🍽️ 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 are joined by Melody Ge, the Founder of Women in Food Safety and Chief Technical Officer at EAGLE Certification Group, straight from the Food Safety Consortium 2025.

They've been wanting to have Melody on the show for years, and it's finally worked out. There's a cumulative 70 years of experience among them in this episode, and you'll hear the stories that come along with it.

Learn more about the 5-year-old Women in Food Safety community, which has recently become a full-fledged nonprofit. Get the lay of the land in the food safety auditing world, learn what's missing, and discover how Melody, who has been both an auditor and an auditee, and her team at EAGLE are working to change that reality.

In this episode:

0:00:00 Melody’s 20-year career path

0:04:04 Growing Women in Food Safety

0:07:40 The biggest challenge for food safety pros

0:12:43 Food safety audit industry issues

0:15:53 Solutions for auditing, and the industry's future

0:31:45 How to help pipeline future good auditors

0:40:52 Melody's Food Safety Consortium reflections

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

Resources from this episode

Learn more about and join the Women in Food Safety through their LinkedIn or website.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ Regardless, it's either the auditee or the auditor. We all want food safety. This is a common goal, and I never doubted that before. It's the approach and the position we're in [that are] very different. So, how can we help each other and make the most value out of it?” – Melody Ge

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 Melody, 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.

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Produced by Ideablossoms

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are, unfortunately, talking about a deadly multi-state Listeria outbreak… again. This time, the culprit is surprisingly hiding in pasta.

Tune in as they break down the recent outbreak, which has a 26% death rate, and has led to recalls of pre-made pasta meals across stores, including Walmart, Kroger, and Trader Joe's.

Discover the only way to fix Listeria, what foodborne illnesses truly mean for their victims, and how outrageously our government and institutions have been handling these realities.

In this episode:

0:00:00 A deadly and unexpected Listeria outbreak in pasta

0:15:18 Victims aren't getting the information they need

0:18:41 The only solution for Listeira, food safety's #1 enemy

0:21:17 The harsh realities and ugly effects of foodborne illnesses

0:25:10 The stories of the victims that hit our hosts the hardest

0:30:15 The government's mantra: "We ignore it, so it goes away"

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

Resources from this episode

Check out the Food Safety News article our hosts are referring to, "More deaths reported in Listeria outbreak linked to pre-made pasta meals."

Watch Dr. Darin Detwiler and Bill Marler’s Emmy award-winning documentary, Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food.

Catch up with Episode 122, where we learn the story of a man who survived Listeriosis but lost everything else.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ Listeria is a big deal, and the only way to fix Listeria is having a food safety culture that allows you to test for this and really find and destroy this bug. This is the enemy, and every single facility in the world needs to view Listeria as the number one enemy.” – Matt Regusci

“ We're never gonna stop all of the foodborne illnesses. That's impossible. But they can certainly be minimized, and that's what's so frustrating, is none of them have to happen, but they're all preventable. Nobody should ever die from eating food.” – 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.

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Produced by Ideablossoms

🔒 Food safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, and DeVere Chemical gets that. Their team of food safety specialists brings real-world experience and even offers customized training for your plant.

From tough soils to pathogen control, DeVere’s cleaners, sanitizers, and support keep your facility safe, efficient, and always audit-ready.

Learn more here: DeVere Chemical

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Monica Pancare, CP-FS. a veteran environmental health food inspector, straight from the Food Safety Consortium 2025.

She brings a unique perspective, having been around food safety from its inception and having been involved on both sides of the industry, first in operations and now as an inspector.

Joined by Francine, they commiserate about how things were in the late 1970s and 1980s, what has changed, and the trials and tribulations of being the one who watches the kitchen.

In this episode:

💩 [01:15] Meet Monica Pancare, a veteran of the food safety industry

💩 [02:31] Gloves, questionable 1970s practices, and the origin of ServSafe

💩 [05:27] What we didn't know in the 1980s and Marriott Hotels' food safety

💩 [08:51] Monica's pivot to an environmental health food inspector role

💩 [10:14] The benefits for an inspector of starting out in operations

💩 [12:39] Defining which establishments are high risk or low risk

💩 [15:46] The craziest violation Monica's ever seen

💩 [18:09] Francine and Monica's experiences with pests, upsets, and threats

💩 [21:24] What happens when Monica finds big problems in an establishment

💩 [24:42] If the bathrooms are clean, is the rest of the establishment clean?

💩 [25:54] The difference between a training issue and a procedural one

💩 [28:59] What to look for in a restaurant as a consumer

💩 [31:23] Why Monica chose to attend the Food Safety Consortium

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

Resources from this episode

For a whole retelling of Francine's craziest stories from her time as a health inspector, check out Francine's book Who Watches the Kitchen?

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ Knowledge is power. Knowledge is key. I believe that you always need to keep your finger on the pulse and really have a good, strong knowledge of what's out there in the industry as it changes.” – Monica Pancare

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 are joined by Ryan Dunn, the Vice President of Sales at DeVere Chemical, our official sponsor.

They talk about how sanitizing is key when it comes to ensuring food safety, but having the best sanitizers in the market or the best training around will never be enough if there isn't a strong culture of safety in place.

Because they know that cultural change starts at the top, they share practical advice that food safety leaders can start implementing right away to turn the existing culture around, making safety the number one priority from upper management to the plant floor.

In this episode:

💩 [01:42] Get to know Ryan Dunn and his serendipitous journey to DeVere

💩 [05:52] How each training is 100% unique to the client at DeVere

💩 [08:24] Real results: from multiple violations to a culture of safety

💩 [12:38] How to convince leadership to invest in food safety

💩 [16:09] When a whole shift quit instead of taking the training

💩 [17:07] Resistance to change starts at the top

💩 [20:10] A simple mindset shift that can change the way we lead

💩 [23:35] 4 leadership lessons to build a strong food safety culture

💩 [31:00] A tool to find out what your crew needs and wants

💩 [32:07] The power of managing each individual as their own person

💩 [33:50] Make sure to meet Ryan at the next industry conference

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

Resources from this episode

Learn more about how DeVere Chemical can take your operation's food safety to the next level at deverechemical.com.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

" We've taken the personality out of management. I think people just feel disconnected. I hear it all the time. They're disconnected from their relationships with their leaders, and their leaders are disconnected with their crew." – Ryan Dunn

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 Ryan, Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

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

🎙️ 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 are joined by Alex O'Brien, the Dairy Safety & Quality Coordinator at the Center for Dairy Research, also known as the Wisconsin cheese food safety guy.

Milk safety has been a recurring topic on the podcast, especially given the growing demand for raw milk, but this is the first time the focus has been on cheese itself.

So, tune in to discover how to make cheese safe. You'll learn how the cheese-making process affects its safety, important lessons about environmental monitoring, and how to make raw milk and cheese a little safer.

In this episode:

💩 [01:27] Alex O'Brien's many hats as the Wisconsin cheese food safety guy

💩 [04:46] The factors that make cheese safe, even unrefrigerated

💩 [10:06] How to get high-quality milk even through a crappy milking process

💩 [13:27] What's behind cheese outbreaks post-pasteurization

💩 [16:52] It doesn't take much unpasteurized cheese to make you sick

💩 [18:53] How to ensure cheese plants are safe and some cautionary tales

💩 [25:40] The four different types of food safety people

💩 [28:45] The difference between cleaning and sanitizing

💩 [30:14] When food safety people have a foodborne illness

💩 [32:58] Thermal pasteurization versus UV pasteurization and raw milk

💩 [37:59] How to make raw milk and cheese a little safer and save lives

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

Resources from this episode

Catch up with the episode where we talked to Bob Comstock about his UV-based pasteurization process, Episode 131 | How a Little Sunlight in Your Milk is Going to Profoundly Change the Dairy Industry.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“ If you're finding [Listeria] in your environment more than 10% of the time, you have a problem, right? So, I like to emphasize that you want to find it, but if it's so prevalent and you keep finding it in the same spot and you can't figure it out, then it's a problem.” – Alex O'Brien

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 Alex, Francine, Matt, and the "Don't Eat Poop!" show on LinkedIn!

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

🎙️ 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