On July 7th shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill were trading below $400 following a tweet by Eric Van Lustbader, author of the Jason Bourne series, indicating that eating at a Manhattan-based restaurant location resulted in the hospitalization of his editor.Chipotle spokesperson Chris Arnold responded: “we are aware of the post
Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: Author blames food “Bourne” illness on Chipotle
Media outlets and the Twittersphere are indulging in a feeding frenzy about illnesses possibly linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill locations in New York City, but health officials say no confirmed cases have been reported. 
Chipotle’s corporate spokesman also says the aren’t any reports of illnesses from the burrito chain’s more
Continue Reading Beach Beat: Chicken Little syndrome hits Chipotle via Twitter
On Wednesday, Dec. 9, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted its third-annual Twitter chat using the tag #CDCfoodchat to give consumers tips on keeping holiday meals safe and healthy.
It’s important to remember food safety year-round because about one in six Americans is sickened with foodborne
Continue Reading CDC Hosts Third-Annual Food Safety Twitter Chat
The U.K.’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reportedly been systematically checking for Twitter hashtags such as #sick and #barf in order to identify potential foodborne illness outbreaks. According to the agency’s chief scientific adviser, FSA is working with the National Health Service to monitor certain tweets via special software as
Continue Reading UK’s Food Standards Agency Monitoring Tweets to Detect Outbreaks Sooner
(This article by Advik Shreekumar was published Jan. 6, 2015, by the Harvard Political Review and is reposted here with permission.) On March 23, 2013, the civic organization Smart Chicago launched an ambitious program to enhance the city’s food-safety efforts. Using a mix of statistical techniques and computer science, Foodborne
Continue Reading Food Safety in Numbers
On Thursday, Dec. 11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted its second annual Twitter chat using the tag #CDCfoodchat to give consumers tips on keeping holiday meals safe and healthy.
Here are some of the top food safety tips for grocery shopping, preparing your kitchen, thawing meat, safe
Continue Reading Twitter Chat Brings Together Holiday Food Safety Tips
Social media platforms such as Yelp and Twitter have significantly altered the online landscape for restaurants. Now anyone with an Internet connection and an opinion can broadcast their thoughts to others interested in visiting. But what if public health officials could use Yelp and Twitter to track people mentioning foodborne
Continue Reading Could Yelp and Twitter Become Tools to Detect Foodborne Outbreaks?
“With the ubiquitous nature of social media in current society, health and food safety risk communicators should be taking advantage of these platforms to provide information and engage the public,” reads a recent article in the journal Perspectives in Public Health. To help health information providers navigate social media, researchers
Continue Reading How Health and Food Safety Risk Communicators Can Engage Social Media
On Wednesday, Dec. 18, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the International Food Information Council Foundation and other food safety experts flocked to Twitter with the tag #CDCchat to give tips on keeping holiday feasts safe and healthy.
Continue Reading CDC Shares Food Safety Tips Via Twitter
The opportunity to use social media platforms to report and track foodborne illnesses is becoming increasingly feasible as more and more people use social media to discuss the ins and outs of daily life. In April, a few volunteer developers in Chicago launched an app called Foodborne Chicago, which
Continue Reading Social Media Apps Use Twitter to Track Illness Outbreaks
