In this lively episode of The Food Professor Podcast, presented by Caddle, Michael LeBlanc and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois tackle a rich menu of topics spanning BBQ, agriculture, global health, and trade. We kick things off with a nod to Texas BBQ culture, celebrating the Michelin Guide's arrival in the state. We highlight an inspiring conversation with special guest Kyle Kyle Engelman, Executive Director from Grounds for Health, live at the Coffee Association of Canada's annual conference. Kyle sheds light on their life-saving initiatives in coffee-growing communities, addressing cervical cancer—a nearly 100% treatable disease that still poses a grave threat in low-income countries.The hosts then shift gears to explore U.S. political changes under the incoming Trump administration and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau's G20 priorities on climate change and food security. Sylvain reflects on his recent appearance on TVO's The Agenda, discussing monopoly land power in the food industry and Manitoba's decision to pass legislation against it, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford's collective push on behalf of all the Canadian Premiers for eliminating CUSMA and replacing it with bi-lateral agreements to safeguard trade with the U.S.After a break to hear from sponsor Caddle, the conversation continues with the bizarre Canadian carrot recall linked to E. coli, rising inflation and declining olive oil prices, and McDonald's $100M comeback campaign following their "onion crisis." The episode wraps up with a nod to the Toronto Argonauts' Grey Cup victory and a lively recap of viral moments featuring fast food and high-profile personalities.With an impactful interview and engaging insights, this episode delivers a blend of inspiration and thought-provoking discussion for food industry enthusiasts. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre’s Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top ...
