Smarter Food Safety

Smarter Food Safety is a science-based, straight-talk podcast hosted by former FDA Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas. Each episode goes beyond headlines to explore outbreaks, policy, culture, and emerging risks, with practical insights from global leaders across industry, government, and academia. Designed for food safety professionals, decision-makers, and innovators, the show delivers real-world solutions and forward-thinking conversations to help build a safer, smarter, more resilient food system. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

Smarter Food Safety is a technology podcast hosted by Frank Yiannas, with 18 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Frank Yiannas hosts Smarter Food Safety, a technology show with 18 episodes published.

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  Episode #15

  Early Warning System or Source of Cyclospora

  Sep 9, 202651 minS1

  This week on the Smarter Food Safety Podcast, Frank is joined by Dr. Joan Rose, Professor at Michigan State University and an internationally recognized water microbiologist, to explore the overlooked role of water in the Cyclospora story. Could wastewater surveillance provide an early warning of infections and emerging hotspots? Could reclaimed, recreational, or other contaminated water contribute to transmission? And what might the extraordinary summer of 2026 mean for Cyclospora's future in the United States? Frank and Joan examine wastewater surveillance, treatment, research gaps, and the need to turn lessons from this outbreak into foresight and prevention for food safety professionals. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #14

  Summer of Cyclospora and Salmonella: Lessons Learned (with Dr. Craig Hedberg)

  Aug 26, 202648 minS1

  In this episode of the Smarter Food Safety podcast, Frank Yiannas sits down with Dr. Craig Hedberg to examine what the summer of 2026 can teach us about foodborne illness prevention. With major Cyclospora and Salmonella outbreaks occurring at the same time, they explore the challenges of surveillance, outbreak detection, traceback, traceability, and root-cause investigations. They discuss why the scale and distribution of contaminated foods can amplify outbreaks, the importance of timely public health response, and how stronger public-private collaboration can help protect consumers. Most importantly, they look beyond hindsight to identify practical lessons that can strengthen prevention and help prevent the next outbreak. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #13

  Food Safe D Begins with Me: Leadership Lessons (with Lee Cockerell)

  Aug 12, 202650 minS1

  Food safety begins with leadership. In this episode of the Smarter Food Safety Podcast, Frank Yiannas sits down with Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations at Walt Disney World Resort, to explore how leaders shape culture and turn food safety from a set of rules into a shared responsibility. Lee shares lessons on setting clear expectations, building teams, training employees, removing hassles, role modeling, psychological safety, positive recognition, and paying attention to what we tolerate. Together, Frank and Lee make the case that food safety begins with each of us, and that every person has a role to play. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

  ListenShow Notes
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  Smarter Food Safety

  Frankly Speaking: Cyclospora, What You Need to Know

  Aug 3, 202632 min

  In this special bonus episode of the Smarter Food Safety Podcast, Frank Yiannas launches a new series, Frankly Speaking, to provide timely perspectives on the food safety issues shaping our world. Frank examines the unprecedented Cyclospora outbreak in the United States, explaining what Cyclospora is, why these outbreaks are so difficult to investigate, and what recent events reveal about traceability, surveillance, agricultural water, and prevention. Drawing on decades of experience in industry and government, he separates fact from speculation and shares practical insights into how science, leadership, and collaboration can help prevent future outbreaks and strengthen our food safety system. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #12

  Breaking News, Broken Trust: The Media's Role in Food Safety (Inside the Beltway Perspective)

  Jul 22, 202635 minS1

  When a food safety crisis unfolds, the media often becomes the public's first source of information, shaping perception, trust, and action. In this episode of Smarter Food Safety, I sit down with Marcia Brown, Food & Agriculture Reporter at POLITICO, to explore the media's evolving role in food safety. From outbreak coverage and policy debates to misinformation, declining public trust, and the importance of transparency, we discuss how journalists decide what makes news, why industry and government should engage with reporters, and how stronger relationships between media and food safety professionals can help ensure the public receives timely, accurate, and trustworthy information. The Smarter Food Safety Podcast is sponsored by Ecolab, a trusted partner throughout my career. They’re dedicated to protecting what’s vital, by advancing food safety, ensuring clean and safe environments, and enhancing water quality around the world.

  ListenShow Notes

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