Being sick is something that happens to most if not all people. This happens at least once a year or if you're weak, then it can happen more often than that. When you suddenly ate something from the fridge and you have an uneasy feeling, most people would take medicine and lie down or head to the bathroom.
However for most people in this generation, it is a habit to write it in social media accounts. For instance, "dizzy after eating cold pizza. #sick #vomit". According to Digital Trends, many people don't realize that using hash tags like "#sick" and #vomit is a helpful tool to monitor and manage any food poisoning diseases or outbreaks.
In the United Kingdom, the Food Safety Agency or FSA is the one monitoring the food and safety hygiene. The Telegraph, because of these so-called hash tags, tcan pinpoint any major disease outbreaks at least about two weeks earlier using social media platforms like Twitter. After getting this information it is then forwarded to the NHS, so that medical facilities can prepare for Noro virus or other illness outbreaks.
As far as food safety is concerned, it is not only limited to tweets or hash tags. The pictures that are being uploaded on social media platforms possibly indicated unhealthy practices or food that is badly prepared. This information can help and guide the FSA to check for healthier and safer food preparation processes.
Social media have become important in the healthcare and food safety industry. A popular restaurant review site, Yelp, has been tracking food poisoning by means of flagging words like diarrhea or vomit or sick.
Earlier this year, researchers using a system called nEmesis were also able to use tweets with #upsetstomach to track down 480 counts of food poisoning in New York.
