238 Road Rash

Cheesy and Fondue talk cheese tragedy on the roads. We talk about a recent cheese truck crash. We find out what happens to damaged cheese and if it can be salvaged. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

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Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

https://www.npr.org/2017/07/03/535408557/damaged-goods-how-a-truck-accident-leads-to-cheap-cheese

https://www.today.com/food/news/nacho-cheese-spill-arkansas-highway-rcna97797

https://dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/food-safety/food-salvage.html

https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/surplus-salvaged-and-donated-foods

https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/how-dispose-contaminated-or-spoiled-food

https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/guidance-industry-sanitary-transportation-food

https://pearl.insurance/cargo-insurance-101-protecting-your-freight-from-dock-to-door/

https://foodrescue.us/about/faqs/

https://www.2harvest.org/about-us/programs-services/food-rescue

https://www.usda.gov/about-food/food-safety/food-loss-and-waste/donating

Wikipedia / Food Rescue

https://policyfinder.refed.org/federal-policy/federal-liability-protection

This Week in Cheese

https://abc17news.com/news/cooper/2026/06/04/cheese-truck-crash-snags-traffic-on-interstate-70/

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
I'm Cheesy.
In this week's episode, we'retalking all about cheese tragedy
on the road.
Oh, no.
We're gonna talk about arecent truck crash.
We are.
We're gonna find out whathappens to damaged cheese and if

(00:22):
it can be salvaged.
What?
And of course, we're gonnatell a very cheesy joke. Of course.
Stay tuned for road rash onJust Cheesy the po. I love it when
we start off with my favoritesegment this week. This whole episode
is built on an article I readthis week. According to ABC's 17

(00:46):
News, a tractor trailer loadedwith cheese crashed on i70 westbound
on the west side of Boonvilleon Thursday.
Oh, no.
Fortunately, the driver worehis seatbelt and had minor injuries.
But that cheese is. It wasn'tas lucky. The walls of the trailer
were utterly destroyed, andthe cargo was visible all over the
road. The cheese inside wassealed in packages and it was wrapped

(01:10):
on pallets. But it becamevisible to every single passing car.
Oh, no.
On one of the busiest highwaysin the Midwest.
Oh, boy.
Highway patrol responded.Cleanup crews were called. Traffic
slowed to a crawl.
Oh, boy.
And of course, the cheesebecame a public spectacle.
Of course.
But this is not as unusual anoccurrence as one might think.
It isn't.
We've covered type of incidentmany, many times on this show.

(01:33):
Oh, yeah.
In fact, a quick review of theInternet for any other crashes in
the last 10 years. Well,there's quite a few.
There are.
Nacho cheese was spilled allacross a highway in Arkansas in 2023,
2025. Hundreds of boxes ofmozzarella spilled in Pennsylvania.
In 2024, 35,000 pounds ofcheese spilled in Vermont.

(01:54):
Wow.
2016 was an active year withOregon coming in at 40,000 pounds
of shredded spilled cheese. Inat 20 tons of cheese spilled in New
South Wales.
Whoa.
Food truck spills are commonenough to have their own recurring
news format.
They are.
Driver error, equipmentfailure, weather, or road conditions

(02:15):
can all lead to a trailerlosing its load. Cheese is dense,
it's heavy, it's usuallyshipped in large quantities, and
it's kind of visually dramaticwhen it spills. And while this seems
like a lot, there is anenormous volume of cheese transported
worldwide every day.
Every day.
So it would be reasonable toestimate that dozens, perhaps, or

(02:35):
a few hundred cheese carryingtrucks have been involved in crashes
globally over the last 10 years.
Oh, yeah.

(03:32):
Not a single cheese factorythat transports cheese is a sponsor.
But when they are. Their adwill go right here. So, given that
I've heard of quite a few ofthese different cheese accidents,
I wondered what happens to itwhen it gets damaged?
Yeah, what happens?
According to NPR's coverage ofa previous cheese truck accident,
the moment a crash isreported, two calls go out almost

(03:53):
simultaneously. One, ofcourse, goes to emergency services,
of course. The other to acargo insurance adjuster. NPR described
a senior claims adjuster whogot in his car with a camera and
a recorder the morning after acheese truck crash, and he headed
straight to the scene.
He did.
His job was not to help withthe crash, but to figure out what

(04:13):
the cheese is worth, whatcondition it's in, and what can be
recovered. And according tothe Pearl Insurance Cargo Coverage
Guide, standard cargoinsurance for food transport includes
coverage for debris removal,meaning the cost to clean up the
spilled product after anaccident. It also coverage spoilage
in cases where refrigerationunits fail.

(04:35):
Okay.
And they say that the truckingcompany's insurer and the cargo owner's
insurer both have a financialinterest on how much of the load
can be saved. The more thatcan be salvaged or sold, the less
the total claim.
Okay.
I literally had no idea thatthey would actually salvage and sell
this material.
Me neither.
Once the adjuster arrives, theassessment begins. According to NPR's

(04:57):
cover coverage of Mike Mentuk,a professional food salvage operator,
the salvage business existsprecisely for moments like this.
So Mentuk described his workas dealing with millions of dollars
worth of slightly damagedgoods after truck overturns and warehouse
fires. This included lobster,shrimp, haddock, and cheese.
Okay.
His job is to get those goodsback into the marketplace and save

(05:20):
insurance companies money inthe process.
Okay.
I am over here mentallythinking about road debris in my
cheese. I. I'm just surprisedis all.
Yep.
According to the IllinoisDepartment of Health food salvage
regulations, food that becomesdistressed after a truck rack fire
or flood can potentially besalvaged. According to the idph,

(05:40):
distressed items typicallyneed reconditioning, repackaging,
or relabeling to be sold assalvage. Illinois requires specific
salvage license for operationsthat buy, sell, and distribute food
salvaged from accidents. Thank goodness.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, yeah.
They say that other stateshave similar frameworks.
Oh, good.
The basic question an adjusterand a salvage operator asking is,

(06:01):
was the food in sealed,intact, undamaged packaging?
I hope.
I hope so.
Yeah.
Was it exposed to the roaddebris and contaminants? I hope not.
And was it kept at the righttemperature? Was the cold chain broken?
Apparently, if the temperaturenever got too warm. The food is potentially
still safe. If the trailer wasa refrigerated unit and the reefer
kept running after the crash,the cheese may be completely fine

(06:24):
inside.
Sure.
Even if the trailer is destroyed.
Okay.
Wow. And According to theFDA's guidance on sanitary food transport,
the owner of the product isresponsible for assessing its condition
after an accident, and theydetermine whether it can be salvaged,
donated, or disposed of. Theysay here the FDA can advise and observe,

(06:44):
but they do not typically makethe decision for the owner unless
the product is seized.However, they do have some specific
guidelines on disposing ofcontaminated or spoiled food.
Oh, good.
So basically, sealed packagingsurvives. Exposed food does not.
Okay.
FDA has a surplus and salvagefood guidance. Cheese in a wax coating
or sealed plastic bag thatremained intact through a crash was

(07:06):
never exposed to theenvironment, can be inspected, cleaned,
and potentially resold througha licensed salvage operation at a
discount.
Okay.
So this is the kind of stuffthat ends up in the discount grocery
stores, food salvage stores,or other bargain outlets. The food
that cannot be salvaged goesone of three ways, according to the
fda. Landfill, incineration,or. Or rendering.

(07:27):
What's rendering?
I'm so glad you asked.Rendering is the process of converting
food waste into animal feed.Ingredients, fats, and oils. And
according to the renderingindustry, cheese and dairy products
are among the most commonlyrendered food waste products because
their fat content makes themvaluable as animal feed components.
So even if the cheese can't besafe for humans, it often ends up

(07:49):
feeding animals. Can it be donated?
Can it?
The Bill Emerson GoodSamaritan Food Donation act was passed
in 1996.
Okay.
The goal was to get food intothe hands of needy individuals at
zero cost or very reducedprices. This food helps to divert
food waste from landfills andput food in places like soup kitchens

(08:11):
and food banks, pantries, andshelters. The food typically comes
from restaurants, caterers,corporate dining rooms, college campuses,
hotels, and other foodestablishments. Really? And this
is pretty important. In 2022,the UN reported 1 billion tons of
food was wasted at the retailfood service and household level.
About 19% of to consumers waswasted, and about 13% of the world's

(08:34):
total available food was lostin the supply chain.
Like the stolen Kit Kat.
Just like those Kit Kats.You're right.
Yeah.
So we don't actually know theoutcome of that Missouri State accident.
By the time the cleanup wascomplete, several hours had passed
since the crash. Whether therefrigeration unit kept running or
whether the packaging stayedintact and whether the temperature
held are all questions onlythe adjuster and the cargo owner

(08:57):
can answer. The cheese mayhave been salvaged, it may have been
rendered, and it might besitting in a discount grocery store
in Boonville right now.
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay, what did the reportercall the overturned cheese truck?
Ooh, I don't know.
A wheelie. Big problem.
That's not the joke I expected.
Okay, you mean you werethinking of one like this? Okay,

(09:19):
did you hear about the cheesetruck that crashed on the highway?
Oh, yeah.
Observers say nothing was leftbut debris. You get it? De Brie.
Now, that was funny.
I know it was funny. And alittle bit cheesy. Thanks for listening
to Just Cheesy, the podcastepisode Road Rash.

(09:41):
Thank you.
From an interstate crash to adiscount shelf somewhere, cheese
has a longer journey thananyone thinks.
Oh, yeah.
To hear more stories likethis, find [e-mail] or wherever
you get your podcast.
And stay cheesy, everybody.