Farm to Fatal: Food for Thought
Is our food safe? Would you know if it is? Follow UCLA undergrads as they explore a dozen foodborne outbreaks and their consequences.
In Farm to Fatal, twelve different outbreaks illuminate the biology of foodborne illness, the complexity of modern food safety regulation, and the details of how we make food safe... or fail to. In Winter 2025, UCLA undergrads in the Human Biology and Society major set out to explore the intricacies of food safety in the US. Each group explored an outbreak over the last 30 years, diving into the details of the bacteriology, the illness and the treatments on the one hand, and the insanely complex system of governance, audit, oversight, lawsuits and regulations. Dive into every corner of the food safety world, from e. Coli to Hepatitis A, from South Africa to Arizona, from the challenge of regulating raw milk to the difficulties of cleaning tanker trucks, from the "sewer state" to problem of "organized non-knowledge". Across the episodes students find a new respect for the challenge of governing food, the problems with the existing system, and also the need to defend it.
Farm to Fatal: Food for Thought
Ready-To-Eat: Justice beyond the numbers in the 2017 Listeria outbreak
The 2017-2018 listeriosis outbreak in South Africa was the largest and deadliest listeria outbreak on record with over 1,000 reported cases of listeriosis and over 200 deaths. The Department of Health traced the source of the outbreak to a contaminated sausage known as Polony, which had been produced by a local facility. The outbreak affected hundreds of individuals and families and highlighted the severe shortcomings of South Africa's fractured food safety system.
Our podcast delves deeply into the human stories beyond the stark statistics that tend to dominate the narrative of the listeriosis outbreak. We comprehensively explore the biological, social, political, and legal dimensions of this outbreak, while intertwining personal accounts from victims and their families. We examine the unique biological traits of Listeria that make it a particularly elusive pathogen and discuss how the unique demographic characteristics of South Africa's population increase susceptibility to such infections. Additionally, we consider how historical structures, such as the enduring legacy of Apartheid and racial and socioeconomic disparities, compounded these vulnerabilities, contributing to the scale of this public health crisis. Advances in Whole Genome Sequencing played a crucial role in tracing the source of the outbreak, underscoring the importance of scientific progress in managing health emergencies. Our aim is to shed light on the complexity of the outbreak through the stories of those impacted to underscore the insufficient justice provided to the victims, highlighting the need for systemic change.
Produced by Valentina Angel, Eleanor Casey, and Teela Hamner
These podcast episodes were created by members of the 2025 Winter Capstone course in the Human Biology and Society major at UCLA's Institute for Society and Genetics (https://socgen.ucla.edu/). The faculty sponsor is Christopher Kelty. For questions or concerns email ckelty@ucla.edu.