Recall rodeo: A food safety update + Why cars are catching fire
Science Friday

Recall rodeo: A food safety update + Why cars are catching fire

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 8, 202618 min
  • Interview

Between E. coli in blueberries, glass in popsicles, and that dreaded cyclospora, this summer was all about keeping a wary eye on the groceries in the fridge. But how does the recall data stack up against previous years? And are federal cuts to food safety agencies to blame? Flora talks to food safety expert Brian Ronholm to get the big picture. Plus, more than 1.5 million cars have been recalled this year for risk of bursting into flames. As automotive journalist Jason Torchinsky explains, it's a miracle it doesn’t happen more often. Guests: Br...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 2 of 12 · 0:06

Hey, it's Flora Lichtman and you're listening to Science Friday.

.

Salmonella in eggs, jalapenos, granola, E. coli in blueberries, glass and popsicles,

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B20:06
  • C13:55
  • B25:45
  • B26:53
  • B29:31
  • B212:29
  • C115:14
  • C117:13

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 29%A2 37%B1 19%B2 11%C1 4%
  • 85% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 164 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 93 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Hey, it's Flora Lichtman and you're listening to Science Friday. It has felt like a food recall summer. Salmonella in eggs, jalapenos, granola, E. coli in blueberries, glass and popsicles, unidentified foreign material and white rice, unexpected beef and who could forget about

0:22

Cyclospora. The parasite you'd probably never heard of until more than 18,000 people were sickened by it this summer. So is this an unusual year for food recalls and have federal cuts to food safety agencies played a role? Is our food safer than it was 30 years ago or not?

0:43

Joining me now to unzip the produce bag and turn over every baby spinach leaf of this topic is Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy at Consumer Reports. He lives, breathes, and eats food safety. Hey, Brian, welcome to Science Friday. to be with you, Flora.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (17 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy