By Jae Williams

What spans cultures, history, and tradition, and brings us all together? Food, of course! And an important part of our shared food story is how we keep what we eat safe, so everyone can stay healthy and focused on the joy of great meals.  

With over 10,000 restaurants in King County, Public Health’s Food Protection Program plays a critical role in monitoring and ensuring food safety. What happens during a day in the life of a food inspector? Why is food safety in your own home relevant to public health? And how can individuals help provide safe food to others, while also minimizing food waste?

These questions and more are addressed in the second three-episode miniseries of our environmental health podcast, Bridging the Gap.  Through storytelling, we aim to bring people closer to understanding how environmental public health shows up in our everyday lives, and how we can all help keep our community healthy.

In each episode, embedded below, we’ll cover a different perspective from within the world of food safety. You’ll hear from experts with tips about food safety in your home kitchen, and insights about food inspections around King County.

In addition to the links below, you’ll also find each episode on our Bridging the Gap webpage, which includes show notes and transcripts. And the episodes are available to stream and share on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

1. Unpacking the Donated Food Distributing Organization Program

“Sometimes organizations want to help the community, but they’re afraid that they may get shut down…we understand that. We just worked slowly…to build up that trust within the community,” says Thu Bui, the Program Lead for the Donated Food Distributing Organizations (DFDO) Program at Public Health – Seattle & King County. Thu has been working with DFDOs since the program started in 2022, a change largely enabled by Foundational Public Health Services funding. We were also joined by Amanda Steyer, who currently conducts most of the DFDO inspections, to discuss developing good working relationships with organizations in order to support them as they provide free food to the community.

2. Key Tips for Food Safety in Your Home Kitchen

“By knowing the basics of how to protect yourself…you are in essence supporting the whole system. You’re basically helping society have our bandwidth for those incidences when people couldn’t protect themselves,” says our next guest, Greg McKnight, a supervisor for the Food Protection Program of Public Health – Seattle & King County. Greg joins us to provide key tips for maintaining food safety in your home kitchen. We cover the difference between sanitizing and disinfecting, how to safely thaw proteins, and the importance of proper heating and cooling.

3. Gaining Insight with a Food Inspector

“I’m a strong believer that people coming to the restaurant business are not only in it for the money…they really, really love what they do. I want to ensure that my presence elevates them…so they can continue to serve their community,” says Carl Stevens, a Food Inspector for Public Health – Seattle & King County. As someone who has always loved food, Carl shares the path to his current role, the importance of holding people accountable to safety standards, and the gratitude he feels when witnessing the dedication that it takes to run a restaurant.

Originally published 9/10/24