Smarter Food Safety

The future of food safety demands more than learning from the past, it requires anticipating what comes next. In this episode of the Smarter Food Safety podcast, Frank Yiannas speaks with Dr. Vittorio Fattori, Food Safety Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about the shift from hindsight to foresight. They explore how climate change, changing consumer behaviors, aging populations, novel foods, microbiome science, artificial intelligence, and evolving food systems may create new challenges and opportunities. Dr. Fattori shares practical guidance for horizon scanning, identifying meaningful signals, building networks, and making foresight a routine part of food safety.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.

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.

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.

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.

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.