Why I’m changing Food Safety News (a personal note from Bill Marler)

I am 68 years young, and no, I am not about to retire.

I know that many receiving this email have been my adversaries, friends and colleagues. One thing we all have been – is committed to the safety of our food supply.

I am writing to you today because Food Safety News is changing – for the better.

Sixteen years ago (in the run-up to the Food Safety Modernization Act), I founded Food Safety News because I believed independent journalism about food safety mattered. I have spent decades as a food safety attorney, seeing what happens when companies cut corners, when regulators fall asleep, when nobody’s watching, and consumers get very sick and sometimes die.

I knew we needed a publication that was not beholden to anyone. Not to industry. Not to advertisers. Not to me. Not to anyone’s profit motive except the mission itself: keeping the public informed about food safety threats and opportunities to do better.

So, I started Food Safety News or FSN. And I paid for it. Every year, out of pocket, I wrote checks to cover the salaries of journalists, editors, and fact-checkers. For 16 years, I funded this publication because the work was too important not to do.

But here’s the truth: that is not sustainable. And I am tired of pretending it is.
Right now, Food Safety News costs roughly $30,000 per month to run. That covers newsroom salaries, platform costs, infrastructure and conferences. Real journalism is expensive.

The math does not work. It never has. I have been making up the difference – over $300,000 a year, give or take. That’s money I had and have. But it is not a sustainable business model. It is a subsidy. And subsidies do not last.

The advertising model has been dying for years and AI is going to crush it. I am not saying that because I am pessimistic. I am saying it because the data is clear. Website traffic across all news sites is down 74% this year. Google Ad revenue dropped 73% in the last months on Food Safety News. These are not minor fluctuations – they are the fundamental collapse of how digital media used to fund itself.
I could keep writing checks. Honestly, I could fund Food Safety News for another decade or two. But that is not building something that outlasts me.
So, here’s what I have decided: we are going to build a better Food Safety News to outlast me.
That means transitioning to 501(c)(3) nonprofit status (tax deductible). That means launching a membership program. That means asking readers like you, the people who care most about food safety journalism, to help sustain what we do through subscriptions or tax-free donations.

This is not a charity ask. This is not guilt. It is a straightforward trade: you get the journalism you have relied on. We get the support to keep doing it for decades, not if I am writing checks.

Here’s what does not change:
• Breaking news stays free. When there is an outbreak, you’ll hear about it first on Food Safety News, for free.
• Recalls stay free.
• Op-eds from food safety industry leaders stay free.
• The 16-year (and on) archive stays free.
• Our mission to inform the public about food safety threats and wins does not change.

Here is what does change: We are adding premium features for readers who can support us financially. Deeper analysis. Weekly expert commentary. The things you have told us you want.

Starting in December, Food Safety News launches FSN+. Founding members lock in at $59/year – that’s less than $5 a month for life.

I am not going to ask you to decide today. I am going to give you time to think about it.

Next week, Peter will walk you through exactly how it works.

For now, I want you to know: this transition is about survival. Not of Food Safety News itself, but of the idea that independent journalism matters. That someone must watch.

That someone must report. That someone must care more about getting it right than about making money.

That’s what Food Safety News has always been and what FSN+ will continue.

And, with your help, that is what it will be for the next 16 years. And beyond.

Bill Marler
Founder & Publisher, Food Safety News

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.

Source: https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/why-im-changing-food-safety-news-a-personal-note-from-bill-marler/