Frank Yiannas has spent his career translating the complexities of the global food system. And as an industry leader, author, and speaker, he's logged over 35 years of experience at the highest levels of global retail and federal regulation, building a reputation as one of the industry's most trusted voices along the way.
Now, he's launching a new podcast that explores the unvarnished truths of food safety with expert guests, asking hard questions and sparking the ideas needed for a more resilient global supply chain.
Ecolab is proud to sponsor and partner on the show. We recently sat down with him to share more of his story and why his new podcast is a must-listen for food safety professionals.
A podcast made for a history-making moment in food safety
Frank is launching Smarter Food Safety at a time when the noise level around food safety has rarely been higher.
Consumer trust is hard to earn. Outbreaks and recalls dominate the news cycle, costing the American economy an estimated $10 million per incident while inflicting lasting damage on brand reputations. With each passing day, the average shopper grows more vigilant about food quality, chemical hazards, and chronic diseases.
The long view is deterring, too. Over the last 20 years, the number of foodborne illness incidents among Americans has remained stubbornly static. In many ways, it seems that food safety progress has hit a plateau.
Frank wants to know why—and he wants his conversations to force the issue forward. He argues that our public discourse has failed to meet the layered complexities of today head-on, and that failure is taking a toll on how we collectively address these risks.
“I’m a bit unsatisfied with how I see the major food safety issues of our day being covered. I see the wrong questions getting asked.”
He notes that traditional media coverage typically lacks the technical background needed to meaningfully investigate root causes, let alone translate them accurately for the public.
Smarter Food Safety aims to become a more cerebral storytelling engine for the industry.
To do so, Frank is tapping a deep network of experts around the world, including guests planned from Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, the Middle East, and beyond. Each conversation will explore how macro factors like economics, policy, sustainability, and risk intersect with core food safety issues that show up in the news and at manufacturing plants. Each episode strikes a rare balance in the podcast landscape: entirely unscripted yet strictly tethered to science.
When looking for a sponsor, Frank turned to a partner that has served as a critical through-line in his storied career: Ecolab.
Why Ecolab is entering the conversation
Ecolab’s involvement in the podcast is preceded by a fruitful thirty-year working relationship with Frank. He first collaborated with Ecolab as a young executive at Disney, relying on our products and services to uphold rigorous hospitality standards across theme parks, cruise ships, and resorts.
When he transitioned to Walmart, Ecolab was already a partner there, too. Working within one of the largest global retail food systems, he embraced the power of partnering with Ecolab solutions at scale. During his ten years at Walmart, the company experienced zero major food safety incidents across its 6,000 outlets.
“From grocery stores to supply chain issues, Ecolab always showed up in the right way. They were a partner in every sense of the word.”
With Frank’s podcast so focused on telling the global food safety story with the depth and honesty it deserves, it required a partner who understands what the work involves at every level, across every market. With Ecolab sharing Frank’s commitment to moving the industry forward, helping bring these conversations to light together was a natural fit.
Turning episodes into action
Frank is candid about what he considers success for the podcast conversations. Curiosity, on its own, doesn't cut it for him as a host.
"If the podcast only achieves fulfilling intellectual curiosity, I will consider the podcast a failure. And I mean that very sincerely. What we want to do is inspire action."
It may seem ambitious, but it’s achievable—impactful action in food safety can take many forms. An episode could inspire a sharper framework for how a company evaluates a supplier hazard. Or maybe just a single, practical idea finally clicks for a listener because a guest explains it without hiding behind industry jargon.
The scale of each action is not what matters so much as the shared momentum. It’s industry-wide momentum that spurs on the biggest changes. And while there are more than enough instances of large outbreaks shaking the industry (see the first episode on FSMA for an example), there is hope for momentum that doesn’t require such a drastic trigger. If you spend your days in food safety, quality, supply chain, operations, or policy, this is the kind of show you can put on and walk away with something that finally sticks.
Smarter Food Safety is available now, wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes releasing monthly.
About Frank: More than three decades inside the machine
Frank’s work has given him what he calls a “balcony-level view” of the global food system—a perspective that began to take shape during his nearly 20 years at Walt Disney World.
As Director of Safety and Health, he oversaw food safety, guest safety, and occupational health. It was a role that allowed him to observe the mechanics of something often missing in food safety: effective storytelling.
He put it to good use when he moved to Walmart as Vice President of Food Safety. Tasked with building food safety programs that could withstand the constant pressure of a global retail network, he eventually pitched using blockchain for traceability.
But rather than presenting a sterile, highly technical case for distributed ledger technology, Frank told a story. He presented the life cycle of a single mango—from a seed that takes seven years to mature, through the harvest and packing house, all the way to a customer's kitchen table. He used that narrative to show how tracking that mango on paper took nearly seven days, while blockchain could do it in 2.2 seconds. It changed the conversation.
"I called it food traceability at the speed of thought."
Frank’s drive to modernize the food system eventually led him to the federal government. Serving as the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, he helped lead the agency's implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and helped introduce the New Era of Smarter Food Safety.
Choosing to stay on at the FDA through both the Trump and Biden administrations was a deliberate decision. It was rooted in his view that the work is fundamentally nonpartisan and that all Americans share the same desire for safe, sustainable, nutritious, and affordable food.
A Q&A with Frank Yiannas: What to expect from Smarter Food Safety
Who is this podcast for?
It’s for anyone who wants a safer, smarter, and more resilient food system. That includes the professionals working on the front lines of manufacturing, operations, supply chain, and regulatory policy, as well as the consumers we all serve. Food safety requires buy-in from all sides. If you care about how our food is grown, processed, and protected, you belong in this conversation.
What kinds of topics will you cover?
We’ll examine the big issues shaping our food supply. Whether we're looking at corporate culture, new risk-spotting technologies, or how policymakers manage outbreaks, it’s about finding concrete ways to improve safety performance across the board.
Who will the guests be?
With great pride to have them on the show, we’ll be sitting down with some of the best minds in food safety. You’ll hear from a wide range of experts spanning industry leadership, government agencies, and academia. These are the people driving the science, writing the policies, and managing the risks on a global scale.
What makes this podcast different from other industry shows?
We’re avoiding superficial commentary and academic fluff. The goal is to have unscripted, science-based discussions that genuinely inspire change in the industry.
How often are episodes released, and where can I listen?
We’ll be releasing new episodes monthly. Each conversation runs about 30 to 45 minutes in length. You can subscribe and listen right now on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.