Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole

Data matters. Regulations matter. Technology matters. But sometimes the most useful thing you can hear is another person saying, Here’s what we tried. Here’s what went wrong. Here’s what surprised us. And here’s what we learned.

In Episode 17, Darin and Gennette sit down with Rick Biros, President of Food Safety Tech and Conference Director of the Food Safety Consortium Conference & Expo, for a co...

This week, we traded the studio for a campsite in Kings Canyon National Park complete with a crackling fire, no Wi-Fi, and a bear that got a little closer to the tent than Gennette would have preferred. Apparently, you can take the Food Safety A**Hole out of the studio, but you can’t take food safety out of the conversation.

From bear-proof food lockers and questionable river water to recalls, sprouts, and a potluck where the ...

Though the original plan was to wait until Darin and Gennette returned from IAFP in New Orleans before releasing another episode, the chaotic and fast-moving Cyclospora outbreak made that impossible. As new and conflicting information seemed to emerge by the hour, Darin realized there was an opportunity to take the conversation in a direction beyond the what and how. 

The episode begins with a candid discussion of the unfolding...

After an unexpected six-week break, we’re back and we have a lot to catch up on. From road trips through Michigan and TEDx milestones to retirement announcements and cereal box nostalgia, this episode takes a few classic Confessions detours before diving into a much bigger question: What happens in the space between knowing something is wrong and actually doing something about it?

Darin breaks down The Certainty Gap the co...

In this special “On the Road” edition of Confessions of a Food Safety A-Hole, Darin and Gennette head north on California’s 101 toward Salinas for the Western Food Safety Conference: recording live from the car, and even the Renaissance Fair along the way.  What starts as a road trip becomes a deeper conversation about food safety leadership, storytelling, state-by-state policy inconsistencies, and the people...

Social media has a food safety problem; and it’s not subtle.

In this episode of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Darin and Gennette dig into the weird, messy reality of how people decide what’s “safe” to eat based on not the most credible person but the most entertaining.

From viral “life hacks” that make you question humanity…to influencers selling unsafe products…to comment...

⚠️ Spoiler Alert
This episode contains major spoilers for the AppleTV show Pluribus. If you haven’t watched it yet and want to go in blind, you may want to pause on listening to this episode and come back later.

In Episode 11 of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Gennette challenges Darin to unpack the noticeable shift in his writing and what’s driving it. What started as personal storytelling has evolved into som...

A morning walk. A stack of food deliveries left on a curb. No one around. And over the course of a few days, that realization that something about it isn’t right.

In this episode, we follow a thread, one that starts at curbside deliveries and missing accountability and moves into the parallels between failures in food safety and a 1947 Arthur Miller play.

What starts as an observation turns into a series of conversations; with ...

When it comes to failures in food safety, accountability isn’t just legal; it’s cultural, ethical, and deeply personal. Fines get paid. Headlines fade. But is anyone really held accountable? In this episode Darin and Gennette are joined by Bill Marler for a raw, honest conversation about economic penalties, prison sentences, public health secrecy, and the culture of “it wasn’t me.” We talk about insula...

Welcome back. Episode 8 opens 2026 with a single focus: leadership, leadership, and more leadership. When the stakes are high, do leaders rise to the moment, or do they take the easier path that creates bigger problems later?

Darin reflects on recent meetings in Washington, D.C. with FDA and USDA officials around recall readiness, using real-world analogies to explore why preparation on paper is not the same as being ready when it c...

Episode 7 wraps the year with the kind of energy only this podcast can deliver. Gennette and Darin look back on a whirlwind season and take listeners behind the scenes of Darin’s fourth trip to the Dubai International Food Safety Conference. From camel mishaps to unexpected main-stage moments, the conversation jumps between humor, travel memories, and the deeper truth that food safety always follows them home.

This episode al...

Four Horseman and Dolly and Poop Podcast! OH MY! This episode is a full-on poo-poo platter: part chaos, part confessional, and part tribute to the people holding the line in food safety. Darin and Gennette debrief from the Food Safety Consortium, where Darin joined the “Four Horsemen” panel of Poisoned voices. They talk documentary aftermath, public apathy, and going viral for all the wrong reasons.

Plus, U.S. Air Force...

In Episode 05 of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Gennette turns the mic on her co-host, Dr. Darin Detwiler, for a deep-dive (literally) into the making of his serialized New Food Magazine story, Silent Enemies. It’s part interview, part retrospective, part "what was I thinking?" and all about the invisible forces that shape both our food systems and our sense of responsibility.

From submarine reactor rooms to food safet...

In Episode 04 of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Gennette Zimmer and Dr. Darin Detwiler open with a check-in and an invitation behind the scenes. They reflect on what it means to be four episodes in, the surprising ways listeners are responding, and the purpose that keeps them showing up (even when things go off script).

The conversation flows into a thoughtful unpacking of their “Four A’s” framework: awaren...

In Episode 03 of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Gennette Zimmer and Dr. Darin Detwiler open with a moment of quiet gravity: the ten-year anniversary of the Peanut Corporation of America trial. They reflect on what that landmark case meant not just in terms of legal precedent, but in human cost. It’s a sober look at how accountability in food safety is still the exception, not the rule.

Later, Darin and Gennette are exc...

In Episode 02 of Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole, Gennette Zimmer and Dr. Darin Detwiler dive into the strange dualities of this work—how legacy sometimes shows up in the form of a bad buffet, and how an awkward moment in a banquet hall can become a defining memory.

From fielding fan selfies at a food safety conference to being recognized by a comedian at a random show in LA, the conversation become a reflection on what ...

In this kickoff episode, Gennette Zimmer and Dr. Darin Detwiler pull back the curtain on what it really means to be a “food safety a-hole”—and why that label, while uncomfortable, might actually be a badge of honor. Darin shares his deeply personal origin story: the 1993 E. coli outbreak that took the life of his young son and catapulted him into a decades-long career advocating for safer food practices. The conve...