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AIMS Public Health

2021, Volume 8, Issue 2: 322-332. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2021025
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Research article

Use of social media in food safety in Saudi Arabia—a preliminary study

  • 1.
    Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Human Sciences and design, King Abdul Aziz University, P.O. Box 42807, Jeddah 21551, Saudi Arabia
  • 2.
    Department of Family and Community Medicine, Rabigh Faculty of Medicine, King Abdul Aziz University, P.O. Box. 80205, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
  • Received: 07 December 2020 Accepted: 23 March 2021 Published: 29 March 2021

  • Over the past two decades, the rapid rise of social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and share information online. Social media platforms are not now only used extensively by individuals but also by businesses, governmental agencies, educational institutions, and many other organizations to deliver information to the public and, in return, collect information from that same audience. The preliminary study presented here offers valuable insights into how social media may be used to improve food safety standards. Today, food safety is still a major health challenge in the country, which occasionally faces unsafe food supply chains, an increased number of food borne outbreaks, and poor hygiene education. Social media may be used as a very valuable tool for people to access important information and more knowledge about food safety. The limited-scope survey presented here was conducted over the western part of Saudi Arabia and included 295 individuals of both genders, among various age groups. Participants responded to an online questionnaire about their use of social media to obtain information about food safety. Results showed that social media was indeed a major outlet for individuals to access information on food safety, with the top-ranked social media platforms being WhatsApp (M = 2.99) followed by Snapchat (M = 3.72), YouTube (M = 4.08), Instagram (M = 4.46), and Facebook (M = 4.81). Additionally, we found that the most trusted sources of information was the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (72.6%) and the Saudi Ministry of Health (55.4%). Participants most frequently sought epidemiological information (52.5%), quantitative risk estimates (23.1%), and information on the various types of foodborne infections (15.3%); they preferred the information to be in video format (67.5%), articles (57.6%), infographics (55.3%). Trustworthiness clearly emerged from the survey as an important consideration for individuals when accessing food safety information on social media.

    Citation: Nisreen M Abdulsalam, Marwan A Bakarman. Use of social media in food safety in Saudi Arabia—a preliminary study[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2021, 8(2): 322-332. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2021025

    Related Papers:

  • Over the past two decades, the rapid rise of social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and share information online. Social media platforms are not now only used extensively by individuals but also by businesses, governmental agencies, educational institutions, and many other organizations to deliver information to the public and, in return, collect information from that same audience. The preliminary study presented here offers valuable insights into how social media may be used to improve food safety standards. Today, food safety is still a major health challenge in the country, which occasionally faces unsafe food supply chains, an increased number of food borne outbreaks, and poor hygiene education. Social media may be used as a very valuable tool for people to access important information and more knowledge about food safety. The limited-scope survey presented here was conducted over the western part of Saudi Arabia and included 295 individuals of both genders, among various age groups. Participants responded to an online questionnaire about their use of social media to obtain information about food safety. Results showed that social media was indeed a major outlet for individuals to access information on food safety, with the top-ranked social media platforms being WhatsApp (M = 2.99) followed by Snapchat (M = 3.72), YouTube (M = 4.08), Instagram (M = 4.46), and Facebook (M = 4.81). Additionally, we found that the most trusted sources of information was the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (72.6%) and the Saudi Ministry of Health (55.4%). Participants most frequently sought epidemiological information (52.5%), quantitative risk estimates (23.1%), and information on the various types of foodborne infections (15.3%); they preferred the information to be in video format (67.5%), articles (57.6%), infographics (55.3%). Trustworthiness clearly emerged from the survey as an important consideration for individuals when accessing food safety information on social media.


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    Author contributions


    Nisreen Abdulsalam conceived the original idea, oversaw the planning and execution of the study, and wrote the manuscript, with input from Marwan Bakarman, on the concept and analytical methods used in the study. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis, and manuscript.

    Acknowledgements and funding


    This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant no. G: 512-253-1439. In addition to the financial support, the authors are grateful to the DSR for their technical assistance.

    Conflicts of interest


    The authors declare no conflict of interests.

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