In the summer of 2022, I sat down for a conversation with Dr. Darin Detwiler, featured in the top-rated documentary "Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food" now streaming on Netflix.

Dr. Detwiler is a well-respected food safety academic, advisor, advocate, and author.  For nearly 30 years, he has played a unique role in controlling foodborne illness.  After losing his son, Riley, to E.coli in 1993, the Secretary of Agriculture invited Detwiler’s collaboration on consumer education.  He was twice appointed to the USDA’s National Advisory Board on Meat and Poultry Inspection, represented consumers as the Senior Policy Coordinator for STOP Foodborne Illness, served on Conference for Food Protection councils, and supported the FDA’s implementation of FSMA. 

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Today, Detwiler is a Professor of food policy and corporate social responsibility at Northeastern University, where his students have gone on to leadership positions in industry and in state and federal agencies.  Detwiler’s research and insights have appeared on television and in print, including his column and articles in Quality Assurance and Food Safety Magazine and his books Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions and Building the Future of Food Safety Technology: Blockchain and Beyond.  In addition to his current role as the Chair of the National Environmental Health Association’s Food Safety Program, his leadership capacities include numerous advisory and editorial boards as well as having long consulted on food safety issues with industry in the U.S. and abroad. 

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A U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Veteran, and a former high school teacher, Detwiler earned his doctorate in Law and Policy, focusing on states’ ability to implement federal food policies.  He is the recipient of the International Association for Food Protection’s 2022 Ewen C.D. Todd Control of Foodborne Illness Award as well as their 2018 Distinguished Service Award for dedicated and exceptional contributions to the reduction of risks of foodborne illness.