The Dali Lama is at the hotel next door, Chris Rock is doing standup at a theatre down the street, and I’m sitting at Seattle University with a bunch of food safety geeks.

Wouldn’t have it any other way.

What I learned from Marler’s food safety conference in Seattle for the past two days is:

• the supposed experts are as confused as mere mortals when it comes to food safety solutions;

• faith-based food safety systems are as common as I thought they might be; and,

• there’s a whole lot of supposedly smart people who can’t be bothered to edit themselves to their allotted time.

Marketing food safety at retail may be a way to create a food safety culture from farm-to-fork.

Oh, and they protest about everything in Seattle.