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Tune in every Tuesday for a brand new episode of Don't Eat Poop! A Food Safety Podcast. Join Francine L. Shaw, the savvy CEO of Savvy Food Safety, and Matthew Regusci, compliance connoisseur and founder of Fostering Compliance, as they serve up the latest in food safety with a side of laughter.
Explore the ins and outs of food systems, responsible food practices, and food safety regulations. Stay informed about food safety awareness and the not-so-occasional food recall. Delve deep into the complexities of the food supply chain with our dynamic duo, who blend expert insights with a pinch of food safety humor. Whether you're knee-deep in the food safety industry or just passionate about what's on your plate, this podcast promises a fresh take on staying safe while eating well.
Expect candid conversations, personal anecdotes, and occasional guest appearances that spice up the discussion. Shaw and Regusci bring their combined decades of experience to the table, making each episode as informative as it is entertaining. From industry trends to must-know food safety news and regulations, they've got your back (and your lunch).
In essence, Don't Eat Poop! A Food Safety Podcast is not just about imparting information; it's about fostering a culture of food safety. By shedding light on the intricacies of the food supply chain and the latest food safety news, it aims to promote awareness and encourage responsible food practices among consumers and industry professionals alike.
When it comes to food safety, knowledge is power, and a good laugh is the best seasoning. At the heart of every episode is one golden rule: Don't Eat Poop!
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Matt Regusci: Our poultry industry is owned by four companies. Our meat industry is owned by four companies. And they all have the same practices. They're all doing the same thing. So I don't agree with them, but it's, it is what it is. So there are, so we're obviously just not exporting chicken.
intro: Nobody likes getting sick. That's why heroes toil in the shadows, keeping your food safe at all points from the supply chain to the point of sale. Join industry veterans, Francine L Shaw and Matt Ragushi for a deep dive into food safety. It all boils down to one golden rule. Don't eat poop. Don't eat poop.
Matt Regusci: Hello. Hello, Francine. How are you this morning? Good. How about you? Good. Francine and I have matching cups.
Francine Shaw: Even better since Steve sent us these mugs.
Matt Regusci: We're so easy. All you do is just give us a mug and we're happy. Yes, and we're here. Thank you,
Francine Shaw: Steve, for our mugs. Love this mug with all the little bacteria and pathogens on it.
Matt Regusci: Well, and the line on it is great. It says life without coffee, you can't be serious, which bees. Dot C E R E U S. Oh, that is so nerdy.
Francine Shaw: We are such geeks. I loved it. I was so excited. So excited.
Matt Regusci: Okay.
Well, Francine told me what the name of this topic is going to be about and it's common foods that are legal here in the United States, but illegal in other countries.
And we have a lot of people from other countries that listened to our show. So I can't say like other countries all over the place, but other countries other than United States. And I got scared because Francine was like, you probably eat all of these.
Francine Shaw: Yeah. I don't know whether to be scared or just move.
Matt Regusci: I'm very excited about this list. I really, truly excited. Don't be, but okay. I'm just curious on that list. Does it say why it's banned in other countries? Yes. I'm just guessing, by the way, I have no clue what's on this list. I'm guessing there's a bunch of products that are banned from other countries, like European union, because they have titanium dioxide.
Is it titanium dioxide? Whatever it is. That's like a product that gives like Skittles a Shane or something like that. I don't even know if Skittles is on that list actually, or Mountain Dew.
Francine Shaw: I don't think Skittles actually, but Bromine. Ruminated flame retardant I do not see that ingredient, but there's a lot of stuff on here So I think we should go ahead and dive right into this
Matt Regusci: Oh, look at that.
Okay. I did search. Why was Skittles illegal? And it is because of the titanium dioxide.
Francine Shaw: Oh, you know what? It is in here. It is actually here, but it does not say titanium dioxide on here.
Matt Regusci: Gotta be beating up on Skittles.
Francine Shaw: Oh my God. And I love Skittles.
Matt Regusci: Yeah. Now you can't taste the rainbow. Oh, you can taste the
Francine Shaw: rainbow.
Yeah.
Matt Regusci: Okay. Name them off, Francie. Name them off.
Francine Shaw: So the first one is Mountain Dew.
Matt Regusci: Yes.
Francine Shaw: Mountain Dew is number one on the list here. Brominated vegetable oil.
Matt Regusci: Yes.
Francine Shaw: Is an emulsifier and it's banned in Japan and the European Union because it contains bromine, the element found in brominated flame retardants, which can build up in the body and potentially lead to memory loss as well as skin and nerve problems.
That doesn't sound like a good time.
Matt Regusci: No, my wife drinks Mountain Dew. That's the only soda she really likes is Mountain Dew.
Francine Shaw: I don't know people that over the years that have just consumed a ton of Mountain Dew.
Matt Regusci: Yes. Yeah. I remember like in high school, I don't know if this is true, but I remember in high school, people like, well, you shouldn't drink Mountain Dew because it lowers your sperm count.
And I was like, in high school, I was thinking, why do I need that to be high? And you're slamming Mountain Dew. Yeah. Like great. This is not helping me to decrease the consumption of Mountain Dew. And then I end up with 12 kids, so I'm like, well, I guess it's not a long term thing. And then you start cranking up the temperature of the hot tub as an adult.
Yeah, and drink Mountain Dew simultaneously. Wow, that went downhill real fast.
Francine Shaw: The next one breaks my heart.
Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. This is one of my favorites. Favorite things. I love these things. Little Debbie Swizzles. I've got a little Debbie Swizzles story. But after we talk about this. It is popular.
It contains food dyes yellow number five and red forty. They are now permitted in the European Union. They have to carry warnings that they cause adverse effects on children. They're also banned in foods. For infants and young children, no such warning is required domestically. Norway and Australia, Austria have banned the chocolate treats outright.
Matt Regusci: Wow.
Francine Shaw: So many years ago, when I was doing a significant amount of training, we used to keep snacks to take to the classes, like an exorbitant amount of snacks to take to classes so that our students would have snacks during class. And one of the things that I would take is these little Debbie Swiss rolls.
If that was like during a really difficult portion of my life and I was having trouble sleeping and the doctor had prescribed Ambien. And at that time they didn't know that Ambien affected women differently than it did men and you had to adjust the dose accordingly. I was one of the people that would sleepwalk with the Ambien.
Oh, no kidding? Yes. I was one of those people. Yes, I was one of the people that would get up and, like, sleepwalk. And I would get up in the middle of the night, go up to the trunk of my car, and get snacks. And it was the Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. And then, this is so bizarre, for some reason, I would go in the bathroom and eat these Little Debbie Swiss Rolls.
Now, I have no recollection of doing this. I can't believe I'm telling the world about this, but my husband would then buy these little Debbie Swiss roll wrappings in the trash can the next day. What are you doing? And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, there's little Debbie Swiss rolls in the trash can in the bathroom.
What? You eating food in the bathroom? I'm like, I'm not eating food in the bathroom. I don't know what you're talking about. He's like, well, who else? There's nobody else. This is getting up and going out to your car and getting this. Swiss rolls. I'm sleepwalking, walking out to the trunk of my car, getting these Swiss rolls, and eating them.
In fact, it sounds like I had some kind of eating disorder or something, which I didn't. But, yeah, I'm eating these little, stubby Swiss rolls in the middle of the night. Ambien induced eating in the middle of the night. Thank God I couldn't drive my car anywhere. But yeah,
Matt Regusci: I'm just curious why little debbie swiss rolls has yellow five and red 40 like white.
I have
Francine Shaw: no
Matt Regusci: idea Huh?
Francine Shaw: Yeah, it's the coating and uh cream on the inside. I don't know. I don't know
Matt Regusci: interesting All right. What's next
Francine Shaw: frosted flakes honey bunches of oats and rice pasties
Matt Regusci: all three of those cereals are in my pantry frosted flakes honey bunches of oats and Rice Krispies are all in my pantry.
In fact, I refilled them all so that the animals called my children don't have to make a mess. We have these little plastic containers. They're like cereal containers and they just pop the lid and then they pour in because my children are like notorious for emptying the milk container and putting it back in the fridgerator or emptying the cereal and just putting the empty box in and you're like, Lordy child, what the, yeah.
Okay. So why are those banned?
Francine Shaw: They contain BHT, which is a flavor enhancer, which has long been studied for its potential carcinogenic properties. The evidence is inconclusive. It's banned in Japan and the European union.
Matt Regusci: Got it.
Francine Shaw: Coffee mate. Trans fat.
Matt Regusci: Coffee mate like the powdered creamer?
Francine Shaw: It just says coffee mate.
Matt Regusci: Got it.
Francine Shaw: Trans fat, like partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils, and coffee mate are linked to heart disease and were officially banned in the U. S. at June 18, 2018. However, they still linger in the U. S. food supply. There are also mandatory limits on trans fat in many other countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark.
Matt Regusci: Hey, that, that BHT going back to the previous one with the cereals.
Do you eat products with MSG? This reminds me of that. So the BHT, it stabilizes fats, smell, color, flavor. Like it's a shelf stabilizer. Have you ever, do you like MSG? Do you like products with MSG in it?
Francine Shaw: So
Matt Regusci: I love it. I know it's terrible for you, but it makes everything taste so much so good.
Francine Shaw: I don't look for it. I don't intentionally. Avoid it, but I have a migraine issue. I know that can trigger migraines. I don't know if it's something that triggers mine or not. So I'm not doubt they're intentionally looking for it. I know that a lot of. Asian food has MSG in it. I
Matt Regusci: know. I was gonna, yeah, literally like when, I mean, I cook, I don't use MSG when I cook, but I could tell the difference.
Like I'm at a restaurant and I eat, I'm like, Oh yeah, this definitely has MSG in it. It's that drastically different in my mind, but because I cook all the time, taste things. Very clearly. Like I can, I know like how much spice to add to certain things. I could tell when there's MSG in there and I'm like, yeah.
Francine Shaw: So when I was doing inspections, I would see tubs. Like big
Matt Regusci: tubs of MSG. Wow. Yeah, they go through a lot of it.
Everything like in some of these restaurants, it's literally like in everything and you could, yeah. And it's like, why do I crave that? Well, because you're craving the, obviously it's a flavor enhancer. So if the food sucks, it's not going to make it that much better, but the food is already really good.
And then you add some MSG. Oh my God. Okay.
Stove top stuffing. Oh man. Every Thanksgiving we go through boxes of that. Why is that illegal?
Francine Shaw: It has BHA and BHT, which are suspected to be carcinogenics and to appear impair blood clotting. Um,
Matt Regusci: oh. Then given my height and weight, maybe I should eat a lot more.
Stove. Top dressing,
Francine Shaw: the preservatives are banned in the United Kingdom, Japan, and several European countries. The drumsticks, those frozen dairy drumsticks, uses a carrageenan, carrageenan, I don't know how you say that, for texture, and it's ice cream. But the additive is derived from seaweed and can affect the human digestive system.
The adverse effects have caused the European Union to limit it in products like baby food.
Matt Regusci: Wow.
Francine Shaw: The next one is Skittles. I don't know how much we need to talk about Skittles. Skittles have been beat to death. Skittles. Skittles.
Matt Regusci: Ah, yes. Poor Skittles.
Francine Shaw: Come on. Yeah, we talked about them in the beginning.
Wheat Thins! I love Wheat Thins. BHT is added to the packaging. A
Matt Regusci: lot of BHT added to a lot of this stuff.
Francine Shaw: Yeah. The chemical is banned in the United Kingdom, Japan, and parts of Europe. Day 3. The Sports Drink claims to replenish electrolytes, but it also contains food dyes Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Artificial colors are banned in foods for infants and children in the European Union, and they must also carry warnings on all their other products there, on all other products there.
They are completely banned in Norway and Austria. I am going to bet that you have this in your mini convenience store as well. The colorful breakfast pastry contains food dyes yellow 5, yellow 6, and red 48, deemed safe to eat domestically, but are partially banned in the European Union. I've never heard of this.
This might be a regional thing. Farmer John's pork breakfast sausage ling.
Matt Regusci: Oh, yeah. Farmer John's. Yep. Breakfast sausage. Yeah. Those are good.
Francine Shaw: Uses BHT.
Matt Regusci: A lot of BHT.
Francine Shaw: Lucky Charms. Magically delicious. I've never been a fan.
Matt Regusci: Really? Oh, we have lucky charms in our pantry as well.
Francine Shaw: Those dried out marshmallow things.
Yeah.
Matt Regusci: It's so funny is okay. So like I have to talk to my kids. Come on kids. Seriously. They'll go in and they will grab Lucky Charms and then they will jump Lucky Charms in a bowl. They will eat all the marshmallows. Okay, and then they will leave the cereal on the counter with no marshmallows in it. What?
It's funny. I actually like the cereal more than I like the marshmallows. Sometimes I'll just eat the bowl
Francine Shaw: So when I was a kid, I love olives absolutely love olives that I didn't like the pimento So I would not pick those out and put them back and my mom would get so mad at me I'm, like look i'm saving them for somebody that likes them
Matt Regusci: But like the pimento like compared to the olive there's no flavor like by that time that
Francine Shaw: I didn't want them.
Anyway, I can relate to the kids. Tostitos, Salsa Con Queso. The bright color is derived by two bottles. Again, yellow five, yellow six. I know
Matt Regusci: exactly what you're talking about. It's that cheese dip in the bottle. You can find those because it's also shelf stable. Like in the chip section. In the jar.
Francine Shaw: I think I have some in my fridge.
That is really good in scrambled eggs.
Matt Regusci: Oh, I like how we keep all these products that are bad. We should keep talking about how we consume them. People eat in other countries. I
Francine Shaw: need to go home and empty my cupboard.
Ritz crackers.
Matt Regusci: Oh yeah, I have those by the boxes in our pantry.
Francine Shaw: Then right with peanut butter, Ritz crackers with peanut butter on them.
Matt Regusci: Another one too, I don't know, because our family is diverse culturally. We have a lot of Nutella as well. So Ritz crackers with Nutella is so good. You get the salty with the chocolatey, sweet, nutty. Yeah.
Francine Shaw: I've never had Nutella.
Matt Regusci: You've never had Nutella? Oh, Francine, you love chocolate.
Francine Shaw: I know, I've never had it.
Matt Regusci: It's like, I don't know if I should say it's healthy, but it's like a healthier version of chocolate. It's
Francine Shaw: Well, that explains why I've never had it. Good call, good call. Okay. So, these contain partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, trans fat, banned domestically, that is currently banned domestically, and is limited in many other countries like Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark.
Fresca, grapefruit flavored citrus drink. manufactured by Coca Cola. Oh my god. Contains plain retardant bromine to prevent the separation of ingredients. Bromine is banned in Europe. You put bromine in your hot tub.
Matt Regusci: You put bromide. Is
Francine Shaw: it the same? Oh bromide, it's not the same thing.
Matt Regusci: No. Frescas are good. I like frescas.
Now, we've moved just to soda water. If we're not, we used to drink a lot of fresca. Now we don't drink as much fresca. But fresca is good. I like fresca.
Francine Shaw: I remember my mom drinking it. That and squirt. I love squirt.
Matt Regusci: Yep. Squirt. Yep. It's also a citrus soda.
Francine Shaw: Pillsbury biscuits.
Matt Regusci: No kidding. Pillsbury biscuits?
Okay, so. I don't know if this is just a white trash thing, but do you guys have your make pigs in a blanket?
Francine Shaw: As an adult? No, but I know what they are Younger. Yes When we were kids, I remember having them you wrap the the dough around it. Yeah So
Matt Regusci: we don't use the biscuits as much we use the pillsbury croissants When the kid with hot dogs and vienna sausages too little sausages in the can real high class Oh my kids love it
Francine Shaw: I don't want to bust your bubble.
I don't think it's so much that I don't think they had the croissants when you were younger.
Matt Regusci: I just, you have more white trash options now is what you're trying to say, .
Francine Shaw: That's what I'm saying. There are more things to wrap around the hot dogs in the Vienna sausages than what there were when you were younger. Oh yeah.
I ate those when I was younger and the pot in me and the Vienna sausages and
Matt Regusci: spa.
Oh, I love those things. Spam. My kids love spam too. Why is it that those are banned?
Francine Shaw: The hydrogenated soybean oil.
Matt Regusci: Oh yeah. Okay. It's known to
Francine Shaw: cause heart and disease.
Matt Regusci: You know what's so fascinating? Like all of that was pumped down Americans for years about how margarine and There's vegetable oil. All this stuff is so much better for you than lard and butter.
And so whole wasps of generations changed their whole entire eating habits for that. And now everything's bad. That used to be what, what everybody just ate, which was just natural meat products and natural. Dairy products and natural grain products. Yeah. It's fascinating. It's
Francine Shaw: crazy.
Sun kissed soda, the dye, it's the dye issue.
I just made some of this last week. Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix.
Matt Regusci: Oh yes. That's like the best. Just
Francine Shaw: made it last week. They were really good. Again, hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil.
Matt Regusci: Dude, seriously, this is my pantry you're describing right now.
Francine Shaw: Well, Pillsbury pie crust.
Matt Regusci: Ruining Thanksgiving. What's going on here?
Can't do stuffing. Can't do brownies. Can't do Pillsbury pie crust.
Francine Shaw: The next one is another favorite of mine. If I get sick, when I was little, my mom always made us warm raspberry jello. I don't know if anybody else's mom made them that or not, but you wouldn't put it in the refrigerator and make it firm.
We would drink it liquid. If we were sick, like sick in our stomach or something. And now it's just like a comfort drink. Thing if I'm sick or like even when my kids were growing up. I did it for them But raspberry is my favorite. I don't like I love strawberries, but I don't like anything strawberry flavored, but I like the cherry and the raspberry Anyway, yeah raspberry jello is on here
Matt Regusci: raspberry jello.
What? Red dye
Francine Shaw: and high fructose Quartzer doritos like
Matt Regusci: doritos light.
Francine Shaw: Well last straw.
Matt Regusci: I don't even know what doritos light is You
Francine Shaw: I don't either. If I'm going to eat it, I don't eat a lot of light. Just going to eat it. Or be sourdough breakfast bread, croissant and French toast sticks. Arby's made
Matt Regusci: my kids love the French toast sticks.
Well, not at Arby's though. They'd love it.
Uh, I never grew up. Do you, do you find this like people who, as a child, you grew up around certain fast food places. Those are like your comfort places. My wife and I growing up in California, there were definitely some places We go to, but Arby's was never one of them.
It's not, I don't even really know. There's Arby's all around me now, but we never go to it just because we just didn't grow up with it. We're just like McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell. Taco Bell is like our comfort food. Did you grow up around Arby's? Was that a thing?
Francine Shaw: Well, okay, so I, in my young years, grew up where I live now and there was nothing here.
Yeah, that's true. So whenever we did go somewhere, it was McDonald's, which was 30 miles away, or Hardee's two,
Matt Regusci: which is where you worked at.
Francine Shaw: Those were the two.
Matt Regusci: So Carl's Jr. Or Right parties is Carl's Jr. Right now? Now,
Francine Shaw: yeah. Yes.
Matt Regusci: Yeah. So Carls Jr. Or McDonald's.
Francine Shaw: Yeah. Those were the two places that we went when I was, I.
If I go to fast food, it's Chick fil a.
Matt Regusci: Oh, yes. And that's interesting because we did not grow up with the Chick fil a around us, but there is, but our kids did. So our kids absolutely 100 percent love Chick fil a. And then I've had the pleasure of working with Chick fil a. Actually, I've worked with a lot of the fast food companies and Chick fil a is just legit.
They're just nice. Even when they criticize you nicely, you're like, wow,
Francine Shaw: they had a very good culture in general. They're they've just got an amazing culture. My kids grew up and I take them to the orthodontist because again, 30 minutes from where we lived afterwards, I would take them. Their appointments were usually in the morning afterwards.
We would go for lunch and we still talk about this today. They didn't like the same fast food. So my daughter wanted to go to Taco Bell. And then I would take my son someplace else because he didn't like Taco Bell. So it would end up being like Taco Bell and McDonald's or Taco Bell and something else.
She still loves Taco Bell. He still hates it, but he likes Burger King.
Matt Regusci: Yeah. So. There you go. That was a tangent.
Francine Shaw: Now that we've promoted half the quick service restaurants. Send us a check.
So genetically engineered papaya.
Matt Regusci: No kidding. And where is this banned? The EU?
Francine Shaw: It says in the United States and parts of Asia, farmers are cultivating virus resistant variants of the group.
These genetically engineered offshoots are legal to eat in the US and Canada, but illegal in the European Union.
Matt Regusci: It does not
Francine Shaw: say.
Matt Regusci: So, are they not? I need to research this further, but are they not accepting any GMO products in the EU? That would be very hard to get a lot of products if they're non GMO.
It's intriguing. Or are they just beating up fresh fruit? I would not be surprised, by the way, Matt's crystal ball looking into the future, I would not be surprised if we had a GMO version of a banana. Because a lot of bananas are, you've heard about this. Like a lot of bananas are susceptible to certain diseases that are killing off a lot of them.
And yeah, there's a lot of different variants of bananas, but they're one at which we all consume across the world. And that one is dying off. So I wouldn't be surprised if that were within the next decade. I don't have any insight into what Monsanto is doing, but I can't see what is dying and what the market for bananas are, and there's got to be a solution.
I know everybody does. Went from what's a banana a hundred years ago to like the most consumed fruit in the world.
Francine Shaw: They do allow GMOs.
Matt Regusci: It'd be very hard to get certain products that are not GMOs.
Francine Shaw: But only after they've Received authorization from the eu. So I'm not sure what the issue is. Got it.
Matt Regusci: The papaya lobby is not as big as the corn lobby.
Is that what we're apparently not learning?
Francine Shaw: Apparently not. .
Matt Regusci: Uh, that was poor papaya drummers.
Francine Shaw: Maybe we should research this and put a link to find out why the papaya.
Matt Regusci: I think we should have a whole nother episode on GMOs. That might be an interesting one.
Francine Shaw: It might be, I toast corn syrup. made from pure fructose sugar linked to a variety of ailments like obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Everything from beverages to cereals and ice cream. Not banned specifically in any country, but the UK and some European countries have restricted the products and placed them under quota limitations.
Farm raised salmon.
Matt Regusci: It's so fascinating with the farm raised salmon thing. It's so hard because on one side, everybody's freaking out because we're killing off the Wild fisheries.
And then on the flip side, everybody's beating up the people who are trying to figure out a solution of farming fish. I can like, come on. Like, how do we solve these problems? Cause people aren't going to stop eating fish. So I love salmon. I do too. I love salmon.
Francine Shaw: So when we were in Alaska, there were a lot of salmon and one of the places we went, you could see them jumping out of the water.
Oh, really? So cool. It was, oh my God, it was amazing. They were like, literally like jumping out of the water. Yeah. Chicken. Were you getting hungry
Matt Regusci: when you were watching them jump out of the water? Were you like, Ooh, time for lunch? I was
Francine Shaw: well fed at that point, but that doesn't, my family hunts and fishes and like, I don't have any problem watching fish.
and then cooking it.
Matt Regusci: My wife absolutely hates fish. She's allergic to shellfish. So she just, she doesn't eat fish at all, like nothing fishy. And then I do, my in laws do, they live with us and a lot of my kids like fish. So we have a rule. If we want to fillet and clean fish and cook fish, we had to do it outside.
Francine Shaw: So I'm going to change topic just a little bit. Did you have the anchovies or have a protein in them that's linked to shellfish?
Matt Regusci: No, I did not. So you could be allergic to shellfish and anchovies. Can you have a Worcestershire sauce and other things like that? Because a lot of that fish sauce have those.
Francine Shaw: I was reading this week about food allergens and anchovies are a hidden ingredient in Caesar salads.
Matt Regusci: Yes.
Francine Shaw: Because of the, yeah. And that's where I read it.
Matt Regusci: I love Caesar salad too. I love anchovies. You know what the problem is? I need to find something I don't like to eat. I like to eat everything. This is not good.
I found out why I weigh so much.
Francine Shaw: I like eating everything. I ate snails on our vacation.
Matt Regusci: Oh yes, I ate snails too. Yes, it was good. Anything with enough garlic and wine sauce tastes good. You could put a garlic wine sauce on cardboard. It would taste good.
Francine Shaw: Okay, we need to get back to what we're doing here.
Okay, chicken it's been chlorinated. So much of the chicken produced in the United States gets washed in chlorine to reduce the risk of spreading diseases and illness like salmonella. That's banned in the United Kingdom and the European Union because it promotes unsanitary farming practices.
Matt Regusci: Fascinating.
Francine Shaw: I like that.
Matt Regusci: That is fascinating. So it is not because of the chlorine. It's because of the unsanitary farming practices that need the interesting guts. Wow.
Francine Shaw: It forces the farmers to be more sanitary.
Matt Regusci: Well, that means they just don't get chicken from the United States. I don't know how you're going to
Francine Shaw: cram a million chickens in one little barn and be sanitary.
Yeah, you can't.
Matt Regusci: And that whole entire process owns the chicken industry. Our poultry industry is owned by four companies. Our meat industry is owned by four companies and they all have the same practices and they're all doing the same thing. So I don't agree with them, but it's, it is what it is. So there are, so we're obviously just not exporting chicken to they're getting them from Brazil or whatever.
Okay. Fine. Yeah. Okay.
Francine Shaw: Meet with.
Ractopamine? Ractopamine? Do you know what that is? No. In the United States, farmers use it to increase lean muscle growth in livestock, including 40 to 60 percent of American pigs. Elsewhere, 160 nations, including the European Union, Russia, and China banned the use of the drug.
Matt Regusci: Is it like a hormone?
Francine Shaw: Well, increased lean muscle growth. It must be, right?
Matt Regusci: Yeah, it's like BST. So I come from the dairy side of things. So they were shooting up cows with BST to make a milk more. And so a lot of countries, I think, banned milk with BST for the same reason.
Francine Shaw: No wonder people are getting sick.
Bread tainted with potassium bromate. Testing mermaid is added to bread dough as a strengthener that creates higher, higher rise, reduces baking time and costs and gives the finished loafs a bright white color. But the chemical is also linked to cancer, nervous system damage, kidney damage. Testing mermaid is banned in the United Kingdom, Canada, Peru, and many other countries, but it is still ubiquitous in many American bread products, including bagel chips.
Oh my God, I love bagel chips, rolls and even breadcrumbs. Dairy with R, B, S, T, or R, D, G hormones. And that's what you were talking about.
Matt Regusci: Yep. I figured that was going to be on that list after talking. So it probably is the hormone of pigs. Okay, so that is the end of it now?
Francine Shaw: I'm sure there are more, but that's also on my list.
Matt Regusci: But I think it's fascinating that the chlorine was banned, not because of the chlorine, which is good. We shouldn't be banning chlorine. Chlorine is a good way of, Getting rid of bacteria, right? Pretty effective. But that they weren't mad at the chlorine because of the chlorine. They're mad at the chlorine being used on a product that had unsanitary growing conditions.
That is a bureaucrat really thinking hard about the supply chain, which I gotta give him credit. But
Francine Shaw: these farmers would use cyclochlorous acid.
Matt Regusci: That's true. That's true. It depends on, yes, If the issue is finding chlorine on it, they still may find chlorine because there's chlorine. Well, okay.
Francine Shaw: So wait, the European Union has not yet approved that for food contact.
So that would not work.
Matt Regusci: Yeah. And then they may go, well, we still don't want it for chickens. It'll be interesting to see if, because it doesn't change the active ingredient. It changes the process. You know what we found out in this whole entire podcast, 40 minutes of talking about foods are banned in the United States.
And I have learned a I'm basically preserved and I should continue eating this in order to keep the preservatives going, or B, I am going to die of cancer. Don't even joke about that. Who's going to fill my spot, Francine. Okay. So we've discussed this. God, you have to go solo. Yeah, probably. I'm one in a million Francine.
Same with you. Same with you.
Francine Shaw: Okay. So
Matt Regusci: I think we've killed this. Nothing on here was about Donnie Pooh, except for maybe the chlorine chicken take that definitely that process is definitely a lot of poop on that.
Francine Shaw: So something though, something though, while I was on my vacation, the first part of the vacation, we took our family, children and grandchildren to Florida.
And then after that, my husband and I went away. We left from Seattle to go on a vacation. A cruise and it was Royal Caribbean and we went to Alaska and British Columbia. And I was super impressed that throughout the ship, they had signs like marquees, basically telling people to wash their hands, like people to wash their hands and just different reminders.
About hygiene, I took some pictures and I was surprised. The salad bar, I don't do buffets, just by choice, I don't do buffets. But my husband went down, we went down to the buffet area a couple times. The chef made the salad, you told them what you wanted on it, they were behind a glass. Yeah, they made the salads.
There was nowhere that I saw where consumers or guests were reaching in and touching things. Ah! Impressed. Hand sanitizer everywhere.
Matt Regusci: The cruise lines have to be pretty high with sanitization now though. That norovirus outbreak after outbreak just killed the industry.
Francine Shaw: So there are a few cruise lines too in particular that haven't had any outbreaks since COVID.
They basically just revamped the way they were doing things and I was thoroughly impressed with this cruise line and the way they are just handling sanitation with, from what I could see, in my perspective. Doing what we do, we know a lot, but yeah, I was just impressed with the way that they were handling the sanitation procedures and the food service areas in particular.
Matt Regusci: Yeah,
Francine Shaw: very impressed.
Matt Regusci: I've been on a cruise. In 20, let's see how long have my wife and I been married 23 years. Yeah.
Francine Shaw: I've been on a few different cruise lines in probably the last five years. Cause I have a friend that loves to go and she had talked me into going on a few and I've been with different lines. There's lights. There's definitely a difference.
Matt Regusci: Yeah. Oh, a hundred
Francine Shaw: percent. There's a difference.
Matt Regusci: Beat up and then COVID.
Oh gosh.
Francine Shaw: Between cruise lines.
Matt Regusci: Oh, I see what you're saying. Not a difference in time, but also a difference in cruise lines and how they manage it. There
Francine Shaw: is with that as well, because I was on one of the last cruises that was at sea prior to COVID, like one of the last one or two that came back because we were concerned we weren't going to be allowed back prior to COVID, but also a difference in cruise lines.
Matt Regusci: Got it.
So I was looking up the articles, so funny, looking up some of the, some of the stuff on band foods that we were talking about. And the advertisements today where it's like, what do they call that? Where it's re engaging advertising, where if you've been on somebody's website, then all of a sudden, when you show up on a new website, like their advertising showed up.
It's so funny. I definitely spend a lot of time on my client's website because I keep seeing their ads pop up like, Oh, okay. I had nothing to do with this at all. My clients probably eat way better than I do. I'm sure of that because they're amazing products, everything on clean label project, amazing products, absolutely amazing products.
Francine Shaw: So maybe you should shop. Yes.
Matt Regusci: I'm learning that on this, this one podcast alone made me realize that I need to eat a lot more of my clients products. Because
Francine Shaw: clearly, you know, what is in their products.
Matt Regusci: I do. I test them.
Francine Shaw: There you go. All
Matt Regusci: right. Yeah, I actually do. I love my clients products. And I, it's interesting because 40 percent of my clients are baby products.
So definitely buy those for my babies. But yeah, I'm not eating a lot of baby food right now. So doesn't quite fit my profile. Well, on that note, let's not eat poop or I don't know. I'm still going to eat a lot of these banned foods. These are really good. Don't eat poop.