Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole

On the Road - Salinas

In this special “On the Road” edition of Confessions of a Food Safety A-Hole, Darin and Gennette head north on California’s 101 toward Salinas for the Western Food Safety Conference: recording live from the car, and even the Renaissance Fair along the way.  What starts as a road trip becomes a deeper conversation about food safety leadership, storytelling, state-by-state policy inconsistencies, and the people behind the systems that protect our food supply. Darin reflects on what it really means to lead in food safety beyond compliance checklists and regulations, while Gennette explores the human side of conferences, farming culture, and the sensory experience of being surrounded by the land that feeds us.  Along the way, they discuss: *  Why food safety standards can vary dramatically depending on your zip code  *  The challenge of leadership during recalls and public scrutiny  *  What composting, storytelling, and produce farming unexpectedly have in common  *  Why conferences need more authentic storytelling—and fewer PowerPoint slides  *  The surprisingly robust food safety operations at a Renaissance Fair  Plus: artichokes, loaded baked potatoes, recall controversies, and a live “Ren Fair Report.” This episode is part travelogue, part industry debrief, and part meditation on why food safety is never just about policy; it’s about people.

The Double Life of Social Media

Social media has a food safety problem; and it’s not subtle. In this episode of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Darin and Gennette dig into the weird, messy reality of how people decide what’s “safe” to eat based on not the most credible person but the most entertaining. From viral “life hacks” that make you question humanity…to influencers selling unsafe products…to commenters who would rather argue than learn…we discuss the double life of social media: where it can educate or mislead at scale. And somewhere in the middle? A food safety professional trying to save lives… and getting called an a**hole for it. If you’ve ever trusted a TikTok recipe, rage-commented on a video, or wondered why people ignore actual science this episode is for you. Shout out to the Don't Eat Poop Podcast for their take on food safety and social media in April. https://dont-eat-poop.transistor.fm/episodes/food-safety-compliance-in-home-kitchens-the-hidden-risks-of-social-media-food-businesses-episode-162 [https://dont-eat-poop.transistor.fm/episodes/food-safety-compliance-in-home-kitchens-the-hidden-risks-of-social-media-food-businesses-episode-162] Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole is sponsored by Eagle Protect, the only glove company that third-party tests its gloves because “trust us” isn’t a food safety strategy. Learn more at www.eagleprotect.com [http://www.eagleprotect.com] and Safeguard What Matters.

The Lasagna Theory of Food Safety

⚠️ Spoiler Alert This episode contains major spoilers for the AppleTV show Pluribus. If you haven’t watched it yet and want to go in blind, you may want to pause on listening to this episode and come back later. In Episode 11 of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Gennette challenges Darin to unpack the noticeable shift in his writing and what’s driving it. What started as personal storytelling has evolved into something sharper: pattern recognition turned real-time accountability. He’s no longer just reflecting on what’s happened, he’s naming behaviors and leadership decisions as they unfold. And the change isn’t just in what he writes, but how he writes it: more personal, more grounded, and more willing to use everyday moments to expose much bigger systemic failures. From there, the conversation digs into what Darin calls his “lasagna theory” of food safety [science, policy, leadership, behavior, communication] all layered together and impossible to separate once they’re in motion. Beneath it all is a harder, more uncomfortable question: how do you make truth travel faster than what’s sensational? This episode sits in that tension between urgency and responsibility, speed and precision and pushes toward something deeper than awareness: making the right conversations impossible to ignore. Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole is sponsored by Eagle Protect, the only glove company that third-party tests its gloves because “trust us” isn’t a food safety strategy. Learn more at www.eagleprotect.com [http://www.eagleprotect.com] and Safeguard What Matters. * Detwiler, D. (2026, April 2). “Do you recall this? The 1906 parallel: History repeating Itself.” Food Safety News. Available online at: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2026/04/do-you-recall-this/ [https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2026/04/do-you-recall-this/] * Detwiler, D. (2026, March 19). “Food Safety Leadership Must Begin Before People Die.” QA Magazine. Available online at: https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/article/food-safety-leadership-must-begin-before-people-die/ [https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/article/food-safety-leadership-must-begin-before-people-die/] * Detwiler, D. (2026, January 22). “‘Pluribus,’ Complacency and the Reluctant Steward.” QA Magazine. Available online at: https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/article/pluribus-complacency-and-the-reluctant-steward/ [https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/article/pluribus-complacency-and-the-reluctant-steward/]

When No One’s Watching (Except the A**hole on a Morning Walk)

A morning walk. A stack of food deliveries left on a curb. No one around. And over the course of a few days, that realization that something about it isn’t right. In this episode, we follow a thread, one that starts at curbside deliveries and missing accountability and moves into the parallels between failures in food safety and a 1947 Arthur Miller play. What starts as an observation turns into a series of conversations; with a restaurant, a farm, a health department, and a distributor and what emerges is less about one mistake and more about the space in between. The place where responsibility gets blurry, communication breaks down, and accountability becomes… negotiable. From there, the conversation shifts into something bigger. After seeing a production of All My Sons, Gennette and Darin found themselves sitting with the same questions the play wrestles with, denial, responsibility, the stories people tell themselves to make their decisions feel acceptable, even when the consequences are anything but. And once you see those parallels, it’s hard to unsee them.

How Rare is Real Accountability

When it comes to failures in food safety, accountability isn’t just legal; it’s cultural, ethical, and deeply personal. Fines get paid. Headlines fade. But is anyone really held accountable? In this episode Darin and Gennette are joined by Bill Marler for a raw, honest conversation about economic penalties, prison sentences, public health secrecy, and the culture of “it wasn’t me.” We talk about insulating executives, the power of peer pressure, and why true accountability requires more than legal strategy; it requires integrity. If food safety is about protecting every plate, this episode asks who’s protecting the truth. This candid conversation is sobering yet still holds the optimism of possibility. In this episode we discuss: • Why real criminal trials are rare • How fines fail to shift behavior • The problem of regulatory “insulation” • The role of peer pressure in leadership • Why food safety culture begins with moral courage