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

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

The shortages of baby formula in the US resulting from the voluntary recall of contaminated products and shutdown of manufacturing facility in February led to increases in the national out-of-stock rate of the baby formula from 18 to 70% over the summer of 2022. This study utilizes social media listening and data analysis to examine how online media reactions to the physical shortage changed over time and how the reaction to the shortage differed from to the initial recall announcements. Improved understanding of reactions to emergent issues in foods through this lens may improve communication efficiency to mitigate potential consequences.

Food Quality, Drug Safety, and Increasing Public Health Measures in Supply Chain Management

Over the last decade, there has been an increased interest in public health measures concerning food quality and drug safety in supply chains and logistics operations. Against this backdrop, this study systematically reviewed the extant literature to identify gaps in studying food quality and drug safety, the proposed solutions to these issues, and potential future research directions. This study utilized content analysis. The objectives of the review were to (1) identify the factors affecting food quality and possible solutions to improve results, (2) analyze the factors that affect drug safety and identify ways to mitigate them through proper management; and (3) establish integrated supply chains for food and drugs by implementing modern technologies, followed by one another to ensure a multi-layered cross-verification cascade and resource management at the different phases to ensure quality, safety, and sustainability for the benefit of public health. This review investigated and identified the most recent trends and technologies used for successfully integrated supply chains that can guarantee food quality and drug safety. Using appropriate keywords, 298 articles were identified, and 205 were shortlisted for the analysis. All analysis and conclusions are based on the available literature. The outcomes of this paper identify new research directions in public health and supply chain management.

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

In China, food has become safer over the past five years, especially commonly consumed foods. Food supervision sampling has played an important role in improving food safety. However, consumer acceptance of the results of food safety supervision have not kept pace. Communicating actual food safety risks to consumers and improving the public trust in food safety supervision sampling inspection has become an important issue. This study focused on food safety surveillance sampling of commonly consumed foods. In total, 4408 adult consumers were surveyed between August and October 2021. Structural equation modeling was performed for data analysis. This study found significant differences along gender lines and across different cities and levels of education with respect to evaluating competence trust and care trust on food supervision sampling inspection. This study identified the public’s competence trust, care trust, and perception of food safety as factors that significantly affect one’s attitude toward supervision sampling inspection. Care trust showed a more pronounced effect on trust enhancement than competence trust. The present study also provides some practical measures for food safety supervisors to improve public trust in the national food inspection. Specifically, the sampling process should be open and transparent.

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

In Japan, 700–800 food products are recalled each year. Food product recalls affect consumer health as well as businesses, depending on the content and scale of the recalls. Approximately 10% of food loss from food manufacturers was generated in 2018 and 2019. In Japan, food product recalls and measures to prevent them have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, to investigate this issue, about 2300 recalls instigated by regulatory bodies in Japan from 2018 to 2020 were classified based on product category, responsibility, reason for recall, and violation of laws and regulations, and the trends were analyzed. Recalls were primarily associated with violation of the Food Sanitation Law and Food Labeling Act, due to contamination by microorganisms or foreign materials, mis- or non-declaration of expiration or best-before date, and mis- or non-labeling of allergens. Therefore, better management by adopting the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point and food safety management systems as preventive measures and the design review of ISO 9001: 2018 may be effective in reducing recalls. Moreover, better communication between manufacturing and importing countries to ensure compliance with laws on safety limits of ingredients and label preparation may reduce the number of recalls.

Online Media Attention Devoted to Flour and Flour-Related Food Safety in 2017 to 2020

ABSTRACT

In light of extended stay-at-home periods during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, recent societal trends have revealed an increased use of online media to remain connected. Simultaneously, interests in at-home cooking and baking, particularly of "comfort foods" have increased. Because flour is a crucial component in many of these products, we analyze how the U.S. public, in social and online media spaces, references "flour" and its use. We also quantify the share of media mentions about flour that are devoted to flour-related food safety risks and/or risk mitigation. It was found that the volume of mentions about flour and its use fluctuate seasonally, often increasing ahead of the winter holiday season (November to December). Further, the volume of interest rapidly increased in March 2020 when stay-at-home orders were issued. The share of media devoted to flour-related food safety risks or associated illness was extremely small but generally corresponded with flour recall announcements or other public risk communications. Overall, the interest in flour and its use remains seasonal and predictably related to societal trends, such as increased baking at home during the holidays or 2020 stay-at-home orders. However, awareness of flour-related food safety risks seems largely absent on the basis of online media data collection and analysis, except in immediate reactions to flour recalls. This study suggests that more flour safety education programs may be desired to support consumers' informed decision making.

HIGHLIGHTS

Quantifying "local food" online and social media in the United States for 2018-2021

BACKGROUND

Interest in local food has been growing, driven by increased attention from consumers, supporting policies, and interest in offering supply by local producers. Nonetheless, a definition of "local food" remains elusive, varying with purposes, geographies, and perceptions. This study quantifies online media mentioning local food in 2018-2021 using online and social media listening and analytics. In addition, a sub-search devoted to local food security and access was conducted due to a high proportion of mentions devoted to food security in the initial search. Variations in mentions and net sentiment quantified for individual US states are also presented.

RESULTS

The local food pantry sub-search arose after finding a large share of the general local food media was referencing local food access rather than production or other topics. The interest in local food access was more apparent during crises periods, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, during which even a larger portion of mentions are devoted to the local food pantry sub-search topic. Mentions quantified from the sub-search are mostly expressing concerns about worsened food insecurity during the pandemic and encouraging others to do things like donate food to local pantries.

CONCLUSIONS

Online and social media can play an important role towards active communication in local communities on topics, such as food availability and access. In addition, online media can facilitate more efficient emergency management.