Wolfing Down Food Science

Send us Fan Mail Food waste.  It's the world's dumbest problem.  It's also the topic of our most popular podcast ever (see our 2022 interview with Dr. Lisa Johnson).  California just passed a new law that dramatically simplifies the 50 potential types of expiration dates currently used on food packaging down to just two.  What does Al Capone have to do with all of this?  Well, we gu...

Send us Fan Mail Soccer, which is known to most to most of the world as football has captured the world's attention during this time of the "Cup That Shall Not Be Named". My long-time friend, TR Masino (co-host of the Stairway to Eleven music podast) joined me in Mexico City to discuss US vs Mexican food culture, in the context of a "foodball" game.  It seemed like a good...

Send us Fan Mail We are joined by a guest who is just as comfortable with a pipette as he is with a piping bag. Dr. Josh Smalley is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Leicester, specializing in the synthesis of peptidomimetic materials. But to millions of viewers worldwide, he is better known as the meticulous finalist from the 2023 series of The Great British Baking Show . Jos...

Send us Fan Mail AI is here to stay.  Will AI be the end of humanity or will it create a utopia?  The AI Doc or How I Became an Apocaloptimist is a documentary that looks at the positives, negative, and mixed effects AI may have on society in the near future. Here is a link to the AI Doc movie trailer: https://youtu.be/xkPbV3IRe4Y?si=fzvdMz_ZolZIfaZk   Serial entrepreneur, podcaster, and (now) gra...

Send us Fan Mail Every five years, a massive set of rules, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), quietly changes the way 300 million people are "supposed" to eat. But who actually writes these rules? Is it pure science, or is it just the latest dietary trend? In this episode, we sit down with April Fogelman to go behind the scenes of the federal nutrition recommendations that were...

Send us Fan Mail In this energizing episode, we chat with TEDx Speaker and Champion of Molecular Literacy, Dr. Colleen Kelley.  Colleen is a science and chemistry teacher, a bilingual author, an Army veteran, and TEDx speaker.  Her educational range is impressive.  She has taught classes from K-12 through the university.  Colleen has an amazing ability to communicate enthusiasm about science throu...

Send us Fan Mail This episode was recorded live at the BakingTECH 2026 meeting in Chicago with our guest, Heather Simpson. Heather Simpson has built a diverse career in the food industry, leveraging her Food Science education from Purdue University. Her journey began at Mars Corp's DoveBar plant gaining experience in production. She then transitioned to the dairy industry, working with a hydr...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we've "escaped" our ordinary format to talk with three amazing guests at once: Clint Stevenson, NC State Professor and Distance Ed Coordinator Dave Seddon, Co-Founder and Chief Safety Officer at FoodReady David Wilson,  Chief Creative Officer at Intoxicated by Riddles and Co-Founder of the True/False Film Fest The topic?  Clint, Dave, and David'...

Send us Fan Mail To start out the new year, we're recapping PodFest 2026, which wrapped in mid January and looking ahead to BakingTECH 2026.  Podcast was about every type of podcast and every aspect of podcasting you can think of, while BakingTECH is really focused in on the commercial baking industry.  In this episode, we talk about some of the surprising and cool things about PodFest, inclu...

Send us Fan Mail It has been a great 2025 for WDFS.  We spoke with wonderful, highly accomplished guests who provided a plethora of good advice about food science careers, about professionalism, and about life.  We welcomed Stella as our podcast editor.  We had our first Spanish/English bilingual podcast.  We were pleasantly surprised to be invited to do a live podcast at the American Society of B...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Arnie Sair is a third generation Ph. D. food scientist, a returning guest to WDFS, and Head of Global Quality & Food Safety at Bunge.  Arnie returns to WDFS with a new endeavor: the Core Ready™ leadership program .  Core Ready is focused on building the soft skills and leadership habits students need to thrive in the workforce from day one using the FORM TUF ABS ™ approach...

Send us Fan Mail Join us as we sit down with Dr. Chris Daubert, who brings a wealth of experience from every corner of the Food Science world. Currently serving as Vice Chancellor and Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri Columbia, Dr. Daubert shares his unique career path—from his roots in agricultural engineering and becoming a recognized e...

Send us Fan Mail April Hix Morrison is an alumna of our department and has, for the last 17 years, served as our professional Academic Advisor across all three of our Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Science majors.  A big part of April’s job is helping students’ thrive at NC State.  To aid in this, NC State University, and many others, have implemented Clifton Strengths assessments to help stud...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Katie McKee is an Associate Professor and Leadership Educator in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at NC State University. Her work focuses on transformative leadership and its application to solving complex challenges to enable communities to thrive. Her research and extension efforts, including the Agents for Change program, a center on developing leadership...

Send us Fan Mail In our first English/Spanish bilingual episode we talk international science communication with agronomist Dr. Dr. Maria Luz "Malu" Zapiola.  Malu is equally comfortable giving lectures in university classroom or (out standing) in the middle of a wheat field. Note: We switch from English to Spanish at 20:20. Dr. Maria Luz "Malu" Zapiola earned her Master's...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Fernanda Santos’ route to food science was not direct.  But one thing is for sure, she has found a home in food science at NC State University.  Dr. Santos teaches 13 classes at NC State, one of which is a project-based class for seniors in food science and bioprocessing.  Through collaboration with faculty and industry, she is giving students real-world experience.  We are ex...

Send us Fan Mail Food waste. It’s been called the world’s dumbest problem.  Did you know that about a third of the food grown on farms is wasted, meaning it never gets to a factory, a grocery store, or to a consumer?  This is not because farmers are wasteful.  Far from it.  It's because it's sometimes hard to harvest all the food that's been produced, especially if it's undergr...

Send us Fan Mail Chief Warrant Officer 5* Terrence Ward is a year 2016  alumnus of the Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences Department at NC State University.  Terrence discovered his interest in Food Science during his service in the US Army.  Today, as part of his continuing Army career, he audits food processing facilities around the US and around the world to assure that the food produc...

Send us Fan Mail We all love a good story, and Dr. Leann Jaykus, a professor emeritus at NC State University, has some good ones to tell.   As a virologist she has unique insights into food safety.  We talk to Leann about cruise ship food safety, norovirus, coronavirus,  vomit machines, and, oh yes, mentoring on this episode. Got a questions for us?  Email us at wolfingdownfoodscience@gmail.com Pl...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Arnie Sair has worked for General Mills, Signature Brands and now, Bunge.  Throughout his career one thing has held constant, his focus on food safety and quality.  As a Ph. D. recipient at NC State University, an outstanding alumni award winner, and who started out as a high school student working at McDonalds, Arnie has great insight into the food industry.  Join us as we ta...

Send us Fan Mail After graduating from NC State, Mandy Taylor spent time in product development for a variety of food companies.  Her years of experience gave her the knowledge and desire to foster career growth in others by managing the summer intern program in research and development at Mars Wrigley.  We talk to Mandy about her time in product development and what she sees as the most challengi...

Send us Fan Mail Our world is complicated!  Yifat Rogers started Yaniv Consulting to help people and businesses cut through the tough problems and find practical solutions.  Yifat is a PhD food scientist and engineer who has worked in the food industry for 15+ years.  Her experience and desire to help people prompted her shift to consulting.  She has started her very own podcast called Success You...

Send us Fan Mail Kenya Hairston is a Senior Project Manager, Adjunct Professor, and Doctoral student.  Kenya holds a Master's degree from Franklin University as well as Bachelors Degrees from the University of Toledo and The Ohio State University (that's where Keith and Kenya crossed paths). She is currently a 2nd year doctoral student at Franklin University where she is pursuing her Ed....

Send us Fan Mail This episode tells the inspiring story behind the creation of Cafe Kreyól and Joey Stazzone's entrepreneurial origin story. Anyone who has met Joey knows the energy and positivity he brings to the room.   Joey is the founder and President of Cafe Kreyól, an award-winning coffee distribution and coffee roasting company located in Manassas, Virginia.   Joey is a certified Q (Q...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Ryan Dowdy is the founder and CEO of READYBAR.  Previous to that, Ryan worked as Chief of Staff to the CTO at EVERY, an "all protein, no meat" company, as a Science and Technology Analysis Manager at the Good Food Institute, and at NASA as Food System Manager for the International Space Station.  He has appeared on Rhett & Link's Good Mythical Morning, has w...