Ep. 085- The Food Safety Fanatics Part 1 with Don Schaffner, Distinguished Professor at Rutger's University

Sep 25, 2017

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Dr. Don Schaffner is an amazing food safety scientist who’s the best in class. In fact, let me name youa few of his amazing awards: You can read his amazing biography here

What’s also super cool, is that Don and his co-host Ben do a whole lot of extracurricular activities to promote food safety and one of their favorite things to do is podcasting. For over 4 years, they’re been doing discussions of food safety and post them online for everyone to enjoy and they do have quite a following.

If you are in food safety or are considering food safety, you have to listen to this interview. Don gives you valuable advice on how to really be a star player in food safety and some amazing resources such as Barfblog, Food Safety News, and the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports

About Don

Dr. Donald W. Schaffner is Extension Specialist in Food Science and Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University. He has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and educated thousands of Food Industry professionals through short courses and workshops in the United States and around the world.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Academy of Microbiology. He has served as an Editor for the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology since 2005. Dr. Schaffner was the president of the International Association for Food Protection in 2013-2014. In his spare time he co-hosts a food safety podcast at foodsafetytalk.com.

Sponsor - FoodGrads

This episode is sponsored by FoodGrads, an interactive platform for the Food & Beverage Industry, which focuses on closing the gap between students and employers with a broader mission to attract and retain people to a meaningful career in food. From Food Scientists to Farmers, Chefs to Plant Managers, QA Technicians to Dieticians, or Marketing and Sales, no matter what your passion--there's something for everyone in Food—and they will help you find it.

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Housekeeping

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I am also inviting you to sign up on our email list at myfoodjobrocks.com. I am doing this new thing called the 5 course meal where I send you 5 pieces of hand picked content and deliver it every Friday morning. Like a meal kit…

If you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve the podcast, don’t be afraid to email me at podcast@myfoodjobrocks.com

Knowledge Bombs

What is an extension specialist? What are extensions?
If you want a career in food science, think about Food Science and Quality because boy we have a lot to do
How Don met Darin Detwiler

Official Job title: Distinguished Professor – Distinguished Professor and Extension Specialist How long have you worked in Rutgers?: Over 25 years! Extension course: they’ve always existed, but not widely visible What’s the best skill can you have in Food Safety and Quality: You need to keep learning. The knowledge you have today will be outdated by next year Don’t think what you know today is going to necessarily be known tomorrow. You always have to keep up with new outbreaks and keep on changing your mind What resources do you use to keep you up to date?: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports published by the CDC Barfblog: Doug Powell and Ben Chapman. What’s making people barf! Food Safety News by Bill Marler Food Safety Talk with Ben Chapman. 2 PhDs in Food Safety talk about food safety. A director’s commentary of what’s in the food safety news How did Food Safety Talks start?: Howard Stern Terrestrial Radio 100th anniversary of IAFP. NPR people came over and Don met Ben and then they talked and then they made a podcast Dan Benjamin: 5 by 5. How to do podcasting articles How long has Food Safety Talks been on?: 5 years! Why Does Your Food Job Rocks?: I love everything about my job. (Literally everything) What advice can you give a 24 year old on having the achievements that you have?: Give it time, You don’t get ahead on focusing on regrets on the past. It’s just not relevant Don’t focus on the past, focus on the present. Don’t let setbacks set you back. Food Technology: Whole Genome Technology. The radar the CDC is using is getting more sensitive. Also, mimicking norovirus What do you think the biggest challenge the food industry has to face?: Integration of FSMA What’s one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: Why people aren’t complying to rules Favorite Quote: Prediction is very difficult especially about the future. Favorite Book: DiscWorld by Terry Prachett Favorite Kitchen Item: Digital Scale What kind of advice would you give a fresh graduate?: Do the right thing. Life is too short that don’t take food safety and quality seriously. Where can we find you?: Food Safety Talk podcast. Don Schaffner from Rutgers. Bug Counter on twitter. Emails (don’t do emails)