November 28, 2025 • 12 mins
George Noory and food safety expert Jeff Nelken discuss tips for keeping food safe during the holidays, why there has a been a recent increase in the number of food recalls, and the surprising dangers associated with pet food.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here's a highlight from Coast to coast AM on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to our Thanksgiving night program. George nor
with you. Jeff Nelkin with US, a certified manager and
food Safety Coach expert with thirty five years of experience
and hospitality and food safety feels. He's worked with the
networks as well as restaurants, casinos, and food manufacturers. Jeff,
Happy Thanksgiving now is everything?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thank you very I just look forward not to receiving
any negative phone calls. Why would you Well, when people
you get sloppy and they don't pay attention, you know
to the food that they've been working with and handling
it and putting it away and leaving it out, it
(00:47):
just leaves it, you know, susceptible, you know, to the
environmental organisms.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And what are we going to do with all our
Thanksgiving leftovers? What do you recommend?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well, I would say a couple of things. The first
thing I'd love people to do is get a thermometer
so that they have a thermometer that they can use,
not the meat thermometer, but a thermometer that they can
test temperatures, so that they know what they're doing and
that they can check food temperatures and be aware of
(01:21):
time and relationship to the temperature. So in most cases
people have refrigerators, and several years ago we randomly went
to people's homes and the home refrigerator was running between
forty five and fifty degrees, which is not as safe
(01:42):
as it should be. So I really would like people
to have a thermometer in their refrigerators at home so
that they can see that their refrigerators are running at
forty degrees or below, which is a safe temperature, because
once we start going above forty back to here is
more susceptible to reproducing.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Jeff, what do you think that the lifeesp to spin
is on a refrigerator if you buy one.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It's a good question because it's in relationship to how
many times you open the door, leave the door open,
looking at the gaskets around the edges because they tend
to wear out, and if you don't replace the gaskets,
then the warm air can get in, and you know,
spoilage can start rather quickly. But it's like a car,
(02:33):
you know, it needs to be looked after, you know,
every couple of years, and maybe once a year, have
somebody take a look at it and make sure that
you know you've cleaned out the unit and the unit's
working efficiently, and that you have your thermometer in there
and it's running forty degrees or below, then you know
(02:54):
you're running in a safe situation. But when you're running
at you know, forty two for three fifty forty five
point fifty, you know we're running a risky situation.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
That really makes a difference if it raises the temperatures
a little.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Bit, absolutely, you know, because over time you're talking about
how many times did you leave the door open, how
long do you leave the door open? Are you putting
hot food in the refrigerator? So there are several variables
that you know, we need to pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
All things considered, if you've got a decent running refrigerator,
how long will turkey last in there from leftovers?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Again, it depends on how you handled it before you
put it into the refrigerator, because most people, you know,
leave food out for hours and hours, and I try
to train people to think about like two hour windows
and put out food for two hours, not to put
(04:00):
out food that's going to be on the table for
four or five hours, because then you were expanding the
window of risk.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
You know, we talk a lot with you about food
safety recalls every week, Jeff, and it seems like more
and more products are being recalled. What's happening to the
safety of our food system.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I think a lot of it is getting better at it,
and that's why you're hearing more of it. So that
for example, there was just recently a the company name
is buy Heart. They do, you know, the powdered support
(04:46):
systems for the children, and it's been a problem with botulism.
So if people have any buy Heart products, I certainly
want them to pay attention to there's a botulism recall,
and there's a number for you to call by Heart
(05:09):
which is eight sixty six two oh one nine oh six'
nine if you have any products or any. Questions because
botulism is a very interesting. Symptom the symptoms start looking
along the line of the baby not responding the way
(05:30):
the baby was used to, responding and it comes kind of,
uh issues of, swallowing you, know loss of facial. Movements
so the botulism is a serious issue and you shouldn't
wait too long and call your doctor and let them
know that you have some concerns about the baby looking
(05:53):
and acting the way it's not normally.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Responding, JEFF i bought a little box of strawberries a
couple days, ago AND i noticed that over a few days,
later it started to develop a little white fuzziness on
the on the. Strawberries what the heck is?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
That, well you, know keep in mind that a lot
of the fruit that you know has been, out uh you,
know in the field and people are handling, it and,
uh you know it's mold is you, know not visually,
there but over time it starts multiplying and the mold
(06:33):
starts to get, fuzzy and it's kind of letting you
know that it's time for you to get rid of
those strawberries big.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Time WHEN i, DID i heave them up then off they.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Go well.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Again you, Know heating up the food is a good
thing to, do especially if you've had food out for
an hour or two and you've had it in the,
refrigerator you, know going three four. Days What i'd like
everyone to do is always reheat food to what at
least one sixty five so that you, know if there
any bacteria or pathogens you, know on the. Food the
(07:12):
one sixty five will kill.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
It how do we know that it's the food that's
making us sick as opposed to something in the.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Environment that's always a fair and good question because people
always will tell, Me, OH i ate this restaurant and
the food didn't look, right it didn't taste, right that's
what made me. Sick, well in most cases the situation
goes back at least twenty four to forty eight seventy two.
(07:42):
Hours what else did you? Eat just because something didn't
taste right or look. Right isn't necessarily you know the
pointer that that's what made you. Sick so it's something
that one has to, study especially when you're dealing with single.
Individuals if you, have for, example a handful of people
(08:04):
that have a similar situation and they ate the same,
foods then it becomes a different. Story but the single
incidents are very challenging to nail.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Down we're talking this hour with food safety Coach Jeff.
Nelkin we're going to take calls With jeff in a,
moment by the, way so get ready for that and
ask him any kind of question you. Want, jeff we
don't talk a lot about pet. Food do they get contamidated? Much?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yo i'm glad you brought it up because it's something
That i've been involved with for a couple of, years
and it's something THAT i never paid attention. To but
just to give you a rough, story about seven eight years,
ago there were doggie treats coming From china and about
(08:55):
a thousand dogs ended up with kidney. Problems what they
found out was that The chinese had added a secret
ingredient called, melamine which is the ingredient that they put into,
plates you know when you drop the plates so they don't.
Crack so this melamine basically they wanted to show us
(09:22):
In america that we put high protein in the pet,
food so you're really getting super duper pet food from.
Us and that melamine really was very hard on the
kidneys of the dogs and they became quite. Ill so
it's very important from the snacks to the food that
(09:44):
you feed your, pets check the ingredients against you know
what's on the, list and make sure that those lists
have been verified because a lot of times they different
people will add ingredient and you, know you really don't
know what you're feeding your. Pet so you really we
(10:06):
all need to do better jobs at as we check for,
ourselves we need to start checking for our.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Pets is the dry food for, pets kibbles and things
like that generally safer than stuff in the.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Can that was something new THAT i was being exposed
to myself that a lot of the, kibble the dry,
food when you look at the ingredients that go into,
it can be from all parts of the. Animal so
that now you end up, with you, know the old
(10:43):
saying that we never throw anything away from the beak
to the. Tail so what that happens in the same
making of the kibble that the kibble can be the
mixture can now have anything and everything, involved and then
they put the product through a drying process or a cooking,
(11:06):
process and that may not kill all the toxins in
the bacteria that could be available in the pet. Food
so the idea of kibble is that there may not
be a kill step in the making of the, kibble
and that could be detrimental to the. Pet so again
(11:27):
it's something you want to check and make sure, that
in the comparatively speaking you know to canned, food that
you understand the processing and that the canning of the
food is done, correctly because if you notice that the
cans are, rusty or if you know that the lids are,
(11:48):
bloated those are signs of.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Spoilage listen to More coast To COAST am every weeknight
at one a. M eastern and go To coast to
coastam dot com for more
Now here's a highlight from Coast to coast AM on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to our Thanksgiving night program. George nor
with you. Jeff Nelkin with US, a certified manager and
food Safety Coach expert with thirty five years of experience
and hospitality and food safety feels. He's worked with the
networks as well as restaurants, casinos, and food manufacturers. Jeff,
Happy Thanksgiving now is everything?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thank you very I just look forward not to receiving
any negative phone calls. Why would you Well, when people
you get sloppy and they don't pay attention, you know
to the food that they've been working with and handling
it and putting it away and leaving it out, it
(00:47):
just leaves it, you know, susceptible, you know, to the
environmental organisms.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And what are we going to do with all our
Thanksgiving leftovers? What do you recommend?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well, I would say a couple of things. The first
thing I'd love people to do is get a thermometer
so that they have a thermometer that they can use,
not the meat thermometer, but a thermometer that they can
test temperatures, so that they know what they're doing and
that they can check food temperatures and be aware of
(01:21):
time and relationship to the temperature. So in most cases
people have refrigerators, and several years ago we randomly went
to people's homes and the home refrigerator was running between
forty five and fifty degrees, which is not as safe
(01:42):
as it should be. So I really would like people
to have a thermometer in their refrigerators at home so
that they can see that their refrigerators are running at
forty degrees or below, which is a safe temperature, because
once we start going above forty back to here is
more susceptible to reproducing.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Jeff, what do you think that the lifeesp to spin
is on a refrigerator if you buy one.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It's a good question because it's in relationship to how
many times you open the door, leave the door open,
looking at the gaskets around the edges because they tend
to wear out, and if you don't replace the gaskets,
then the warm air can get in, and you know,
spoilage can start rather quickly. But it's like a car,
(02:33):
you know, it needs to be looked after, you know,
every couple of years, and maybe once a year, have
somebody take a look at it and make sure that
you know you've cleaned out the unit and the unit's
working efficiently, and that you have your thermometer in there
and it's running forty degrees or below, then you know
(02:54):
you're running in a safe situation. But when you're running
at you know, forty two for three fifty forty five
point fifty, you know we're running a risky situation.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
That really makes a difference if it raises the temperatures
a little.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Bit, absolutely, you know, because over time you're talking about
how many times did you leave the door open, how
long do you leave the door open? Are you putting
hot food in the refrigerator? So there are several variables
that you know, we need to pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
All things considered, if you've got a decent running refrigerator,
how long will turkey last in there from leftovers?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Again, it depends on how you handled it before you
put it into the refrigerator, because most people, you know,
leave food out for hours and hours, and I try
to train people to think about like two hour windows
and put out food for two hours, not to put
(04:00):
out food that's going to be on the table for
four or five hours, because then you were expanding the
window of risk.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
You know, we talk a lot with you about food
safety recalls every week, Jeff, and it seems like more
and more products are being recalled. What's happening to the
safety of our food system.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I think a lot of it is getting better at it,
and that's why you're hearing more of it. So that
for example, there was just recently a the company name
is buy Heart. They do, you know, the powdered support
(04:46):
systems for the children, and it's been a problem with botulism.
So if people have any buy Heart products, I certainly
want them to pay attention to there's a botulism recall,
and there's a number for you to call by Heart
(05:09):
which is eight sixty six two oh one nine oh six'
nine if you have any products or any. Questions because
botulism is a very interesting. Symptom the symptoms start looking
along the line of the baby not responding the way
(05:30):
the baby was used to, responding and it comes kind of,
uh issues of, swallowing you, know loss of facial. Movements
so the botulism is a serious issue and you shouldn't
wait too long and call your doctor and let them
know that you have some concerns about the baby looking
(05:53):
and acting the way it's not normally.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Responding, JEFF i bought a little box of strawberries a
couple days, ago AND i noticed that over a few days,
later it started to develop a little white fuzziness on
the on the. Strawberries what the heck is?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
That, well you, know keep in mind that a lot
of the fruit that you know has been, out uh you,
know in the field and people are handling, it and,
uh you know it's mold is you, know not visually,
there but over time it starts multiplying and the mold
(06:33):
starts to get, fuzzy and it's kind of letting you
know that it's time for you to get rid of
those strawberries big.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Time WHEN i, DID i heave them up then off they.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Go well.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Again you, Know heating up the food is a good
thing to, do especially if you've had food out for
an hour or two and you've had it in the,
refrigerator you, know going three four. Days What i'd like
everyone to do is always reheat food to what at
least one sixty five so that you, know if there
any bacteria or pathogens you, know on the. Food the
(07:12):
one sixty five will kill.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
It how do we know that it's the food that's
making us sick as opposed to something in the.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Environment that's always a fair and good question because people
always will tell, Me, OH i ate this restaurant and
the food didn't look, right it didn't taste, right that's
what made me. Sick, well in most cases the situation
goes back at least twenty four to forty eight seventy two.
(07:42):
Hours what else did you? Eat just because something didn't
taste right or look. Right isn't necessarily you know the
pointer that that's what made you. Sick so it's something
that one has to, study especially when you're dealing with single.
Individuals if you, have for, example a handful of people
(08:04):
that have a similar situation and they ate the same,
foods then it becomes a different. Story but the single
incidents are very challenging to nail.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Down we're talking this hour with food safety Coach Jeff.
Nelkin we're going to take calls With jeff in a,
moment by the, way so get ready for that and
ask him any kind of question you. Want, jeff we
don't talk a lot about pet. Food do they get contamidated? Much?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yo i'm glad you brought it up because it's something
That i've been involved with for a couple of, years
and it's something THAT i never paid attention. To but
just to give you a rough, story about seven eight years,
ago there were doggie treats coming From china and about
(08:55):
a thousand dogs ended up with kidney. Problems what they
found out was that The chinese had added a secret
ingredient called, melamine which is the ingredient that they put into,
plates you know when you drop the plates so they don't.
Crack so this melamine basically they wanted to show us
(09:22):
In america that we put high protein in the pet,
food so you're really getting super duper pet food from.
Us and that melamine really was very hard on the
kidneys of the dogs and they became quite. Ill so
it's very important from the snacks to the food that
(09:44):
you feed your, pets check the ingredients against you know
what's on the, list and make sure that those lists
have been verified because a lot of times they different
people will add ingredient and you, know you really don't
know what you're feeding your. Pet so you really we
(10:06):
all need to do better jobs at as we check for,
ourselves we need to start checking for our.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Pets is the dry food for, pets kibbles and things
like that generally safer than stuff in the.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Can that was something new THAT i was being exposed
to myself that a lot of the, kibble the dry,
food when you look at the ingredients that go into,
it can be from all parts of the. Animal so
that now you end up, with you, know the old
(10:43):
saying that we never throw anything away from the beak
to the. Tail so what that happens in the same
making of the kibble that the kibble can be the
mixture can now have anything and everything, involved and then
they put the product through a drying process or a cooking,
(11:06):
process and that may not kill all the toxins in
the bacteria that could be available in the pet. Food
so the idea of kibble is that there may not
be a kill step in the making of the, kibble
and that could be detrimental to the. Pet so again
(11:27):
it's something you want to check and make sure, that
in the comparatively speaking you know to canned, food that
you understand the processing and that the canning of the
food is done, correctly because if you notice that the
cans are, rusty or if you know that the lids are,
(11:48):
bloated those are signs of.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Spoilage listen to More coast To COAST am every weeknight
at one a. M eastern and go To coast to
coastam dot com for more
The Best of Coast to Coast AM News
Host
George Noory
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