Initial Reports of Foodborne Illness Drive More Public Attention Than Do Food Recall Announcements

Abstract

Recall announcements by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Food Safety Inspection and Service (FSIS) are important communication tools. Nonetheless, previous studies found that effects of recalls on consumer demand are small. Social media analytics can provide insights into public awareness about food safety related incidents. Using the social listening data this study analyzes how the public, in social and online media space, responds to, interacts with, and references food safety recalls and/or initial announcements of foodborne illness outbreaks as reported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Analysis suggests that mentions quantified in the social and online media searches conducted moved closer in-step with the CDC's initial reports of foodborne illness outbreaks than FDA and FSIS recall announcements. Issuance of recalls may not necessarily be a popular source of food risk information in social media space when compared with reactions to the CDC's initial illness reports. This relative popularity reflects people more often sharing/posting about illness risk regardless of whether a recall occurs. This suggests that recall announcements by FDA and FSIS may not induce wanted changes in consumers' behavior, while initial illness reports by CDC may. Although recalls by FDA and FSIS may not generate social media posts, their primary role is to take potentially unsafe food items off grocery shelves. Online media analytics provides policy makers with implications for effective food risk communication planning; initial CDC reports drive immediate attention more than FDA and FSIS recalls.

The Curious Case of Baby Formula in the United States in 2022: Cries for Urgent Action Months after Silence in the Midst of Alarm Bells

“…Figure 1b illustrates that most of the mentions are posted on Twitter (90% of the total mentions), followed by News (4%) and others. This is consistent with findings from existing studies on crisis management in that social media reacts immediately to crises, such as natural disasters (Widmar et al 2021(Widmar et al , 2022Houston et al 2015;Alexander 2014;Nagar et al 2012;Velev and Zlateva 2012) and foodborne illnesses outbreaks (Jung et al 2021(Jung et al , 2022.…”

“…The timing and volume of media attention suggests that online and social media did not react until threats -in this case, supply shortfalls -were realized, despite recall announcements sounding the alarm several months earlier. Previous work found that mentions on foodborne illnesses in online space move closely with the CDC's initial reports of foodborne illness outbreaks, which precede official recalls via FSIS or FDA (Jung et al 2021). In both cases online media reacts most strongly to the physical threat (illness in the foodborne illness case or shortage in the formula case) rather than the recall announcements, regardless of which comes first.…”

Domestic and Imported Food Product Recalls in Japan: Trend Analysis and Preventive Measures

“…The analysis points at sanitation control issues as the major cause (49-55%) of the recalls, indicating that the adoption of the HACCP system may effectively strengthen food safety controls in Japan. The HACCP system is mandatory in the USA and China, and food companies have been surveyed [23][24][25][26][27]. The Food Sanitation Law in Japan was revised in 2018, and HACCP adherence became mandatory in June 2021.…”

Chinese Consumers’ Trust in Food Safety Surveillance Sampling of Commonly Consumed Foods

“…When consumers believe that the results of food sampling inspections can be trusted and that when food safety problems occur, the authorities will take appropriate action to prevent them from endangering public health, such as issuance of recalls [43], these beliefs have the potential to directly influence the level of consumer optimism about food safety. When carrying out food safety surveillance and sampling inspections, steps such as the development of sampling plans, the development of food safety standards, and the allocation and implementation of work can all reflect the actual competence of the authorities concerned, which translates into competence trust in the trust model [44][45][46][47].…”