Abstract
BackgroundWith rapid evolution of the internet and web 2.0 apps, online sources have become one of the main channels for most people to seek food risk information. Thus, it would be compelling to analyze the coverage of online information sources related to biological, chemical, and nutritional food risks, and related safety issues, to understand the type of content that online readers are exposed to, possibly influencing their perceptions.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to identify the types of online sources that are predominantly covering this theme, and the topics that have received the most attention in terms of coverage and engagement on social media.MethodsWe performed an analysis of big data related to food risks by combining web monitoring techniques, content analysis, and data visualization of a large amount of unstructured text. Using a dictionary-based approach, a web monitoring app was instructed to automatically collect web content referring to the food risk and safety field. Data were retrieved from March 2017 to February 2018. The validated corpus (N=12,163) was subject to automatic and manual content analysis. Results were combined with descriptive statistics extracted from Web-Live and processed with Qlik Sense.ResultsNutritional risks and news about outbreaks, controls, and alerts were the most widely covered topics. Thematic sources devoted major attention to nutritional topics, whereas national sources covered food risks, especially during food emergencies. Regarding engagement on social media, readers’ interest was higher for nutritional topics and animal welfare. Although traditional sources still publish a great amount of content related to food risks and safety, new mediators have emerged as alternative sources for food risk information.ConclusionsThis mixed methodological approach was demonstrated to be a useful means for obtaining an accurate characterization of the online discourse on food risks, and can provide insight into how the monitored sources contribute to the process of risk communication.
Highlights
BackgroundRisk perception and communication research has shown that many consumers worry about the quality and safety of the food they buy and eat [1,2,3]
This selection and validation process was performed in Web-Live according to the following procedure: based on the reading of the title, snippet, or complete text of the content, content that was not relevant to the topic of food risks was excluded; only content assessed as relevant was included in the final corpus, up to a pre-established limit of 50 items per day; and each day, a preliminary tag was assigned to each piece of daily validated content to track the main topic it discussed and to inform further content analysis procedures
Online Information Sources Related to Food Risk and Safety Topics (RQ1)
Summary
Risk perception and communication research has shown that many consumers worry about the quality and safety of the food they buy and eat [1,2,3] To combat this concern, consumers actively engage in food risk information-seeking to gain useful recommendations about how to prevent and potentially face these risks [4]. With rapid evolution of the internet and web 2.0 apps, online sources have become one of the main channels for most people to seek food risk information. It would be compelling to analyze the coverage of online information sources related to biological, chemical, and nutritional food risks, and related safety issues, to understand the type of content that online readers are exposed to, possibly influencing their perceptions. Conclusions: This mixed methodological approach was demonstrated to be a useful means for obtaining an accurate characterization of the online discourse on food risks, and can provide insight into how the monitored sources contribute to the process of risk communication
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