HIGHLIGHTS
Food Safety Matters is the podcast for food safety professionals, hosted by Food Safety Magazine—the leading media brand in food safety for over 20 years. Each episode features a conversation with a food safety professional sharing their experiences and insights on the important job of safeguarding the world’s food supply. New episodes are posted twice per month; a selection of our recent episodes are highlighted below.
Ep. 222 Elena Medo: Food Safety Lessons From the Global Infant Formula Cereulide Recall
Elena Medo, CEO and Founder, Leonie Health PBC
Following the global infant formula recall linked to cereulide contamination, Elena Medo discusses vulnerabilities in infant formula supply chains, infant-specific food safety risks, surveillance gaps, donor milk safety, and the lessons regulators and manufacturers can take away from this unprecedented event.
Ep. 221 Alex LeBeau: The Science Behind Food Contaminant Testing
Alex LeBeau, Ph.D., M.P.H., C.I.H., Founder, Exposure Assessment Consulting LLC
Recent reporting on Florida's arsenic testing in candy has raised questions about how contaminant data are generated, interpreted, and communicated to the public. On this episode, we talk with Dr. Alex LeBeau, an exposure scientist and toxicologist, about the scientific context behind these findings and what may be missing from the current discussion.
Ep. 220. Ramirez and Hodgson: What it Takes to Build and Maintain an Effective Food Safety Culture
Miguel Ramirez, Vice President of Operations, Fresca Foods and Madisen Hodgson, M.S., FSQA Manager
In this episode, we speak to Fresca Foods' Vice President of Operations, Miguel Ramirez, and former Fresca Foods FSQ Manager Madisen Hodgson, M.S. about cultivating a strong and effective food safety culture, including practical tips for measuring outcomes, driving continuous improvement, engaging frontline employees and leadership, and more.
Ep. 219: Dr. Elaine Borghi: World Food Safety Day 2026
Elaine Borghi, Ph.D., Unit Head, Monitoring and Surveillance Nutrition and Food Safety Unit, World Health Organization (WHO)
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Elaine Borghi about the World Health Organization's revised global foodborne disease burden estimates, updates to the methodology, key insights from the data, and the importance of using data to target food safety interventions, aligning with the 2026 World Food Safety Day theme, "From Burden to Solutions—Safe Food Everywhere."
Bonus: Fixing the Outbreak Investigation System
Frank Yiannas, M.P.H., Drew McDonald, John Besser, Ph.D., and Craig Hedberg, Ph.D.
In this bonus episode, four seasoned professionals with experience in the regulatory, academic, and industry spheres discuss the increasing rate of U.S. food recalls and how the foodborne illness outbreak investigation system could be improved.
