Federal Agencies Get Social About Peanut Product Recall

Federal Agencies Center for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration and Health and Human Services agency are providing the public an easier way to access information about the peanut related salmonella outbreaks. The FDA actually built a widget that lists the recalled food items throughout the country -- and the widget is on the CDC's Social Media site.

A widget is a small bit of code that resides on a Web site and is typically updated in real time - meaning that as more items are added to the list the widget will be updated too. This widget can be shared. Health agencies and providers - and anyone else for the matter - can share this information on their sites. And here's the widget so you can view the list and dispose of any affected peanut products, thus avoiding a food poisoning.

FDA Product Recall List
This widget can be shared and placed in your blog, social media pages and Web site if you are familiar with working in code or have a Web person who can do it for you. Just click the "share" button at the bottom of the widget, copy the code and insert in code view of your Web site.

The CDC and FDA also have a map widget showing the number of outbreaks and I was surprised to see that we have the 3rd highest count of salmonella cases in the nation here in Massachusetts. I live and work here and I haven't yet checked the household stock for the listed items, but I'll do that today and urge you to do so as well. You can view all the widgets at their site. Not everyone wants or needs these widgets, but if you provide health and public services or are associated with either, this is a great service to provide. Salmonella can be deadly at the worst; if we can prevent just one person from contracting a case of this nasty illness we'll be doing exactly what social media is all about: communicating.