Episode Details

Welcome to the The Food Professor I’m Michael LeBlanc and I’m joined by Dr. Sylvain Charlebois!

Slamming the farm gate behind us: we  talk about your latest research Caddle, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University research on COVID-19, food security and euthanizing animals: https://www.dal.ca/sites/agri-food/research/farmgate-waste.html

Pigs being euthanized on the farms…bacon sales down  - the thick underbelly of the foodservice industry - is no one cooking breakfast and some startling conclusions  - Sylvain suggesting that making discarding managed commodities at farmgate illegal is a type of solution  for at least some commodities.

We have a "Bun fight! Stats Canada tells us the cost of centre-of-the-aisle went up - FCPC says their members don't set pricing, RCC says the retailers haven't raised prices: is something else going on? Some examples of commodities in the centre of the isle: Baked beans, +19%; Canned tomatoes, +19%, Canned carrots, +14%;, Canned soup, +12%, Bathroom tissue, +12%....."

Half Baked Idea: Janis Stein from the Munk School says that meat processing plants can and should move to almost 100% digital/robots - is this a fantasy or is there any reality to that proposition?

Grocery eCommerce: from nothing to something and back again? Or will Canadians finally love shopping online for groceries?

Is Something fishy going on? Canadian Government commits $470 Million to fisheries in Canada - some percentage greater than what Agriculture received?    

If you liked what you heard you can subscribe on Apple iTunes , Spotify or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the grocery, foodservice,  or restaurant industry.    I’m Michael LeBlanc, producer and host of The Voice of Retail podcast and a bunch of other stuff, and I’m Sylvain Charlebois!

Stay Safe everyone!!

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 featured in several newspapers and media groups, nationally as well as internationally. He has testified on several occasions before parliamentary committees on food policy-related issues as an expert witness. He has been asked to act as an advisor on food and agricultural policies in many Canadian provinces and other countries.

With extensive experience collaborating with businesses, governments, and NGOs, Dr. Charlebois combines academic rigor with practical expertise, making him one of the most influential voices in the global agri-food landscape. His work continues to advance the understanding of food systems, fostering innovation and resilience in a rapidly evolving industry. In 2025, he received the prestigious Charles III medal recognizing his tremendous work in informing Canadians about fo