Social Media Tapped to Spread Info About Salmonella Outbreak

The power of social media is being tapped by Health and Human Services, the FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to spread important information about the recall of certain peanut butter and peanut-containing products that are associated with the recent Salmonella Typhimurium outbreaks.

The heart of the outreach effort is an FDA-maintained database listing all recalled peanut products. The database (www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm) can be searched by brand name or browsed by product category, ie, cracker-product recalls. A widget has been created so news, parenting, healthcare, and other concerned parties can access the database information directly from their Web sites.

Other social media tools used to broadcast information about the recall, the Salmonella outbreak, and the related investigation include podcasts, YouTube video, Twitter, and a blog. Full information about these tools is available on a new social media Web page at www.cdc.gov/socialmedia.

Information about the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak and the product recall is available at:
• www.hhs.gov
• www.fda.gov/salmonella
• www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium

The social media outreach effort is being directed by the department’s new Social Media Center, which promotes the collaborative use of social media tools to better communicate health and human service information. Many of these resources are available in both English and Spanish.

Source: Health and Human Services

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