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.

Most conferences just recycle the same speakers on the same topics every year. Food Safety Consortium is trying to do something different, and the process behind it is more rigorous than you might expect.

In this episode of Don't Eat Poop!, Matt and Francine sit down with Rick Biros, founder of Food Safety Consortium and Food Safety Tech, to pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to build a food safety conference worth attending. From the call for abstracts to curating diverse panels to scoring speaker submissions on educational value, this is the insider scoop most attendees never get.

Spoiler alert: Great food safety conferences don't happen by accident.
In this episode:

00:00:00 What Makes the Food Safety Consortium Stand Out
00:06:42 Consortium vs. Food Safety Hazards
00:08:29 The Role of Policy in Food Safety Topics Covered
00:10:25 Speaker Selection: Abstracts, Scoring, Curation
00:16:32 The Submission Numbers
00:18:25 Preview: A Global Food Safety Audit Study
00:23:22 How Different Learning Styles Shape Conference Programming
00:27:19 Rick on Life Outside the Food Safety Conference World

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.
Resources from this episode

Connect with Rick Biros here.

Take a look at our previous episodes with Rick:
Behind the Scenes at the Food Safety Consortium with Rick Biros: Conference Culture, Compliance & Community | Episode 123
15 Years of Food Safety Tech: Food Safety Compliance vs Reality with Rick Biros | Episode 161

Use code POOP for 25% off registration for the Food Safety Consortium.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“How do we go to food safety conferences with the first word food and get such awful food? [...] We take great pride in serving good food.” – Rick Biros

We 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.

Food safety failures don’t always start with massive outbreaks or nationwide recalls. Sometimes, they start with a bowl of homemade gumbo sitting in a grocery store display case.

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine sit down with food safety consultant and Food Safety Exchange host Michelle Wollenzien to unpack decades of retail food safety experience, convenience food risks, meal delivery disasters, food safety culture breakdowns, and why technology is moving faster than food safety compliance.

From improperly reheated meal kits to mystery gumbo in a self-service case, this episode dives deep into the real-world chaos happening behind the scenes of prepared foods, retail grocery operations, airline catering, and modern food delivery systems.

In this episode:

00:00:00 Meet Food Safety Expert Michelle Wollenzien
00:08:02 Convenience Food Safety Risks
00:14:30 The Homemade Gumbo Food Safety Incident
00:20:08 Foodborne Illness Investigations & Determining Liability
00:25:22 Food Safety Culture Is Dividing Companies
00:29:27 Technology Is Outpacing Food Safety Systems
00:33:16 Labour Shortages in Retail Systems
00:39:19 Food Safety Lessons from Living in Mexico

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.
Resources from this episode
Connect with Michelle here. 

Take a look at our LinkedIn Live with Michelle here.

Check out our episodes with Roger Hancock:
Creating a Recall-Ready Food Safety Industry | Episode 42
How the FDA Wants YOU to Fix Food Safety Recalls with Roger Hancock, CEO of Recall InfoLink | Episode 126

Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“I am all on board with your innovation, great ideas, feeding the public, making it a near restaurant experience, being able to take this prepared food home or have it delivered, or however you choose to do it. But we have to keep in mind our consumers.” – Michelle Wollenzien

We 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 dive headfirst into one of the strangest raw milk controversies they’ve seen yet: a Florida dairy selling expensive raw chocolate milk labeled as livestock feed while clearly marketing it to humans.

The hosts unpack the food safety, legal liability, and public health implications behind the “pet food loophole” that many raw milk sellers appear to use. The conversation covers everything from Listeria and E. coli risks in raw dairy to whether warning labels actually protect companies from lawsuits.

Along the way, Matt and Francine ask the question nobody expected to ask in 2026: Who exactly is buying $15 chocolate milk for livestock?

In this episode:
00:00:00 Raw Chocolate Milk Labeled “Not for Human Consumption”
00:09:03 Florida Raw Milk Labeling Loophole
00:11:34 Does a Warning Label Protect Companies from Food Safety Lawsuits?
00:18:36 Contamination Risks in Dairy Operations

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode
Take a look at the TikTok we’re talking about in this episode from creator Emmy Makela: https://www.tiktok.com/@emsthegirl/video/7629027231888575774?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7608973359876458015 

Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“Anybody who has livestock knows that they are not providing their livestock with $14.99 half a gallon milk jugs that also have chocolate in them.” – Matt Regusci

“I wonder how many people are buying products that say not for human consumption and don't even realize it.” – Francine L Shaw

We 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.

Another cantaloupe recall. Another round of questions about why the food industry keeps making the same mistakes — and whether the tools to fix them are already sitting on the shelf, ignored.

In this episode of Don't Eat Poop!, Francine and Matt dig into a Salmonella cantaloupe recall, the science of why cantaloupes are such a high-risk product, and a sanitizer that's been EPA- and FDA-approved for years but still can't get traction in the industry. Plus: Francine's heading to the Food Safety Summit to talk norovirus in retail, and the stories from the field are exactly what you'd expect from Don’t Eat Poop.

Spoiler alert: The solutions often exist. The problem is getting a risk-averse, relationship-driven industry to actually use them.

In this episode:

00:00:00 Novovirus in Retail
00:06:57 Cantaloupe Salmonella Recall Breakdown
00:11:58 Hypochlorous Acid: The Sanitizer the Industry is Ignoring
00:19:04 Chemical Distribution & Conflict of Interest
00:30:25 Norovirus Incidents in Grocery Stores

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode
Is It Time for a “Kill Step” for Pathogens on Produce at Retail? By Eric Moorman and Hal King

Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“You can't really sanitize or get rid of all the potential pathogens on the outside of a cantaloupe because of the webbed outside.” – Matt Regusci

“There's something out there that works that nobody's talking about, and there's such a resistance to this product.” – Francine L Shaw

We 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.

If you thought chicken was the “safe” option on the menu, this episode of Don’t Eat Poop! might ruffle your feathers. 
Matt and Francine dig into a bizarre (and under-the-radar) food safety incident out of Spain, where children developed allergic-like reactions not from allergens, but from biogenic amines formed due to poor cold chain management. 
This episode is a must-listen for anyone in restaurant food safety, food safety training, or navigating food safety regulations. We break down the science, the risks, and what this means for foodborne illness prevention worldwide.

In this episode:
00:00:00 Get to Know Your Food Safety Podcast Hosts
00:11:00 Biogenic Amine Outbreak in Spain
00:14:47 Poor Cold Chain Management in Foodservice
00:17:56 Why Symptoms Looked Like Allergies
00:21:10 Temperature Control Matters

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.
Resources from this episode
Take a look at the articles mentioned in this episode:
Spanish scientists investigate outbreaks affecting children
Report of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) on the risk of food poisoning due to the presence of biogenic amines in meals made from chicken meat consumed by children under 3 years of age

Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“This is a food safety issue that can happen with a break in the cold chain.” – Matt Regusci
“ Spoiled-smelling meat is not the only concern. Not all bad meat stinks.” – Francine L Shaw

We 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