Is your wheat toast a weapon waiting to happen?
In this eye-opening episode of the Don't Eat Poop!, our hosts Francine and Matt unpack a disturbing real-world threat: the smuggling of a biological weapon-grade fungus into the U.S. food system.
From fusarium head blight to potential global famine, they connect the dots between agroterrorism, supply chain vulnerabilities, and why food safety professionals need to think like defense strategists. It’s not paranoia, it’s preparedness.
In this episode:
💩 [04:38] Francine and Matt recap their global webinar on the future of food safety
💩 [05:11] Bioterrorism: Why internal threats are often more dangerous than external ones
💩 [06:55] The case of the Chinese doctoral students smuggling fusarium head blight (FHB) into U.S. labs
💩 [08:52] A breakdown of FHB’s economic and food security impact
💩 [13:37] Global catastrophe potential: How disrupting the Western Hemisphere’s grain supply could trigger a worldwide famine
💩 [17:25] Could bioterrorism reverse decades of food production efficiency?
💩 [22:55] What food producers and processors can (and can’t) do
💩 [31:50] Why training and trust alone won’t cut it
Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.
Resources from this episode
Check out this past episode on food terrorism: Some Growing Food Safety Threats That Most Don’t Think About But Can Gravely Affect Your Facility | Episode 116
Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“ I don't think we have to have a nuclear war in order to kill every human being in the United States. A bioterrorist war would do it,” – Matt Regusci
“ I truly believed that everybody just operated to the best of their ability and cared about what they served and how they served it. It was so eye-opening for me when I became an inspector and realized that that was not the case.” – Francine L Shaw
We hope you enjoy this episode!
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