96: COVID-19, Food Safety, and Your Questions Answered with Ben Chapman, PhD

<p>We’ve been living with the pandemic for over a year. How in the world have we survived? There has been much confusion about doing simple things like going to the grocery store and eating out. My guest, Dr. Ben Chapman, is here with the latest on food safety and COVID. He’s answering our most pressing questions about the virus and teaching us the basics that we need to know. I hope today’s show will help you feel more comfortable and better prepared for that next grocery shopping trip or an excursion to get takeout food.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p>Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and Food Safety Extension Specialist at NC State University. He studies pathogens and public health with the goal of less foodborne illness. He has a BS in Molecular Biology and Genetics and a Master’s and Ph.D. in Plant Agriculture. Ben’s team at NC State is involved in a cool project called FoodCoVNET, which provides evidence-based information designed to alleviate all of our fears about the food supply and community spread of the virus.<span class= "Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p><strong>Show Highlights:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Get to know Ben, his work, and his family: Originally from Toronto, Ben has been at NC State University for 13 years; he lives in Raleigh, NC, with his two kids and his wife, who works in home design</li> <li>Ben’s research and work on how people prepare food in the interest of food safety</li> <li>Ben’s podcasts, Food Safety Talk and Risky or Not</li> <li>The website, FoodCoVNET, which is a one-stop-shop for information and answers to our questions about food and COVID</li> <li>The basics of mucous, spit, virus transmission, and the dangers of inhaling “shared air”</li> <li>How noroviruses and salmonella differ from COVID in the ways they are transmitted and contracted</li> <li>Why respiratory viruses like the common cold, influenza, and others don’t usually cause infection through food consumption</li> <li>If you can catch the common cold by touching a germy shopping cart, why ca