Food Safety

The latest news and insights on food contamination, pathogens, and what it's safe to eat.

Latest in Food Safety

roman ruins in northern england

Diarrhea slowed down Roman soldiers

By Laura Baisas

An 1886 color illustration depicting a crowd of people, including men, women, and children, gathered around a massive wheel of cheese in the East Room of the White House. A man in a dark coat is carving into the cheese with a knife, while others eagerly reach out with their own knives and hands to take a piece. In the foreground, a small boy sits on the floor eating a piece of the cheese. This event commemorates the distribution of the "Mammoth Cheese" gifted to President Andrew Jackson in 1835.

Andrew Jackson’s White House once hosted a cheese feeding frenzy

several full fish laying on ice. the fish are orange, white, and multicolored

Afraid your fish is too fishy? Smart sensors might save your nose

By Mack DeGeurin

A shallow depth-of-field close-up of a stainless steel frying pan sitting on a black, glossy induction cooktop, with steam rising from food cooking inside the pan. The kitchen background is blurred, showing a window and a refrigerator.

Are induction stoves better? These chefs think so.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - food products manufactured by Mondelez and Coca-Cola

What are ultra-processed foods and are they bad for me?

By Katie Navarra Bradley

A colorized vintage advertisement featuring two smiling World War II-era pilots, both in flight suits. The pilot on the left is holding up a box of Milky Way candy bars, and the pilot on the right, who is leaning out of a plane cockpit, is looking down and smiling at the box.

How WWII made Hershey and Mars Halloween candy kings

By Diana Hubbell

The front and back of two bottles of Danish lactic acid bacteria from the 1800s.

130-year-old butter bacteria discovered in Danish basement

a scalloped hammerhead shark swimming in the pacific

Endangered shark meat keeps ending up on store shelves

By Laura Baisas

Cooked shrimp on plate with fork and cilantro

Walmart’s ‘radioactive shrimp’ recall isn’t a reason to fear irradiated food

By Andrew Paul, Laura Baisas

Spilled salt shaker on table

Man develops psychosis following ChatGPT’s salt-free diet

Wild pig walking in grass

Wild pigs’ guts are turning blue in California

A vintage photo collage shows a man in a suit and glasses looking at a scientific apparatus, with old newspaper clippings in the background discussing "experiments" and "vegetable material" and the possibility of creating food.

100 years ago, scientists thought we’d be eating food made from air

By Bill Gourgey

eggs arrange on refrigerator shelf

Should you keep eggs in the fridge? Short answer: Yes.

By Clarissa Brincat

Lab grown salmon on sushi rice on a plate

FDA approves lab-grown salmon

Close up of hand slicing onion with knife on cutting board

How to avoid crying while cutting onions, according to physics

A milkman having his float inspected, circa 1935.

What was food like before the FDA?

By Lauren Leffer

We're Safety Now Haven't We album art featuring animals in photoshopped helmets and on smoke detectors

PSA: US government’s dance album about helmets and smoke alarms is a banger

An illustration showing how the brain and gut are connected.

The brain remembers what gave you food poisoning

By Laura Baisas

African Woman Blowing Bubble Gum Playful Portrait

Chewing gum can shed hundreds of microplastics into your mouth

black rat sits on cage

Patient’s tingling feet turns out to be a rat-borne brain parasite