Don't Eat Poop! A Food Safety Podcast

RJ Palermo: I just got my knee replaced, my left knee replaced, and my surgeon's assistant was AI. And the insurance company didn't know how to handle it. So he had to write a letter that this was my assistant, who was actually artificial intelligence, was the assistant in the surgery.
Intro: Nobody likes getting sick. That's why heroes toil in the shadows, keeping your food safe at all points from the supply chain to the point of sale. Join industry veterans, Francine L. Shaw and Matt Ragucci for a deep dive into food safety here at All Boys Down. to one golden rule. Don't eat poop. Don't eat poop.
Matthew Regusci: Okay. We are here with Jay. Sorry. RJ. I always call you Jr. That's okay. I never got shot on balance.
RJ Palermo: For those old enough.
Matthew Regusci: Okay. So RJ and you are with food safety tech food safety consortium and thank you very much for inviting Francine and I here this is an awesome opportunity but would love to know who you are what it is that you do for food safety tech
RJ Palermo: and yeah just give an intro sure so I started out just selling the events that we had and we had quite a few events when I first started five years ago But now it's evolved where I actually work with customers on engagement programs.
I originally started out in sales, but with the evolution and COVID And what we do, it's all around content. So whether it be digital or face to face, it's content that drives everything. So now I went from really a, what we would consider an outside salesperson to more of an engagement specialist, because that's really what we do.
So from. The displays here that you see and what we do online, it's really, it's about engagement with folks, content.
Matthew Regusci: And what do you see the evolution? So you've been doing this for five years of food safety tech food safety consortium, what do you see as the evolution of the customer and also of the content that's being utilized for the consumers and for the industry?
How do you see that evolving and how has it evolved over the last five years? And how do you see it evolving in the future?
RJ Palermo: Well, I think technology changes everything, but I just feel as though that since we got back to the pandemic, people yearn for social interaction. And what we create here is an environment for that.
And then throughout the year, we support that with campaigns that support people's goals for in digital publishing, where we encourage any content. We will post it on our website. And then there are some engagement tools, depending upon what types of assets you have that drive it, whether it be a white paper, case study, ebook banner ads that support that it's just driving by the highway and, you know, And seeing a billboard or watching a TV commercial, the hymn of the song, you don't even know what the product does, but you just remember it.
So banner ads are important to get your brand out there, but it's other content that drives it, whether it be webinars, web seminars, and the consortium itself. And so the content,
Matthew Regusci: because there's a lot of content and you guys do a great job, like you're talking about the webinars I've been on, I've actually given webinars for you guys, what is the most engaging content that you have seen over the last five years?
RJ Palermo: Well, we've talked about that offline, that you wrote an article on something that never goes away. So anything in pathogen, any pathogen, Always a challenge, whether it be Listeria and Salmonella are obviously the two biggest. And we run programs like that throughout the year. You wrote an article on it and it went through the roof.
I think training's coming back. So that's important. So, and now technology and environmental monitoring is changing. So that's rapidly changing with AI. So I think that there's a lot in store for the future of the industry.
Francine L Shaw: How do you think AI is going to affect what you do?
RJ Palermo: It's a good question. I don't know how that's going to change.
We'll have to address it when it really Becomes prolific, but right now we get a lot of engagement with our website and with our newsletters and with our webinar So it's a really good question francine. I'm not sure. I think we're all We all don't know what the future of that is. We'll see what happens when the time comes I think all industries are going to face it.
I can tell you a perfect example of ai That personally happened to me. So I just got my knee replaced my left knee replaced And my surgeon's assistant was AI and the insurance company didn't know how to handle it. So he had to write a letter. that this was my assistant was actually artificial intelligence was the assistant in the surgery.
Matthew Regusci: Wow. Wow is right. What do you mean by the AI was his assistant?
RJ Palermo: Well, again, he used automation as his assistant, how it was programmed. So I guess he had to write a letter saying that the hospital special surgeries on the cutting edge of these types of procedures. So it was a form of AI that it was his assistant and it wasn't a human.
Francine L Shaw: The computerized program.
RJ Palermo: The computerized program actually tracked everything.
Francine L Shaw: Yeah.
Matthew Regusci: So we asked Rick the exact same question we're going to ask you. What do you think we've asked every single person we've interviewed? We're going to keep asking them. what their favorite part of food safety consortium is and what their least favorite part or opportunities are.
What do you think the audience thought was the best and where their opportunities can be?
RJ Palermo: Yeah. And I didn't cheat, but I did talk to Francine before this when I told her what I thought. So I, I believe it's the type of program that we do with the tabletops and then the engagement. And I just think that New Jersey might not be the best location, but there was a particular reason why we selected New Jersey.
There was a lot of headquarters here, a lot of food company headquarters, and sometimes, how could I say this in the nicest way possible, Sometimes convenience is inconvenience. So you're so close. It's all, yeah, I'll register. It's right down the street. Oh yeah. I'll register. And then what happens is nothing happens until you have to get a plane ticket.
You have to go. So there's a lot of headquarters here. A lot of people that are in charge of safety and quality are here. So that was one of the reasons. The other was Because it's co located with cannabis, this was an emerging market at the time. So again, we are heavily involved in what you do on the cannabis side in testing.
So that's our biggest customer base is the crossover between testing companies in food and testing companies in cannabis. And accreditation companies in both.
Francine L Shaw: So what does trust mean to you?
RJ Palermo: What does trust mean? Someone that you can count on to deliver what they say they were going to deliver. That's the biggest.
Francine L Shaw: All of us in our jobs, our routines, there's something that we don't particularly care for. That's, you know, less. I don't know. Convenient for us than others. If you could change something about the consortium, what would it be?
RJ Palermo: The suppliers would take the recommendation of working the consortium the way we want them to work the consortium, which means is I'm not saying all, but some do not go into the session rooms.
You need to go into the session rooms and interact and then listen to questions and answers related to your product, listen to what the audience says, and then track them down and take them to your booth saying that you have a solution for that problem. I think that's one.
Matthew Regusci: When you say suppliers, you mean the suppliers of services and that have the booths and stuff going in and interacting with the actual audience.
That's a really good. That's really good.
Francine L Shaw: That's how you sell. That's how you sell. You need to find out what your customers want. And once you find out what they want, you can interact. That's sales
RJ Palermo: or you see what problems they have and then you could say, I have a solution because this is all networking.
We're never going to be like, 2 other food safety programs where people come by, there's big booths. We went to an exhibit hall, but we realized. That as industry experts like yourselves, our target market really is manager and above, right? At the manager and above level, there's only so many professionals in the world that do that.
So we're not going to get thousands of people. We're going to get the right people. So that's one thing that I try to emphasize with potential suppliers what we can do, and anybody that has case studies on their website, I always encourage people. We do a lot of things for free, but people don't take advantage of it.
And then we have these packages, just like you see Patrick Mahomes on TV doing during a football game. He does the insurance packages. We offer the same packages. For digital publishing. So there's a lot that we could offer to help customers get their word out. Show off their subject matter expertise that you both have done both in the physical way and in the if you want to call it virtual way, but there's still a lot of interaction showcasing thought leadership.
So that's really what we try to drive. Another component of this program is We encourage the tabletop exhibitors not to bring junior salespeople because of the caliber of attendee, they might be intimidated, right? Because, you know, there's some heavy hitters that do walk around that a junior salesperson might not be able to have a conversation or be afraid to have a conversation.
So, you
Francine L Shaw: know, that's a good point, too, because I can see where that would happen, where people would be intimidated by some of the.
RJ Palermo: Well, Francine, you know who, like this year and last year, who's around, you've got global leaders in food safety and you have a young professional. It could be challenging for them.
So, yeah, we've been talking about that
Matthew Regusci: throughout the interviews is the, what's great about this is you have very senior professionals and you also have a lot of young people here as well, learning from them. And so, And so whatever advice you've been giving to the people with tabletops, they've obviously listened because every single person we've talked to so far has been the CEO of their company at their table.
So that's really impressive as well. And you're absolutely right. But they are also have their junior people with them too. So being able to introduce them to the executives and all that stuff is awesome.
Francine L Shaw: I'm an introvert myself. So
Matthew Regusci: I don't know what world you're in. You keep trying to convince everybody's introvert.
RJ Palermo: Yeah. And I want to thank you guys. Cause you do a lot for the industry. Francine, I know you're heavily involved in women and food safety, which is awesome. And Matt, everything you do and in speaking with us and articles that, that you write are awesome.
Matthew Regusci: Thank you very much, RJ. Thank you. And is there one last thing you want to tell everybody before?
RJ Palermo: Sure. Just be content drives the world now, right? So anybody that has. Anything that they feel as though that the industry would want to learn or read, we encourage them to do it. It's free. And all you have to do is go to food safety tech. com. You could take a look at our editorial guidelines and if they pass editorial, we'll definitely publish it.
Matthew Regusci: Yeah. And I've, and I've written a lot for food safety tech. You guys have been awesome working with full webinars with you guys and your team has been around for a while. And so I work with the exact same people every single time, which isn't always the case. And. It's great. Cause I feel like it's more like a relationship, me providing content for you guys.
You guys working with me is really built a relationship and I appreciate that. Well, we appreciate both of you.
Francine L Shaw: Yeah. I've also written a lot. I love working with the people at food safety tech. A lot of my stuff goes through Adrian, but it's, we enjoy working with food safety tech.
Matthew Regusci: Yeah. And great content. I read it all the time.
Great. Glad to hear it. Awesome. Thank you, RJ. Thank you.
Francine L Shaw: Thank you so much. Don't eat poop.