Don't Eat Poop! A Food Safety Podcast

🍽️ 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 are once again trying to convince you not to kill your loved ones over the holidays. Since last year's episode may not have been enough, they're back this year with ways to protect your family from foodborne illness this holiday season.Tune in to a chaotic episode that's full of life and gratitude, our hosts' unique sense of humor in full force, a boatload of pre-travel anxiety, and some crazy food safety stories.Disclaimer: If you're a social worker working with CPS or foster care and you end up listening to this, please do not take what Matt's saying at face value. He is indeed joking and/or being sarcastic.In this episode:0:00:00 Holiday plans and flying with a family of 150:11:14 A rough year and a shout-out from Francine0:13:05 Thermometers, wipes, and sleeping aids0:17:02 Holiday food safety fails and how to avoid themDisclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.Resources from this episodeTo learn more about the woman who tried to kill her ex’s family with Beef Wellington, catch up with Episode 38 | Don’t Cook Salmon in the Dishwasher!Want to read the story about the turkey that flew during Thanksgiving and other captivating, crazy food safety stories? Make sure to check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen?Read our complete guide on How to Not Kill Your Family Over the Holidays.Noteworthy quotes from this episode“ I bet that stuffing was absolutely amazing, sitting there permeating in all the juices overnight. [...] So, you taste all the other flavors, but not salmonella. You taste all the other flavors coming back up again after you get salmonella.” – Matt Regusci“ I got the flu a lot at Thanksgiving when I was a kid. [...] When I say the flu, we all know the flu now isn't vomiting and diarrhea.” – Francine L ShawWe 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 are talking about a bill introduced to the Senate earlier this year, the “Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions Act of 2025.”This DIRECT Act would allow direct-to-consumer online sales of state-inspected meat and poultry across state lines.Tune in as our hosts unpack the proposed legislative changes, the potential benefits, and what it would mean for the USDA, as well as the possible food safety risks, traceability issues, and other challenges.In this episode:0:06:17 Breaking down the DIRECT Act0:14:33 Will traceability get better?0:17:37 USDA vs. State inspections and exemptions0:23:33 Will enforcement be stronger?27:05 The big issue with the current consolidation30:5 Where our meat imports come fromDisclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.Resources from this episodeRead the Food Safety News article Matt and Francine refer to in this episode.Hear the new and exciting things over at Food Safety News on Episode 143.Catch up with the Pre-Made Pasta Meals Listeria outbreak with Episode 141.Learn all about how fast the chickens fly at a poultry plant with Episode 110, as well as how upset the poultry industry is over a salmonella-filled report with Episode 144.Noteworthy quotes from this episode“This is a chink against not just the USDA's armor of the monopoly, but it's also a chink against the top meat producers in their monopoly armor. They don't want small meat companies competing against them. Not at all.” – Matt Regusci“ I'm all about helping the smaller farmers, the smaller businesses. I am all about doing whatever we can do to support them. I live in an area that that is what we are. But we need to make sure that we do it safely.” – Francine L ShawWe 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 are, unfortunately, talking once more about poultry and salmonella.They are unpacking the concerning Farm Forward Salmonella and Foodborne Disease Report released in October 2025. The results showed elevated levels of salmonella contamination in grocery store poultry samples.Tune in to discover why poultry-related salmonella infections persist in the US, including how USDA standards fall short, the industry pushback, and what can be done to reverse this situation.In this episode:0:00:00 The report that found salmonella in poultry0:09:47 The unmet USDA salmonella contamination limits0:11:58 How poultry should follow other industries' standards0:17:56 Lessons from the US beef industry and the EU0:22:09 The safe temperature to cook poultryDisclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.Resources from this episodeRead the LA Times article Matt and Francine refer to in this episode and the original Farm Forward Report.Francine's LinkedIn Post with a picture of turkey packaging that showed improper handling procedures. Just in case you need a refresher on how to safely handle poultry, catch up with Episode 73 | Don’t Wash Your Chicken, Seriously.Watch Bill Marler and Dr. Darin Detwiler’s Emmy award-winning documentary, Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food.Noteworthy quotes from this episode“ While I'm not for ending commercial chicken farming, I am for ending salmonella in one-third or over 400,000 of the cases annually in consumers. You can be for commercial farming and also against poisoning people.” – Matt Regusci“ For the industry to take this attitude is just, I believe, irresponsible on their part. It shows, in my opinion, just a total lack of disregard for consumers because they've got the ability to correct it. They're choosing not to [deal with salmonella].” – Francine L ShawWe 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 are joined by two special guests: Bill Marler, who you already know as the nation's leading foodborne illness attorney, and his wonderful son-in-law, Peter Gustafson.But this isn't a family reunion; they are here to share some very exciting news about Food Safety News (FSN), the online newspaper that has been keeping everyone who cares about the safety of our food supply informed about critical food safety concerns for the past 16 years.For all those years, Bill alone funded the publication, but that is not sustainable. Thankfully, Peter recently joined the team as a Fractional Executive Director of FSN, and they're figuring out how to change that.Tune in to discover the future of FSN and the changes that will allow it to not only outlast Bill, but to take the food safety journalism we know and love to the next level.In this episode:0:05:58 The history and evolution of FSN0:11:47 The importance of making FSN self-sustaining0:19:48 The 1st solution: Google Ads and nonprofit status0:22:50 The age of AI and the need for a new solution0:26:27 What the new FSN+ membership will look like0:31:43 Becoming sustainable to go above and beyondResources from this episodeBe one of the first to become an FSN+ member and lock in the founding member pricing at foodsafetynews.com/membership. Read some deep Bill Marler angst in the Marler Blog.Read Francine's opinion pieces in Food Safety News through the years.Check out the Food Safety News Merch Store.Catch up with past Bill Marler Don't Eat Poop! episodes:Episode 17Episode 18Bonus EpisodeEpisode 92Episode 100Episode 129Noteworthy quotes from this episode“ It's not a desire to cut back. It's a desire to build. It's a desire to make something sustainable, better, and more useful for the food safety public.” – Bill Marler“I think this year we're averaging just over 400,000 page views per month, whereas last year we averaged 1.6 million pages per month [...] So as you can imagine, that [FSN's ad] revenue came down quite a bit.” – Peter GustafsonWe 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 Bill, Peter, 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 are joined by Melody Ge, the Founder of Women in Food Safety and Chief Technical Officer at EAGLE Certification Group, straight from the Food Safety Consortium 2025.They've been wanting to have Melody on the show for years, and it's finally worked out. There's a cumulative 70 years of experience among them in this episode, and you'll hear the stories that come along with it.Learn more about the 5-year-old Women in Food Safety community, which has recently become a full-fledged nonprofit. Get the lay of the land in the food safety auditing world, learn what's missing, and discover how Melody, who has been both an auditor and an auditee, and her team at EAGLE are working to change that reality.In this episode:0:00:00 Melody’s 20-year career path0:04:04 Growing Women in Food Safety0:07:40 The biggest challenge for food safety pros0:12:43 Food safety audit industry issues0:15:53 Solutions for auditing, and the industry's future0:31:45 How to help pipeline future good auditors0:40:52 Melody's Food Safety Consortium reflectionsDisclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.Resources from this episodeLearn more about and join the Women in Food Safety through their LinkedIn or website.Noteworthy quotes from this episode“ Regardless, it's either the auditee or the auditor. We all want food safety. This is a common goal, and I never doubted that before. It's the approach and the position we're in [that are] very different. So, how can we help each other and make the most value out of it?” – Melody GeWe 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 Melody, 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