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Retail & Meal Delivery Food Safety Fails with Michelle Wollenzien from The Food Safety Exchange Podcast | Episode 169
Food safety failures don’t always start with massive outbreaks or nationwide recalls. Sometimes, they start with a bowl of homemade gumbo sitting in a grocery store display case.
In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine sit down with food safety consultant and Food Safety Exchange host Michelle Wollenzien to unpack decades of retail food safety experience, convenience food risks, meal delivery disasters, food safety culture breakdowns, and why technology is moving faster than food safety compliance.
From improperly reheated meal kits to mystery gumbo in a self-service case, this episode dives deep into the real-world chaos happening behind the scenes of prepared foods, retail grocery operations, airline catering, and modern food delivery systems.
In this episode:
💩 [01:21] Meet food safety expert Michelle Wollenzien
💩 [08:02] Convenience foods are exploding, but is food safety keeping up?
💩 [09:56] Meal delivery horror stories
💩 [11:21] Dangerous reheating instructions & ready-to-eat risks
💩 [14:30] The homemade gumbo incident
💩 [20:08] Morel mushrooms & foodborne illness investigations
💩 [25:22] Why food safety culture is dividing companies
💩 [29:27] Technology is outpacing food safety systems
💩 [33:16] Labor shortages & retail food safety breakdowns
💩 [39:19] Food safety lessons from living in Mexico
Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.
Resources from this episode
Connect with Michelle here.
Take a look at our LinkedIn Live with Michelle here.
Check out our episodes with Roger Hancock:
Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“I am all on board with your innovation, great ideas, feeding the public, making it a near restaurant experience, being able to take this prepared food home or have it delivered, or however you choose to do it. But we have to keep in mind our consumers.” – Michelle Wollenzien
We hope you enjoy this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!
Connect with Francine, Matt, and the “Don’t Eat Poop!” show on LinkedIn!
Check out Francine’s book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon!
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