# Don't Die Certified plans to crowdsource food testing

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/dont-die-certified-plans-to-crowdsource-food-testing/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Bryan Johnson](https://realalpha.app/people/bryan-johnson/) · Founder, Blueprint · Founded Braintree, sold to PayPal for $800 million, and now runs Blueprint, a longevity experiment.
- Host: [David Friedberg](https://realalpha.app/people/david-friedberg/) · CEO, Ohalo · Founded The Climate Corporation, sold to Monsanto for about $1.1B in 2013.
- Host: [Jason Calacanis](https://realalpha.app/people/jason-calacanis/) · Founder & CEO, LAUNCH · Early Uber angel; sold Weblogs Inc. to AOL; hosts This Week in Startups.
- Show: All-In
- Episode: [All-In Live from Austin: Colin and Samir, Chris Williamson, and Bryan Johnson](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/), Apr 3, 2025
- Moment: 1:37:42 to 1:42:14 of the episode (5 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/dont-die-certified-plans-to-crowdsource-food-testing/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5862

## Quote

> “So then the test gets triggered, results come back, and then we go to the brand and we say, hey, **come claim your product**.”
> — [Bryan Johnson](https://realalpha.app/people/bryan-johnson/) at [1:38:51](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5931) · All-In

## Takeaways

1. Consumers can pool about $500 to fund a product test.
2. Brands can reimburse the people who funded a test.
3. The target is foods making up 80% of the U.S. diet.

## About this segment

Don't Die Certified plans to let consumers pool about $500 to test a food product, then ask the brand to reimburse funders when it claims the results. Bryan Johnson says the goal is testing foods that cover 80% of the U.S. diet.

From “All-In Live from Austin: Colin and Samir, Chris Williamson, and Bryan Johnson”, Apr 3, 2025. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[1:37:47](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5867) So I agree, Jason. Fuck these guys, right? Fuck those guys. Cool. We can cut it, but I agree. Fuck these guys. So we just launched a new endeavor called Don't Die Certified, and we're testing foods. Oh, yeah. Let's go. Baby foods, pet foods, all packaged foods. And we got the early results back. You got the receipts. We do. How bad is it? Worse than you think. Sorry, what did you test? Bryan, what did you test dies?

[1:38:14](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5894) Yeah. So we're doing heavy metals. Heavy metals. Heavy metals, yep. Then we're doing glyphosate, some other agrochemicals, and then maybe a few phyllis, bisphenols. What's the worst product you got? far so we okay uh we got results back from have you done any daylights have you done plastics or is that yes we're doing that too so we'll probably have it later there's less evidence around that yeah but yes like the cool model we're doing is if you can you find your food go to the website we'll launch this next week yeah find your find your food and say i want this tested so you can put up the money if you get enough money so it what does that cost three four grand no like 500 bucks what wow yeah yeah i'm doing 10 yeah crowdfunding exactly so the people that also So eat that thing from Sweetgreen can be like,

[1:38:53](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5933) I want to know if it's got lots of plastics in it. Exactly. So then the test gets triggered, results come back, and then we go to the brand and we say, hey, come claim your product. So they then come back and we say, all right, now you pay back the people who funded your test. Like you should have been testing in the first place. So they're doing the work for you. So we want to do the food OM in the US.

[1:39:11](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5951) We want to test 20% of the foods that make up 80% of the US diet. So then we can say, on average, the average American consumes blank, you know, mercury per day or academy or whatever. So we tested a few of the things. We looked at diapers. There was a dangerously high level of glyphosate in diapers. For the cotton. Cotton, exactly. Roundup Ready cotton. Exactly. And then we also tested tampons. Which brands?

[1:39:35](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5975) High heavy metals. Which brands? Heavy metals. Call them out right now. We can't yet. So we... Okay, we got the test soon. Exactly. So we're going to reveal the first few ones, but dog food was really bad, which makes sense. Dogs have been living their shorter lives now. But, yeah, once you start seeing this, it's really pretty. Have you guys checked out plasticlist.org? Do you see that? Oh, yeah, that's another rich dude spending his money intelligently.

[1:39:59](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=5999) I love it. No, I'll be totally honest. But look, this... Hold on a second. This guy... It's all... I know it's super hyperbolic, but just the plastic thing, it's really important to note, they rank things, but you also have to look at the absolute numbers. This is where this can get a little too carried away. I think that there's a lot of shocking shit in there that's super bad. But you've also got to recognize that a tiny amount that's like one one trillionth of something that could ever affect your body, they'll flush out, may not be that bad.

[1:40:27](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=6027) So we've got to be really cognizant on how we interpret this stuff. These motherfuckers knew the whole time they were doing it. They knew. Who's they? This is like when Bryan's like we, like if you want a third of a Nutanik and you got fired up. Thank you. This is great. No, I'm telling you, I'm so, I have, I am so infuriated about this because these people, you know it's true, you know it's true.

[1:40:53](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=6053) They knew they were doing this. And it takes some rich guy who's bored and principled, no offense, I love you, you know I love you. And who's the guy who's doing the plastic dot org? Zach, um... Nat Friedman. Oh, Nat Friedman, sorry. It's another rich internet guy. He's like, you know what, I'm bored, these guys are screwing people over, I'm going to test plastics. Annie Hari turns up with 400,000 signatures outside of Kellogg's HQ and says you make in the same factory the Canadian version, which uses beetroot coloring and carrot coloring to make it.

[1:41:25](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=6085) And the exact same factory is throwing red 40. Yeah, so again, to back you, Jason, on this. So Gerber, so there's a law passing by California that said baby food providers have to disclose heavy metals in their foods. So it went into effect January 1. And so we go to Gerber's website. All heavy metals? Yeah, I think the four, four big. And so it's like, okay, so go to Gerber's website. I can't find heavy metals results anywhere.

[1:41:48](https://realalpha.app/v/54wNtMZF_sg/?t=6108) And then I realized my VPN's on, and I'm coming from a server outside of California. They've IP blocked. No way. Yep, California-only IP origination, and they hide it. And so this is what I'm saying. These companies, it's really not good. What do you think of Bobby Kennedy, friend of the pod, and him taking this on from AHA?