(Hale‘iwa, Hawaii) — Just released, “Tasty Safety … and Other Culinary Cautionary Tales” is a peek behind the food safety curtain in America. It is rife with disturbing tales, moving recollections and reverence for ancient processes still practiced today.

Tasty Safety” is a collection of the life and career experiences of chef-turned-food-safety inspector Joseph “JR” Realdine, documented to provide a map for others who are producing, storing and transporting food. Everyone from abattoir operators and businesses producing mass quantities of processed foods, to the home cook seeking to keep holiday family gatherings and potlucks food-safefor loved ones, will find helpful information in the book.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 48,000,000 foodborne illnesses occur each year in the United States, with 128,000 people – including tender-aged children and the elderly — requiring hospitalization. On average, 3,000 people die of foodborne illness in America every year.

Realdine’s book chronicles his time working as a chef as well as his 27-year career as a consumer safety officer and supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service.
Chapters include the unlikely start of his transition from chef to federal employee because of a job board’s placement by a water fountain; to the deep respect he learned for humane Kosher and Halal slaughtering practices, and to his experience as a first-responder preparing hot food for emergency personnel following 9/11 at Ground Zero in New York City.

“I knew I had to help. I had no military training. I had zero search and rescue experience. However, I was a chef! I could cook and prepare food safely. Both my CIA experience and food safetyexperience was all I needed,” Realdine wrote. “And off to Ground Zero I went.”

Published by Healthy Earth LLC, “Tasty Safety … and Other Culinary Cautionary Tales” is available through Amazon.com at this direct link bit.ly/TastySafety ($14.95 paperback, or Kindle Good Reads e-version $4.95). From each sale of a copy of “Tasty Safety,” a portion of the proceeds will be donated to benefit Hawai‘i’s children in need.

For further information or to schedule an interview with the author, please contact:

Erika Engle
Food Gurus Hawai‘i
(808) 946-4525
erika@foodgurushawaii.com