Episode Details

In this episode, we are thrilled to have Professor Tony Walker, a distinguished environmental scientist from Dalhousie University, as our guest. Professor Walker shared profound insights from his recent groundbreaking study on plastics in the food industry, a study that has been widely recognized and published in the prestigious journal Science. This episode delved into the crucial environmental impacts of plastics in the food chain, providing a comprehensive understanding of his findings, which were previously touched upon in an earlier episode.

We provided an update on the bird flu outbreak affecting U.S. dairy, a situation that has led to increased vigilance in Canada. We discussed Florida's pioneering ban on meat produced from cell cultures, a move that is being considered by other states including Alabama. The episode also examined the cancellation of Calgary's plastic bylaw, a decision that could have had significant implications for the city's environmental policies.

Additionally, the episode previewed the upcoming SIAL event in Montreal, where the podcast will serve as the official podcast, releasing episodes during and after the event as summer bonuses.

The discussion also included allegations of fraudulent cooking oil from China and Starbucks' challenges. 

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Image: Volunteers from Green Africa Youth Organization and End Plastic Pollution Uganda examine branded plastic waste and record brand audit data in Kampala, Uganda. (Nirere Sadrach photo

About Professor Walker

Dr. Tony Walker is a Professor at the School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University in Canada. Tony has studied the impacts of plastic pollution for nearly 30 years. He helped participate in a Leaders and Experts Roundtable on Plastics and Marine Litter to help develop the Ocean Plastics Charter for Canada's 2018 G7 presidency. He represented Canada at the G7 Science Meeting on Plastic Pollution in Paris, France. He has published extensively on policies to reduce the impacts of plastic pollution and is an Associate Editor for Marine Pollution Bulletin and Editor for Cambridge Prisms: Plastics.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj8275

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00747-4

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ijcs.12691

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X22001424

About Us

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Visiting Professor in Food Policy and Distribution at McGill University and a Professor in Food Distribution and Policy in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University.

Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. He is one of the world’s most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability with over 775 published peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Charlebois is also an editor for the prestigious Trends in Food Science Technology journal. 

He co-hosts The Food Professor podcast, discussing issues in the food, foodservice, grocery and restaurant industries and which is the most listened Canadian management podcast in Canada. 

Every year since 2012, he has published the now highly anticipated Canadian Food Price Report, which provides an overview of food price trends for the coming year. Furthermore, his research has been fe