Social Media Resources Tapped to Deliver Consumers Information on Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak

February 2, 2009 -- The power of social media is being tapped by the Department of Health and Human Services, its Food and Drug Administration, and its 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, i.e., cracker-product recalls. A widget has been created so news, parenting, health care and other concerned parties can access the database information directly from their Web sites.

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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 HHS, FDA and CDC social media Web page at http://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 latest information is also available from CDC-INFO (800-232-4636, TTY: 888-232-6348, and cdcinfo@cdc.gov).

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: CDC