Dataset Information

Biological, Chemical, and Nutritional Food Risks and Food Safety Issues From Italian Online Information Sources: Web Monitoring, Content Analysis, and Data Visualization.

ABSTRACT:

Background

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. 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.

Objective

The 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.

Methods

We 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.

Results

Nutritional 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.

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.

SUBMITTER: Tiozzo B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7769687 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Biological, Chemical, and Nutritional Food Risks and Food Safety Issues From Italian Online Information Sources: Web Monitoring, Content Analysis, and Data Visualization.

Tiozzo Barbara B Ruzza Mirko M Rizzoli Valentina V D'Este Laura L Giaretta Mosè M Ravarotto Licia L

Journal of medical Internet research 20201214 12

<h4>Background</h4>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. 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.<h4>Objective</h4>The aim of this study was to ...[more]

PMID: 33315018

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Dataset Information

Biological, Chemical, and Nutritional Food Risks and Food Safety Issues From Italian Online Information Sources: Web Monitoring, Content Analysis, and Data Visualization.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Biological, Chemical, and Nutritional Food Risks and Food Safety Issues From Italian Online Information Sources: Web Monitoring, Content Analysis, and Data Visualization.

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