Global health organisations acknowledge that household habits significantly affect food safety. Foodborne illness have become a major public health concern worldwide, often resulting from improper food handling by consumers at home. These issues are underestimated due to under-reporting of domestic outbreaks.
Consumers often neglect proper food handling practices, increasing their exposure to food-related risks. Changing consumer attitudes and practices regarding food safety is crucial to mitigating these risks.
Nowadays, the internet is the main source of general information, including topics related to home food safety (HFS). However, as highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, online information is not always reliable. Public health institutions play a crucial role in disseminating accurate and trustworthy messages. Assessing knowledge, awareness and practices (KAP) regarding HFS, along with analysing online information, can support the development of effective communication strategies.
This study aims to identify and analyse the Italian online landscape concerning HFS, to gain insights into the topics and issues to which consumers are exposed.
A web-monitoring tool was employed to systematically collect and analyse online content, identify trends, and assess public interest in HFS. The methodology involved developing web-monitoring profiles, optimised through a three-step process (keyword refinement, validation, calibration) and refined during a pilot phase. Over eight months, 46,184 items of online content were gathered; 37,763 were reviewed and 4,881 were deemed relevant according to specific eligibility criteria.
Relevant content, sourced from websites, blogs and social media platforms, was categorised using five “ad hoc” analytical features: Context, Content, Source, Type of Information, and Type of Issue. Each feature comprised defined values, enabling the creation of a ‘content fingerprint’ that characterises the nature and focus of online information. These findings will inform the design of a forthcoming KAP survey on HFS among Italian web users, to be distributed via our institutional web channels.
