Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole is a raw, honest, and surprisingly light listen about a serious subject: the failures that still threaten the safety of the food we eat. Hosted by Dr. Darin Detwiler—a man who turned personal tragedy into decades of public advocacy—and his wife Gennette Zimmer; this podcast pulls no punches. Together, they unpack the moments when speaking up wasn’t popular, but absolutely necessary. From the lens of experiencing every day food safety failures, Darin shares what it’s really like to challenge the system from the inside out.
Equal parts storytelling, reflection, and real talk, Confessions is for anyone who’s ever wondered why preventable tragedies still happen—and what it takes to stop them.
Because silence might be easier, but it’s never safer.
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Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole is a raw, honest, and surprisingly light listen about a serious subject: the failures that still threaten the safety of the food we eat. Hosted by Dr. Darin Detwiler—a man who turned personal tragedy into decades of public advocacy—and his wife Gennette Zimmer; this podcast pulls no punches. Together, they unpack the moments when speaking up wasn’t popular, but absolutely necessary. From the lens of experiencing every day food safety failures, Darin shares what it’s really like to challenge the system from the inside out.
Equal parts storytelling, reflection, and real talk, Confessions is for anyone who’s ever wondered why preventable tragedies still happen—and what it takes to stop them.
Because silence might be easier, but it’s never safer.
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: awareness, allies, advocacy, and activism. Darin shares a personal moment of wrestling with the limits of his own advocacy, while Gennette brings it back to a long drive where the whole framework took shape. It's reflective, warm, and full of the kind of transparency that sets the tone for the episode’s deeper theme: seeing what usually stays hidden.
Then comes a detour featuring an unlikely discussion with early 20th-century activist and journalist Olive Christian Malvery. Our hosts uncover her experiences finding the disturbing practices of how food was produced in England 1906. Malvery shines a light on the persistent gaps between image and reality in food safety, and asks what it really takes to make a system transparent, accountable, and safe. It’s part satire, part history lesson, and all heart.
The episode closes with Gennette and Darin getting their boots literally dirty on a field trip to produce farms, a composting business, and a packaging/shipping facility. They talk with the people who are doing food safety not just by the book, but by conviction. It’s a look at the systems that work quietly, often invisibly, to keep food safe and the people who believe transparency is worth the extra work.
This episode moves from podcast reflection to performance to produce fields. Along the way, they ask: What does it mean to go behind the curtain and beyond awareness?
Links of note:
Food Safety Education Month link: https://www.pepnexus.com/blog/categories/food-safety-education-month
Silent Enemies Part 1: https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/article/255304/silent-enemies-part-1-under-pressure/
Silent Enemies Part 2: https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/article/255304/silent-enemies-part-1-under-pressure/
Olive Christian Malvery - The Soul Market (Read for free): https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Soul_Market/52NGAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole
Confessions of a Food Safety A**Hole is a raw, honest, and surprisingly light listen about a serious subject: the failures that still threaten the safety of the food we eat. Hosted by Dr. Darin Detwiler—a man who turned personal tragedy into decades of public advocacy—and his wife Gennette Zimmer; this podcast pulls no punches. Together, they unpack the moments when speaking up wasn’t popular, but absolutely necessary. From the lens of experiencing every day food safety failures, Darin shares what it’s really like to challenge the system from the inside out.
Equal parts storytelling, reflection, and real talk, Confessions is for anyone who’s ever wondered why preventable tragedies still happen—and what it takes to stop them.
Because silence might be easier, but it’s never safer.
