Is the U.S. Food Supply Safe?

How safe is our food supply?? Dr. Jess Steier kicks off a new season of Unbiased Science with a fresh format! Each episode tackles one concern or question that's gone viral online. It can be hard to know what to trust, so each episode this season tackles one question head-on. Between this summer's Cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce and the constant stream of food recalls in our feeds, this week we're joined by Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of CIDRAP at the University of Minnesota, along with other experts, to dig into how our food is kept safe and when we should worry. You can also watch the convo on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QGiFDLSEAbM (00:00) Season and Episode Intro (10:11) Introducing Dr. Mike Osterholm (11:27) Early Days of the Summer Cyclospora Outbreak (18:15) What Does the Expert Say to People Who Are Worried About Outbreaks? (20:35) Is There An Increase In Food Safety Issues? (25:57) Former FDA Food Scientist Shares Her Perspective (28:32) Could We Find The Cause Right Now? (30:45) Is There Anything The Expert Avoids? (33:44) Immunotoxicologist Food Safety Expert Shares His Perspective (36:15) What Can We Do To Make The Food Supply Safer? (40:20) Final Thoughts https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/food-safety-crisis-trump-cyclospora/688495/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/09/foodborne-illness-recall-cyclospora-summer/688497/ https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/e-coli-salmonella-cyclospora-is-the-u-s-seeing-a-surge-in-foodborne-illnesses-/ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2852106 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199605163342001 https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJM199705293362210 https://drjessicaknurick.substack.com/p/why-foodborne-illness-is-surging https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/foodborne-illness-increase-common https://www.wral.com/news/state/diarrhea-parasites-glass-us-food-less-safe-august-24/ https://downloads.regulations.gov/FDA-2013-N-0013-0178/content.pdf https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJM199705293362210 https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ https://sprout.link/cidrap_ https://www.instagram.com/cidrap_?stkn=czA0d3cxczB2emdy Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.