Don Schaffner and Ben Chapman

Risky or Not?

Science EN ↓ 951 episodes

Risky or Not is a short podcast from Professor Ben Chapman from North Carolina State University, and Dr. Don Schaffner from Rutgers University. Dr. Don and Professor Chapman promise to do their best not to waffle, dither, dissemble or equivocate, and to give straight up answers about whether something is risky or not.

Author

Don Schaffner and Ben Chapman

Category

Science

Podcast website

riskyornot.co

Latest episode

Jul 10, 2026

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Episodes

126. Cooking With Non Food Grade Essential Oils 31.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from cooking with non food grade essential oils. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ How Do I Choose and Use Essential Oils? | Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing How Do I Choose and Use Essential Oils? | Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) Public Dashboard | FDA Essential Oils: Poisonous wh...

125. Fundraising Bake Sales 29.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from fundraising bake sales. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Bake Sale Bumper Sticker FDA Investigated Multistate Outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli Infections Linked to Flour | FDA A multi-state outbreak of Salmonella serotype Thompson infection from commercially distributed bread contaminated by an ill food handler | E...

124. Shrimp Tails in a Cereal Box 26.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of finding shrimp tails in a cereal box. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - What I Am (Official Music Video) - YouTube Jensen Karp on Twitter: "Ummmm @CTCSquares - why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? (This is not a bit) https://t.co/tTjiAdrnVp" / Twitter Man Says He Found Shrimp Tails in Cinnamon Toa...

123. NY Times Steak Tartare 24.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risk of eating NY Times recipe steak tartare. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Joe Holt on Twitter What to Cook This Week Steak Tartare Recipe - NYT Cooking 83. Cannibal or Tiger Meat Sandwiches — Risky or Not? FSIS Salmonella Compliance Guidelines for Small and Very Small Meat and Poultry Establishments that Produce Ready-to-Eat (RTE) Products a...

122. Frozen Berry Smoothies 22.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from frozen berry smoothies. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Indrani on Twitter 109. Uncooked Frozen Carrots* — Risky or Not? Microbiological Surveillance Sampling: FY 19-20 Frozen Berries (Strawberries, Raspberries and Blackberries) | FDA Farm to fork quantitative microbial risk assessment for norovirus on frozen strawberries...

121. Greasy Grills 19.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from greasy grills. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 3 Things You Should Be Doing to Prevent Kitchen Exhaust Fires | FSR magazine Acrylamide | FDA

120. A Dog Licking Your Plate 17.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of a dog licking your plate. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 For Better or For Worse, Sunday, January 4, 1998 Can I Get Sick If I Feed My Dog Using Regular Plates From the Cabinet?

119. COVID-19 From Hookups 15.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of getting COVID-19 from hookups. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Canada's top doctor: 'consider using a mask' during sexual activity | CTV News William Schaffner, M.D. | Department of Health Policy

118. Potting Soil 12.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from potting soil. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Exposure to potting soils and compost material as potential sources of Legionella pneumophilia in Australia - ScienceDirect ‎Pine Species Provide a Niche for Legionella Longbeachae Does Potting Mix Cause Legionnaires' Disease in Gardeners? - Garden Myths Legionella longbeachae...

117. Keeping Water at Human Body Temperature for Hours 10.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of keeping water at human body temperature for hours. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Laryssa Patti on Twitter Baby Brezza® Instant Electric 3-Temperature Bottle Warmer in White | buybuy BABY Quantifying the Influence of Relative Humidity, Temperature, and Diluent on the Survival and Growth of Enterobacter aerogenes | Journal o...

116. Putting Plates Away Wet 08.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risk of putting plates away wet. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Surface Sanitation and Microbiological Food Quality of a University Foodservice Operation CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 https://www.fda.gov/media/110822/download Cutting Boards of Plastic and Wood Contaminated Experimentally with Bacteria | Journal of Food...

115. Cats in the Kitchen 05.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of cats in the kitchen (on your silver spoon)? Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Cat's in the Cradle - Wikipedia Sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women: European multicentre case-control studyCommentary: Congenital toxoplasmosis—further thought for food | The BMJ Risk factors for acute toxoplasmosis in England and Wale...

114. Water Cooled Beverages 03.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from drinking beverages cooled natural water sources. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Recreational Water Quality Criteria and Methods | Water Quality Criteria | US EPA Lettuce sickens 690 with Cyclospora - FDA finds link to Florida water | Food Poison Journal EPA Giardia Factsheet Recreational Water Illnesses (RWIs). CDC - Para...

113. Eating Snow 01.03.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from eating snow. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Is eating snow dangerous? | AccuWeather Snowflakes Aren't Innocent and Fluffy—They're Bacteria Bombs from the Sky | Discover Magazine Southern Snow Cream Recipe - Food.com Diversity and association of psychrophilic bacteria in Antarctic sea ice Converting rain into drinking wate...

112. Expired Hand Sanitizer 26.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from using expired hand sanitizer. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Q&A for Consumers | Hand Sanitizers and COVID-19 | FDA Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)

111. Snow Bank Refrigerator 24.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of storing your food in a snow bank. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Michelle Jewell on Twitter: "@ChillOutACE_ @benjaminchapman @bugcounter Risky or not??" / Twitter Haddie Cooke on Twitter: "No power since 2am Monday, ~52° inside, 8° outside, cooked a few meals in the fireplace, no hot water, firewood getting low, all fridge/...

110. Counter Top Nachos 22.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from eating counter top nachos. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Food Safety Talk Big Game - Wikipedia Don Schaffner 🦠 on Twitter: "🤮 I'd pass… Kitchen Carts & Islands - Rolling, Metal, Butcher Block - IKEA We Want Plates We Want Plates 🍽 (@WeWantPlates) / Twitter IKEA Groland Butcher Block Island - Apartment Therapy's Bazaar.

Uncooked Frozen Carrots* 19.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of eating uncooked frozen carrots*. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 * Professor Ben - risky ☣️ El Chico Mexican Restaurant Relish | SPCrahan | Copy Me That Recall & Advice to Consumers and Retailers Multistate Outbreak of Listeriosis Linked to Frozen Vegetables | Listeria | CDC Alternative approaches to the risk management of Listeria monocytogenes in low ri...

108. Parking Lot Tamales 17.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of eating parking lot tamales. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Emily Coleman on Twitter: "There was a woman in the Walmart parking lot selling tamales and I bought them and Abi said, "Did you really just do that?" And I told her that when a woman offers you tamales in a parking lot, you just do it." ‎Knowledge and Practices of Meat S...

107. Slapping a Chicken to Cook It 15.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of slapping your chicken. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Don Schaffner 🦠 on Twitter: "The simulation shows lots of bits of blue flying away, so I'm going to assume that is 63°F chicken flying around your kitchen Matt's Newsletter Full article: A review on underwater shockwave processing and its application in food technology Physics Majo...

Sharing Dessert 12.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of sharing dessert on Valentines (or any other) Day Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Is Double-Dipping a Food Safety Problem or Just a Nasty Habit? - Scientific American Effect of Biting Before Dipping (Double‐Dipping) Chips on the Bacterial Population of the Dipping Solution Woman Who Licked Blue Bell Ice Cream Tub And Put It Back Co...

105. Week Old Room Temperature Bacon 10.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks from eating week old room temperature bacon. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Evaluating Microbial Safety of Slow Partial-Cooking Processes for Bacon: Use of a Predictive Tool Based on Small-Scale Isothermal Meat Inoculation Studies Predicting Pathogen Growth during Short-Term Temperature Abuse of Raw Pork, Beef, and Poultry Products: Use o...

104. Spagetti Nasal Flossing 08.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of flossing your nose with spagetti. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Distinguishing the dominant species of pathogen in maxillary sinusitis by sequencing DNA dataset analysis - PubMed Predictive Model for Growth of Bacillus cereus at Temperatures Applicable to Cooling of Cooked Pasta Biochemical and toxic diversity of Bacillus cereus in a...

103. Sourdough Bread With Russian Starter Culture 05.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of eating sourdough bread made with starter culture ordered from Russia. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 Rob Dunn | Applied Ecology | NC State University Safety Assessment and Probiotic Evaluation of Enterococcus Faecium YF5 Isolated from Sourdough Take Care when Sharing Friendship Bread Sourdough breads and related products |...

102. Perpetual Stew 03.02.2021

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of eating perpetual stew. Dr. Don - not risky 👍🏼 Professor Ben - not risky 👍🏼 shaney gober on Twitter: "@bugcounter @benjaminchapman Has this come to you guys yet? https://t.co/0DGwnhYoR7" / Twitter Perpetual stew. How is it safe to consume? - Quora Perpetual Stew: Is it good? Is it safe (compared to modern food practices)? Has anyone done it? : k...

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