jun 01, 2014

Show notes

The show opened with a long discussion of various philosophical issues relating to careers in Academia, followed by a brief diversion into gutter cleaning drones, comiXology, and the new TV show Silicon Valley. Ben shared he has been listening to Gord Downie, The Sadies, And The Conquering Sun. Downie will be familiar to FST podcast listeners as the Canadian rock musician, writer, occasional actor who is the lead singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. Don noted that he had backed the new Lee 'Scratch' Perry Album kickstarter project. In the follow up segment the guys noted that a new show noter was still needed, before moving on to a listener question from Jon Kimble about the protective effect of wine in foodborne disease outbreaks. Ben also talked about his experiences at a raw milk conference he attended in Canada. Fortunately for Ben, Dave Semenko was not needed. The Outbreak flashback segment of the show flash all the way back to the 1981 listeriosis outbreak linked to coleslaw made from cabbage fertilized with sheep manure. Ben noted that sheep were also one among many possible Listeria sources in Jensen farms outbreak, as also indicated by fashion plate and Apple guy, Dr. Lawrence Goodridge quoted in the story. Ben wanted to talk about Hep A and Tevana, when the show finally started, because he is a mall rat. This led to a discussion about Hepatitis A vaccinations for Foodservice workers. While it might not be "cost effective", it still might be the right thing to do. The discussion then turned to sous vide cooking, and a new product on the market, and Don's interactions with the reviewed.com reviewers as well as the product manufacturers in the comments. Don was less successful in leaving comments on a recent sous vide NPR blog post, but thanks to Doug, Don was able to weigh in on barfblog. Don then quizzed Ben (who is from Canada), regarding whether he now lives in the South. The show ended with a mention of the passing of noted self experimenter Seth Roberts, including the predictable reaction from hacker news. More on his cause of death has been provided on his blog, posted after FST recorded.

Food Safety Talk 60: Pour maple syrup on it May 16, 2014

Show notes

Food Safety Talk 59: You're thinking of Goldmember May 04, 2014

Show notes

Food Safety Talk 58: Where's my wallet? Apr 02, 2014

Show notes

Food Safety Talk 57: My Own Tea Mule Mar 16, 2014

Show notes

The guys started the show by sharing some family traditions including watching Jeopardy and drinking Rooibos tea. They then discussed some raw milk questions posed by raw milk producer. Don suggested that there was specific scientific evidence to answer many of them. He also wondered about the scientific basis of some of the information presented in a recent RMI webinar. Don then shared that he'll be podcast cheating again on an upcoming Raw Food Real Talk episode on cottage food. The guys then transitioned to a recent cheese related Listeriosis outbreak affecting members of the Hispanic community. While health authorities have released some information on illnesses and the product there are many questions that are still to be answered. After a false start and then covering the last part of the IAFP History, the 2000's, Ben put out a call to listeners for important outbreaks and food safety landmarks that Ben and Don could discuss in the upcoming Outbreak Flashback segment. It will be groovy. And have a disco theme. The guys then turned to pizza and Alton Brown, who Don went to see live. Alton had dropped the pizza base before cooking it and that got Don worried about what message this was sending. Ben was amused by Alton's Twitter feed and fascinated by his earlier career. While on the pizza topic, Ben found some really stretched science reporting of this research article. The press release reminded the guys of Betteridge's law of headlines. The answer is always no. The discussion of media reminded Don of this Andrew Gelman post about how to get your university press release reprinted by The Washington Post. Don concluded that the best practices for engaging people are also despicable. Ben suggested sometimes science-types need to go to where people are engaged and sort of play the same game. To quote Merlin Mann from 43 Folders: "Joining a Facebook group about creative productivity is like buying a chair about jogging." To finish off, Ben raised the issue of consumers not following label instructions, as was the case with E. coli in Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough. Ben wanted to know how consumers learn about products and how to use those products. In the after dark the guys covered Picturelife, and Siri not having what Don was looking for, which he posted on Facebook.

Food Safety Talk 56: Damned hard to make safe food Feb 16, 2014

Show notes

The guys started the show following up on the previous episode, the write up on David Gumpert's website and the comments on the Internet. Theresa Lam also reached out wanting to know more about the risks associated with bootleg versus regulated raw milk. Despite raw milk drinker's hatred of epidemiologists, Don confessed that maybe he wants to be an epidemiologist, while Ben noted that he has admired them ever since the Jalapeno Saintpaul outbreak. Don also praised Petran, White and Hedberg, for their efforts to identify what items in a restaurant inspection were predictive of the possibility of an outbreak, and Ben's comments to USA Today on the topic. A quick round of "I think you're thinking of" with Howard Dean, and Roger Dean, not to be confused with Roger Dean followed. The guys then hopped back in time with the whizzinator before moving on to food storage mistakes and tortilla safety as prompted by Listener John Kimble. The guys covered the 1990's in the IAFP history segment, which also featured a discussion of 808, the Beastie Boys and the speed of Joe Walsh's Maserati. Ben identified the 1990's with the adoption of PFGE and rapid methods, while Don though the Mega Regs characterized the time. Ben recalled a recent discussion with Cathy Cutter about meat processing and how HACCP shaped other food safety regulations. The discussion then turned to Norovirus, prompted by a couple of recent noro outbreaks on the "Explorer of the Seas" and the Caribbean Princess, the boat that Chris Gunter boarded. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't find out whether the hand sanitizer on the ship was the one that works, though he was assured that it was "alcohol based". Ben wrapped up the noro discussion with the MoChunk resort outbreak. The guys talked about Netflix in the short after dark.

Food Safety Talk 55: Damn Ignorant PhDs Feb 09, 2014

Show notes

The guys started the show with a teaser about a guest later in the show and reminisced about past guests Mike Batz, Chris Gunter, Michelle Danyluk and the infamous Andreas Kiermeier. The guys then followed up on cashew cheese (FST 53) and how to reach food entrepreneurs about hazards an risk management and resources like NECFE or the NMPAN. The guys then wondered about selling food (unregulated) over the Internet, possibly for Bitcoin, and the Swiss Cheese Pervert. And Don remembered Mary's name. Then David Gumpert (The Complete Patient) came onto the show. David has written about raw milk and food rights including "The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle over Food Rights" and "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights: The Escalating Battle Over Who Decides What We Eat". The guys invited David to come on the show as a follow-up to FST 53, Raw Milk Hampsterdam, and David's critique of it. For audiences most interested in raw milk topics, the conversation with David begins at 25:30. Discussion topics the group touched on included raw milk and consumer choice, including the Raw Milk Institute, David's follow-up post and the Real Food Real Talk - Raw Milk Revealed, the Minnesota study, CDC's Estimation Methods and Attribution of Foodborne Illness, FDA's raw milk risk assessment and failure to attend an IAFP sponsored raw milk meeting. In the after dark, which begins around 1:30:00, Don and Ben talked about Evernote, Habits, Shackelton Death or Glory, and Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Food Safety Talk 54: Rubber Dingus Jan 25, 2014

Show notes

The show started with Don sharing his recent [Systematic](http://5by5.tv/systematic/76) experience. Ben then wanted some help with a prevalence calculation, as prompted by his undergraduate lecturer [Ronald Brooks](http://www.uoguelph.ca/ib/people/faculty/brooks.shtml). The guys then reminisced about their high school teachers before turning on the freezing weather and frozen food, thanks to [AFFI-CON 2014](http://afficon.affi.org/). In answer to a listener question on the 4-hour rule, Don shared his [recent JFP paper](http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2013/00000076/00000006/art00023). Similar calculations (also by Don) have been used by a Conference for Food Protection (CFP) committee to develop guidance on lack of temperature control during emergency situations. That guidance will be presented as part of the [2014 CFP](http://www.foodprotect.org/). Thanks to the book ["I Wear the Black Hat"](http://www.amazon.com/Wear-Black-Hat-Grappling-Villains/dp/1439184496), Ben has really gotten back into heavy metal, especially [Metallica](https://www.metallica.com/), while Don's been re-reading [The Sandman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(Vertigo)). This got the guys into a discussion of [DC Comics](http://www.dccomics.com/) versus [Marvel Comics](http://marvel.com/). In the IAFP History segment the guys covered the 1980's, which saw the introduction of new technologies, like vacuum packaging and irradiation, the emergence of new pathogens, such as [*E. coli* O157:H7](http://www.about-ecoli.com/), [*Listeria monocytogenes*](http://www.about-listeria.com/) and [*Campylobacter*](http://www.about-campylobacter.com/), as well as [zero tolerance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_tolerance_(trade)). The guys then speculated about the [*Salmonella* Stanley outbreak linked to raw cashew cheese](http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/stanley-01-14/index.html), before turning their attention to the [Fox and Donkey meat scandal in China](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/print/2014/01/chinas-latest-food-scandal-fox-tainted-donkey-meat/282776/) and the [potential zoonotic food safety risks associated with foxes](http://www.vef.unizg.hr/vetarhiv/papers/2006-76-7-10.pdf). Ben then got a buzz from the [12 Surprising things you can make with a coffee pot](http://www.buzzfeed.com/arielknutson/surprising-things-you-can-make-with-a-coffee-pot), because it reminded of his college days. He's considering including the [poaching chicken in a coffee maker](http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/08/macgyver-chef-poached-chicken-and-couscous-in-a-coffee-maker/) as part of the dishwasher cooking research project discussed on earlier episodes. While there was plenty of wacky stuff on the interwebs over the holidays, [this Wall Street Journal article about a frog in a Pret A Manger salad](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/12/30/dead-frog-found-in-pret-a-manger-salad/) got Don all jumpy about Pret A Manger's knowledge about pesticides and food safety. The guys finished the show discussing the Food Safety News article on "[How to Break a Foodborne Illness Story](http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/01/publishers-platform-how-to-break-a-foodborne-illness-story/)." In the after dark, Ben shared his work habits and this turned into a discussion of Don and Ben's favourite [Starbucks](http://www.starbucks.com/). The guys then shared some movies and TV shows they like, including [Saving Mr Banks](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140373/), [American Hustle](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800241/?ref_%3Dfn_al_tt_1), [Back to the Future](http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/back-to-the-future-25th-anniversary-edition/) (I, II and III), [Honey, I shrunk the Kids](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097523/), [Despicable me](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323594/), [Call the Midwife](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_the_Midwife) and [Last Tango in Halifax](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2216156/).

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