diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cf5bd37..356629e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 # Build output
 /foodster
 
+# The tag `make image` last built, handed to `make push`.
+/.release-tag
+
 # Generated by `templ generate` during the container build.
 *_templ.go
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 47af48c..6a5b8da 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ BIN     := foodster
 PKG     := ./cmd/foodster
 STATIC  := cmd/foodster/static
 
+# What `make image` last built. push reads it rather than re-deriving the tag:
+# sorting tags by date is ambiguous when two point at the same commit, and
+# re-deriving is what let a parallel make push the wrong one.
+TAGFILE := .release-tag
+
 # Vendored Datastar client. Bump, run `make vendor`, commit the result.
 DATASTAR_VERSION ?= v1.0.3
 SEED             ?= seeds/testi.json
@@ -94,16 +99,41 @@ image: ## Build and tag an image as vYYYYMMDD-N. Creates a git tag.
 	echo "==> $$tag"; \
 	git tag "$$tag"; \
 	podman build --platform linux/amd64 --build-arg VERSION="$$tag" \
-		-t "$(FOODSTER_REPO):$$tag" -t "$(FOODSTER_REPO):latest" .
+		-t "$(FOODSTER_REPO):$$tag" -t "$(FOODSTER_REPO):latest" . ; \
+	echo "$$tag" > $(TAGFILE)
 
-push: ## Push the newest tag and :latest
+# Pushing reported success while uploading the previous release once, because
+# nothing compared what was built against what arrived. So afterwards, ask the
+# registry what it actually serves for each tag and fail if it is not the
+# image we just built.
+push: ## Push the newest tag and :latest, then verify the registry
 	@test -n "$(FOODSTER_REPO)" || { echo "set FOODSTER_REPO in .env"; exit 1; }
-	@tag=$$(git tag -l 'v*' --sort=-creatordate | head -n1); \
-	test -n "$$tag" || { echo "no tags yet - run make image"; exit 1; }; \
+	@test -f $(TAGFILE) || { echo "nothing built - run make image"; exit 1; }; \
+	tag=$$(cat $(TAGFILE)); \
+	built=$$(podman image inspect "$(FOODSTER_REPO):$$tag" --format '{{.Id}}' 2>/dev/null) || \
+		{ echo "no local image tagged $$tag - run make image"; exit 1; }; \
 	podman push "$(FOODSTER_REPO):$$tag"; \
-	podman push "$(FOODSTER_REPO):latest"
+	podman push "$(FOODSTER_REPO):latest"; \
+	echo "==> verifying $$tag"; \
+	for ref in "$$tag" latest; do \
+		podman pull -q "$(FOODSTER_REPO):$$ref" >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
+			{ echo "  FAIL  $$ref is not in the registry"; exit 1; }; \
+		served=$$(podman image inspect "$(FOODSTER_REPO):$$ref" --format '{{.Id}}'); \
+		if [ "$$served" != "$$built" ]; then \
+			echo "  FAIL  $$ref serves $$served"; \
+			echo "        expected $$built"; \
+			exit 1; \
+		fi; \
+		echo "  ok    $$ref"; \
+	done
 
-release: image push ## Build, tag and push in one go
+# Sub-makes, not prerequisites. Under `make -j` — and -j16 is the default on
+# at least one machine here — these run concurrently, so push resolves the
+# newest tag and uploads :latest before image has finished building and
+# tagging. That silently ships the previous release a second time.
+release: ## Build, tag and push in one go
+	@$(MAKE) --no-print-directory image
+	@$(MAKE) --no-print-directory push
 
 up: ## Start the stack
 	@mkdir -p data   # or the engine creates it root-owned and the app cannot write