The Rotten Apple Food Safety Podcast

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* The Middle East conflict, a 10,000 feet view for food professionals

* What to watch out for in the coming months

* Food Safety News and Resources

* Making honey cough drops

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 229 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Mass balance for food safety systems

* When food fraud turns deadly: milk adulteration kills 6 people

* Food safety news and resources roundup

* How natural food colours are made

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 228 🍏

Cover image: For illustrative purposes only, AI-generated

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Food safety risks from food fraud (and vice versa)

* The Rotten Apple e-Book

* Glyphosate update

* Venemous lionfish ceviche (it’s a thing?!)

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 227 🍏

Cover image: National Whistleblowers Center

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Shocking rates of fraud in herbal products

* Data exchange in traceability: what you need to know

* Food safety news and resources

* Case study: Tiny maintenance failure causes huge problems

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 226 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Food fraud talks

* Cheese time: Parmesan in the spotlight

* Top 5 Non-conformances from BRCGS

* Avocado’s number

* Food fraud news with crispy snails and no-milk milk

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 225 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Real-world lessons in Listeria eradication (case study)

* Webinar tomorrow: Food fraud trends and predictions for 2026

* Food fraud is surging worldwide. Or is it?

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 224 🍏

Cover image: Møretrø, et al (2026)

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Save the date: food fraud webinar next week

* Food fraud and food safety: latest research

* Pesticide MRLs: the quiet illusion of food safety

* Cereulide root cause - new insights

* Tuna tossing

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 223 🍏

Cover image: European Union Food Safety Authority

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* An insider’s view: How does cereulide get into infant formula?

* Which GFSI certification scheme is best for your business?

* Good news re auditor requirements

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 222 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Worst and weirdest food frauds of 2025

* What’s next for The Rotten Apple

* Spotify for food safety nerds

* Food fraud alert for coffee beans

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 221 🍏

Cover image: Pigeon carcass at a Chinese restaurant. Policia Municipal Policia, via The Sun

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Weird and (not)wonderful moments from food safety for 2025

* Top posts of The Rotten Apple this year

* Food safety news roundup

* How to deep fry a Christmas turkey

* Food fraud news

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 220 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* What changed in food safety in 2025?

* Emerging issues in food safety: a review

* Honey madness in Europe

* Trypanosoma cruzi: An emerging food pathogen

* My (silly) Food Fraud Gift Guide

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 219 🍏

Cover image: A sanitary inspector holds a beaked bug (Triatoma Dimidiata) in El Carpinte...

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* 10 food fraud case studies

* Food safety consultants - a practical guide

* UPF lawsuits (a food safety professional’s perspective)

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 218 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Introduction to an illegal colourant: Auramine O

* Tomato paste: ripe for fraud

* Are PVC gloves unsafe?

* Prodded, poked and punctured (Just for fun)

* Food Fraud News and Recent Incidents

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 217 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Risky tableware

* Food Safety News and Resources, including infant botulism update

* Pumpkin spice - a modern miracle (and food safety nightmare)

* Food fraud news + the worst forgery ever

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 216 🍏

Cover image: Testing wheat-based tableware, Sousa et. al (2025)

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Food irradiation: an introduction for food professionals

* Case study: Botulism from labelling error (+ a happy ending for once!)

* Packaging Corner

* Pastry Twister

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 215 🍏

Cover image: Food irradiation, Mshelia et al (2022)

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Case study of a pasta disaster

* Follow-up: Poka yoke in food manufacturing

* Food Safety News and Resources

* Mushroom cultivation (+ building a robust calibration system)

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 214 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Free food safety resources

* Change management is coming to food safety

* 5 Change management templates

* Poll results and shocking stats for GFSI-certified sites

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 213 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Controversial new GFSI auditor requirements

* Food fraud requirements in food safety standards

* Disappearing tequila

* Howling for leftovers

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 212 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Disgusting food fraud trend: waste diversion + organised crime groups

* 4 Surprising truths about food safety training

* Food Safety News and Resources (including high levels of lead in two-thirds of protein supplements)

* Best beef lesson ever

* Food fraud news: horsemeat and beef (the tables turn)

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 211 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Fake Coke follow-up

* Not just shrimp! More radioactive foods found in the U.S.

* Food Fraud 2015 to 2035: Insights from Industry Leaders

* Food fraud news from iComplai’s AI-powered food safety and food fraud intelligence platform

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 210 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Counterfeit Diet Coke in London?

* Horizon scanning explainer

* Food safety news and resources roundup

* Fake food (for real)

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 209 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy foods: current status + new research

* Mystery mass poisoning in the United Kingdom

* Food safety news and resources

* Fashion fraud (just for fun)

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 208 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Food fraud mitigations: a guide (+ templates and examples)

* The flesh-eating bacterium that causes deadly foodborne illnesses

* A new food defence threat: smart glasses

* Quality versus production (just for fun)

* Food fraud: counterfeiting incident with chocolate

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 207 🍏

Cover image: Fabrikasimf on Freepik

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Living dangerously with the latest food trend

* Consumer-derived outbreak data - a fascinating peek

* Frozen veg recalls: can we quantify the risks?

* WTF is high fructose corn syrup

* Food fraud news: berry scandal in Australia

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 206 🍏

Listen to the consumer data webinar here.

Cov...

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this special episode, I talk with John Points the Technical Director of the Food Authenticity Network (FAN) to get an up-to-the-minute perspective on testing for food fraud.

In the conversation, we discuss:

* What are the options for authenticity testing for a medium-sized food business in 2025;

* How to find methods, laboratories and resources, and

* How testing fits into a best-practice...

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Food fraud testing in 2025 and beyond

* Weird: the price of sugar

* Kitchen fails (mostly fun)

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 205 🍏

Listen to the food fraud testing conversation here.

Cover image: DC Studio on Freepik

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

· Webinar invitation: innovation in early warnings for outbreaks

· The scariest food invention of the decade

· Update: radioactive shrimp

· Silliest shrimp memes from the past week 😁

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 204 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

· Consumer-derived outbreak data - a new tool in the toolbox

· Downloadable e-book: Issues 176 to 200

· Rare: a food fraud recall

· Food Safety News and Resources

· Radioactive shrimp unpacked

· Food fraud news: undercover honey investigation + methanol in paprika explained

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 203 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Follow-up: botulism root cause and manslaughter charge

* “I nearly lost him”… a heartbreaking story of food safety failure

* Food Safety News and Resources

* What does cultivated meat really taste like - 15 consumers share their experience

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 202 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Shocking figures for (supposedly) antibiotic-free meat

* Unusual pathogen-food combo: botulinum in avocado pulp

* Global food safety watch: a ‘low and slow’ outbreak from potatoes?

* Cocaine vs olive oil

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 201 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Celebrating 4 years of The Rotten Apple

* Special offer

* Popular post: Tropane alkaloids: plant toxins that kill

* Best of ‘Just for Fun’

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 200 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* A Comprehensive Guide to Glass Policies and Procedures (+ templates and examples)

* Olive crisis update - are we out of the woods?

* 233 children poisoned by cooks at a childcare centre

* Food fraud news, incidents and horizon scanning

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 199 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* Seed oils: food safety issue or beat-up?

* Gritty food fraud

* STEC in flour

* 5 Food Safety Quick Bites

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 198 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

In this week’s episode:

* STEC numbers are up: What you need to know

* Investigation results? What investigation results (Salmonella in cucumbers)

* Food Safety News and Resources

* “It’s very very satisfying” - cotton candy scissor work

* Sugar warning (and more) in this week’s food fraud news

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 197 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

🍏 In this episode, which celebrates World Chocolate Day 🍏

* Why is chocolate so good?

* Chocolate and food safety

* Chocolate supply chain challenges

* Chocolate and food fraud

* Food fraud news: recent incidents

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 196 🍏

Cover image: Cocoa bean processing and fermentation from Gutierrez-Rios, et. al (2022)

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

🍏 In this episode 🍏

* Help a researcher out - 2 short surveys

* More on Listeria in pasta meals (what the experts say)

* Shall we chat? Let me know what you think about community chat for The Rotten Apple

* Packaging Corner

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 195 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

🍏 In this episode 🍏

* Unusual: a deadly Listeria outbreak and recall unpacked

* Downloadable training exercise

* The weirdest kitchen induction video ever

* Food fraud news: The Food Industry Intelligence Network launches a SME hub

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 194 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

🍏 In this episode 🍏

* Addendum

* Fish parasites and the small changes that create new risks

* Latest food cyberattack

* Food Safety News and Resources

* Lab-made butter

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 193 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

🍏 In this episode 🍏

* Photo competition winners

* Melamine adulteration (still a thing)

* The toxic pea that causes lameness

* Toolbox talk: Record-making 101

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 192 🍏

The Rotten Apple is an inside view of food safety, food fraud and supply chains for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Subscribe for weekly insights, latest news and emerging trends.

🍏 In this episode 🍏

* Member-only archive unlocked!

* Photo Competition: win prizes for World Food Safety Day

* Leafy greens and STEC, latest research

* Tariffs and food fraud - is this the first Liberation Day fraud?

🍏 For a transcript and sources, see Issue 191 🍏