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his summer's record cyclosporiasis outbreak did something unusual: it took money out of companies that had nothing to do with it. Five food companies cut or constrained guidance over the outbreak. None of them served the contaminated product.
Hal King has worked every side of that problem — CDC outbreak investigator, architect of an enterprise food safety management program at a major national chain, and now founder of Active Food Safety, advising the largest foodservice brands in the country. He's the author of the definitive books on food safety management systems, with a new one coming on food safety business leadership.
We talk about what actually happens inside a brand in the first hours of an outbreak, the five inputs a real predictive risk model would need, why CDC's confirmed case counts understate the true number by a factor of 83, how insurers could price food safety the way they price slip-and-fall risk today, and why a public health advisory — not the pathogen — decides whether an outbreak becomes a supplier story or a brand story.
Recorded live on September 8, 2026.
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What is Risky Science Podcast?
The Risky Science Podcast features conversations with scientists, insurers, investors, portfolio managers, and others about the evolving science of predicting and modeling risk across both natural and man-made perils.