Food Safety Talk 318: Head Grime And The Lice

After a quick discussion of the ongoing saga (that has now come to a conclusion) of Ben's bricked AirPods and baths, Ben and Don jump into food safety stuff. They start with the question of the moment, "Why are we hearing so much about outbreaks and recalls right now?". The guys dive into tracking foodborne outbreak investigations, walk through CDC's BEAM Dashboard and talk through food recall data and a recent Washington Post article, exploring whether this trend reflects improved food safety or simply shifts in reporting. The conversation then turns to the fallout (regulatory and communication challenges) related to a couple of enoki mushroom Listeria outbreaks. Don talks about California's date label law which might provide some impacts on food waste, but the guys talk about the challenges. The show ends on new EU research that examines the microbiological safety of plant-based meat alternatives and a flow chart of diarrhea.