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The guys started by talking about their office and
home podcasting set-ups; how Don inspired his son Zac; podcast sponsorship (thanks Dr.
Indian Clarified Butter); the Food Science
short course at Rutgers; MC-ing; Ben’s
wedding; and, customer service at Frito Lay’s and General Mills. In the bug trivia segment the guys talked about the
protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, recently reviewed
by Beniamino and colleagues. T.
gondii was ranked
the second worst pathogen in terms of quality adjusted
life years (QALY) by Mike Batz (guest on FST
4) and colleagues, and recently featured on Back
to Work. The discussion took a short detour to food thermometers,
including the PDT
300, iGrill, and ThermaPen, before
coming around to the retiring
Pete Snyder, from HI-TM. Pete is held in
high regard by both Ben and Don, not only because he wasn’t afraid to ask
questions, like Don did in the comment exchange to the Snapper barfblog article. Thanks to Pete’s guidance Ben is always seeking the
primary information for creating his Infosheets. A classic example of Pete’s
drive for the scientific justification relates to the information produced on thawing poultry at
ambient temperatures, which was picked
up by barfblog. Ben then talked about the CDC report
on the tempeh related
outbreak discussed
in FST 18. He found it interesting that many of the illnesses appeared to
be caused by cross-contamination rather than consumption of the contaminated,
unpasteurized tempeh. Don was bummed that his own
work wasn’t cited by the CDC, but he noted that Michelle’s recent work
showed that cross-contamination was facilitated by moisture. This then turned into
a broader discussion around managing risks in a food service setting. Don then wanted to hear Ben’s thoughts about Bill
Marler’s question on what cantaloupe and baseball have in common. Bill’s
suggestion to change the incentives had the flavor of a Modest Proposal, but without the satire. Ben agreed that retailers and restaurants should
be held responsible, as without them there isn’t enough pressure on the
suppliers. The guys then discussed third party audits and the setting of
supplier standards. Both agreed that the current system doesn’t work how it
should and that proper
data analysis could provide significant insights. In the after dark the guys talked about Ben’s upcoming trip
to Brazil, the PCV show,
food safety a-holes, Mexican
wrestling masks, the Conference for Food
Protection councils, laws
and sausages, and getting hurt at the doctor's office. |