Science on the Menu: A Food Safety Podcast by EFSA
Episodes
EU career boost: EFSA is looking for you
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How do young professionals from across the globe get a job at one of the world's leading food safety bodies? How did they turn challenges into opportu...
Up to speed: How food risk assessment is changing
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Keeping pace with change is a challenge for risk assessors. How are they innovating? How can they speed up their work? On this episode, we get a uni...
No secret sauce: a recipe for transparent science
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Access to documents is a crucial ingredient of open science. But how do lawyers assess what requires protecting and what to release? When do the court...
Nice to m-eat you: what are alternative proteins?
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Legumes, mealworm powder and duck cell biomass produced in a lab may seem worlds apart but they all feature in conversations about how our food system...
Bean there, cooked that: are raw legumes safe?
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How we prepare our food influences its taste, aroma and appearance, but most importantly its safety. This is especially true for legumes such as beans...
Cost, origin, taste: what influences our food choices?
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What’s most important to you when you buy food? Is it how much it costs, how it tastes, where it comes from or something else? In this episode, we’...
Exposure matters: why the dose makes the poison
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apple seeds contain cyanide, a deadly poison. And yet, eating an apple will not kill you. In fact, it’s considered a healthy snack! That’s because...
Data vs stereotypes: what Europeans eat
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do Europeans eat? On this episode, we’re talking food consumption data – how it is collected, what it shows and why it’s so important. Come...
Sizzling summers: BBQ safety served hot
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Barbecues have been popular for centuries. Traditions vary around the world, but shared enjoyment of slow-cooked food is universal. Whether you prefer...
Food supplements: to add or not to add?
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What are food supplements and do we need them? From sprays and soluble vitamins to fortified foods, we explore different ways to supplement our diets ...
Science in action: the people behind food safety
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do regulatory scientists do every day? Where are their lab coats? As we celebrate World Food Safety Day on June 7 and this year’s theme of Scie...
Egg-stra special: spring food traditions
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the arrival of spring comes another episode celebrating festive foods! This time, we are diving into one of the most widely consumed products acr...
Never mind the buzzkill: How mosquitoes spread disease
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tiny killers. Mosquitoes are the most dangerous creatures on our planet. Millions of humans and animals die each year from diseases spread by mosquito...
Women in science: In their words
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is the reality of being a female scientist in Europe? In celebration of the International Day of Girls and Women in Science on 11 February, we’...
Riding the wave: How shifting oceans shape our food
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Oceans have long captivated our imagination. Think of swashbuckling pirates or bold explorers seeking far off lands. Today the oceans represent a new ...
Festive foods: What’s behind the traditions?
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Food is always a key part of the festivals we celebrate at the end of the year. But what’s the meaning behind the traditions we attach to them? What...
Food additives: Can I have your E number?
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been looking for ways to preserve food for millennia. Salt helped many civilisations develop. We pickled food in vinegar and stored fruit in h...
Fighting Xylella, the silent plant killer
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Olive trees are an iconic feature of the landscape and cultural heritage in southern Italy. But a deadly bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, has left parts...
Purrfect nutrition: What's on our animals' menus?
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We love our pets. But how well do we understand their diets? What role do additives play in their feed? From improving animal nutrition and welfare, t...
Fowl threat: is avian flu going viral?
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Avian flu has decimated poultry and wild birds around the globe in recent years. The virus has now spread extensively among mammals, affecting more th...
Prepared for the unexpected
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The EU has one of the safest food systems in the world. But food safety incidents can always happen. If they do, the EU is prepared to react quickly w...
Celiac disease: living without gluten
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over 5 million people in the EU live with celiac disease, a condition for which the only treatment is a gluten-free diet. Why do some people have it? ...
A life leading on food safety
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Food safety has come a long way since the years of numerous crises in the 1990s. The EU established an independent risk assessor at EU level and devel...
Joining forces for humans, animals, environment: One Health (II)
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our wellbeing depends on the health of animals, plants and our environment. What affects one affects all the others, and increasingly so. A One Health...
Joining forces for humans, animals, environment: One Health
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our wellbeing depends on the health of animals, plants and our environment. What affects one affects all the others, and increasingly so. A One Health...
Mice or men: Beyond animal testing
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Animal testing has helped keep us safe for over 60 years since it was first introduced. But recent advances in data modelling now offer a better and m...
Alien (species) vs plants: beware of the invaders
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Invasive alien species can cause serious problems when they enter new territories, for example as pests in agriculture and forestry. In this episode, ...
Toxic tastings: contaminants in food
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Contaminants can enter our food through various pathways, including cooking and processing methods, pollution from human activities and naturally occu...
Material matters
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our food and drinks encounter all kinds of materials – plastic, metal, glass, and ceramics to name a few. But what are the health risks? And faced w...
From lab to fork
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wondered what a lab-grown steak tastes like? Or how to grow one? Listen in to find out! From cultivated chicken nuggets to cell-based beef burger...
Thirsty work
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What happens to us when we get dehydrated? How can we prevent it? It’s not just about drinking water. Listen in to find out! We also look at how eli...
ASF: a virus with no cure or vaccine
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Harmless to humans, but deadly to pigs and wild boars, African swine fever (ASF) is a viral disease for which there are neither vaccines nor cures. In...
Climate change: what it means for food safety
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us will be familiar with the impact climate change has on the environment – biodiversity loss, rising sea levels, higher temperatures and mu...
Antibiotics: handle with care
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Antibiotics are nowadays very important. They protect human and animals from a wide range of infections, but this precious resource is to be used with...
Avian influenza: a bird’s-eye view
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The situation regarding avian influenza continues to evolve in Europe and globally, with new outbreaks reported in birds, occasional infections in mam...
Animal welfare on the move
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Animal welfare affects us all. Did you know your health is directly linked to the well-being of animals? Listen in to find out why! Welfare is not onl...
Crunch time for insects
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What’s your idea of a tasty snack? Fruit, biscuits, bread and jam perhaps? What would you say if you were offered something more adventurous – fri...
Unwelcome gifts: food poisoning unwrapped
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are you looking forward to the holiday season to savour the finest traditional dishes with your friends and loved ones? The second episode of our podc...
Food choices: beyond gut feelings
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is your first concern regarding food? Does food safety cross your mind when you think about what to eat? For close to half Europeans it is the ca...
Science on the Menu: trailer
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Should you wash fruit even if you don't eat the peel? Would you dare try cricket based hamburgers? Do you trust the food you eat? If you would like...