The Road to Food Safety with Deborah Blum, Award-Winning Author of “The Poison Squad” | Episode 85

Don't Eat Poop! A Food Safety Podcast

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Deborah Blum, at the 2024 FDA Retail Food Seminar & IEHA Annual Education Conference.

She is the author of “The Poison Squad”, one of Matt’s favorite food safety books.

Together they explore her outrageous findings from the time before regulations that she shares in the book, as well as ways to make things change for the better.

In this episode:

💩 [00:59] Meet Deborah and “The Poison Squad” book

💩 [03:41] Food in the 19th and early 20th century wasn’t as safe as we think

💩 [08:23] Dr. Wiley, the Poison Squad, and low-dose toxicology

💩 [12:57] The embalmed milk scandals

💩 [17:48] Important regulatory movements in the US and their scandals

💩 [23:01] Good regulations with insufficient funds and little enforcement

💩 [29:06] Francine’s experience as a health inspector

💩 [31:20] How to make a difference and the holes in regulations

💩 [32:44] We’ve come a long way but not far enough

💩 [34:34] The challenges of being an informed consumer

💩 [37:04] The power of cookbooks for education

💩 [41:57] Why our lifespan increased over the last century

💩 [44:07] The “good old days”

💩 [46:23] The ongoing battle against food adulteration

💩 [48:30] Food safety in the future

💩 [50:45] Consumers misdirected anger and Boar’s Head outbreak

💩 [55:19] Revolution by inch

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

Resources from this episode

Learn all about Deborah Blum and her books at deborahblum.com.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“Back to your question, ‘How do we make things change for the better?’ We have people like you. We get the word out. We let people know that there are these issues. We don't quit talking about them. Eventually, we get change. It's never as fast as I want it to be. I've come to accept that sometimes you get revolution by inch.” – Deborah Blum

We hope you enjoy this episode!

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Check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon!

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Produced by Ideablossoms