Smarter Food Safety

The Return of Screwworm - Is the US Food System Ready?

The return of New World Screwworm has raised important questions about the resilience of the U.S. food system. In this episode of the Smarter Food Safety podcast, Dr. Mindy Brashears, U.S. Under Secretary for Food Safety at the USDA, returns to discuss what recent Screwworm cases mean for food safety professionals.  Although not a traditional food safety issue, the parasite highlights the critical connections between animal health, food security, surveillance, biosecurity, and national preparedness. Dr. Brashears explains how USDA is responding, the science behind sterile fly technology, and why protecting America's food supply requires a One Health approach that extends far beyond foodborne pathogens. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

Breaking News, Broken Trust: The Media's Role in Food Safety (Mainstream Media Perspective)

When a food safety crisis unfolds, journalists help shape how the public understands risk, responsibility, and trust. Over the next two episodes of the Smarter Food Safety podcast, in a two-part series, Frank Yiannas sits down with two different reporters, one representing mainstream media and another reporter from inside the beltway for two different perspectives. In part one, Frank is joined by Brenda Goodman, Senior Health News Writer at CNN, to explore how food safety stories become national news. They discuss what makes a recall newsworthy, the challenges of reporting accurately in an era of misinformation, the importance of local public health and investigative journalism, and why food safety professionals should engage with reporters before a crisis occurs. It's a timely conversation about transparency, communication, and strengthening public trust through responsible journalism. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

Safe, Until it Isn't: Why Companies Become Complacent in Food Safety

Why do food safety failures continue to happen in companies with strong audit scores, detailed procedures, and years, or even decades, without a major incident? In this episode of the Smarter Food Safety Podcast, Frank Yiannas is joined by Dr. Phil Bremer, Professor at the University of Otago and Chief Scientist of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre, to explore one of the most under-discussed risks in food safety: complacency. Together, they examine how organizations can slowly drift from vigilance to vulnerability, why past success can create a false sense of security, and how blind spots emerge in hazard identification, risk assessment, and decision-making. Drawing on lessons from food safety incidents, behavioral science, and real-world industry experience, Frank and Phil discuss the psychology behind complacency and the practical steps leaders can take to challenge assumptions, strengthen risk awareness, and keep food safety front and center. If you've ever wondered how capable organizations can slowly become vulnerable to food safety failures, this is a conversation you won't want to miss. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

False Confidence: When Food Testing Gets Sampling Wrong

This episode tackles one of the most misunderstood concepts in the food industry: microbiological testing. Just because a food test comes back negative doesn’t necessarily mean the food is safe, and overconfidence in testing can create dangerous blind spots. I’m joined by Marcel Zwietering, professor of food microbiology at Wageningen University and chairperson of the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF). In this episode we’ll discuss: * Why microbiological sampling plans matter * The limits of negative test results * How false confidence can lead to complacency * The importance of process validation over reliance on end-product testing * Why contamination is often sporadic and difficult to detect * The evolving role of AI and predictive analytics in food safety * How regulators and industry can think more strategically about testing Dr. Zwietering also shares practical insights from decades of research and global leadership in food microbiology, reminding us that food safety starts with strong process control, validation, and hygiene (not simply more testing). If you work in food safety, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, or microbiology, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

Front of Pack Food Labels: Nudge or Noise!

In this episode of Smarter Food Safety, we step beyond traditional food safety topics to explore one of the most urgent challenges facing the food system today: nutrition and its role in chronic disease. I’m  joined by Sophie Attwood, PhD, a behavioral science consultant specializing in health, sustainability, and food choice. Together, we’ll examine why poor diets have become a leading driver of conditions like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes and why influencing healthier eating habits is far more complex than it seems. Drawing on behavioral science, Sophie explains how people make food decisions, why common assumptions about behavior change often fall short, and what emerging policies aim to do differently. The conversation dives into whether these approaches are likely to succeed and what it will take to create meaningful change at scale. If you are interested in the intersection of food policy, human behavior, and public health, this is an episode you will not want to miss. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.