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Consumers to receive timely food safety alerts through state Twitter feeds
Story Date: 3/2/2012
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Source: USDA, 3/1/12
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) launched a series of Twitter feeds that will provide state-specific, food safety alerts to consumers. Followers of these Twitter accounts will receive alerts about recalls of meat, poultry and processed egg products in their state, as well as information on how to protect their food supply during severe weather events.
Twitter feeds for all U.S. states and territories will officially launch during the first week of March. Today, FSIS launched Twitter feeds providing food safety alerts for residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
"These new Twitter feeds provide yet another mechanism for us to provide consumers with critical updates and relevant information they need to protect their families from foodborne illness," USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen said. "The immediacy of information-sharing through social media is unparalleled, and we believe these timely, targeted updates will better protect public health."
The FSIS state food safety alert Twitter feeds launching today are: AK_FSISAlert (Alaska), AZ_FSISAlert (Arizona), CA_FSISAlert (California), CO_FSISAlert (Colorado), HI_FSISAlert (Hawaii), ID_FSISAlert (Idaho), NM_FSISAlert (New Mexico), NV_FSISAlert (Nevada), OR_FSISAlert (Oregon), UT_FSISAlert (Utah), and WA_FSISAlert (Washington). A list of all FSIS state food safety alert Twitter feeds is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/
Open_Federal_Cases/index.asp#Twitter.
Currently, recalls are announced through news releases and FSIS' primary Twitter feed, @USDAFoodSafety which contains information to help consumers identify the recalled product. To further enhance this notification process FSIS developed these state feeds to provide information to people directly affected by a recall.
For more information on creating a Twitter account and accessing these state feeds, go to twitter.com.
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