Food Safety Talk 79: You’re Into Botulism Country (with Merlin Mann)

Merlin Mann joins Don and Ben for a discussion on food safety and cooking using science at home. The episode starts off with a discussion on sous vide and time/temperature combinations for pathogen reduction. The discussion goes to Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking and the science of cooking, sensory and how heat changes food quality and safety. The guys talk about ground meats risks compared to intact muscle meats and then deconstruct risk assessments with bullet analogies. The guys move into pork and trichinosis and how risks have changed but messages stay sticky. The show ends with a discussion on food safety myths, including confusing food safety and spoilage; storing butter on the counter and ketchup in the refrigerator. They decided to leave an in-depth discussion of Sloan for another day.