Scared off spinach? An analysis of selected print media coverage of the Spinach/E. coli incident in the United States, 2006

In this study, we quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed print media coverage of the contamination of spinach with E. coli. We first selected a judgment sample of 11 newspapers in the United States reflecting a range of local and national newspapers close to the contamination site in California and across the country. The sample includes the top four U.S. newspapers by circulation leveland consists of four California newspapers, two New Jersey newspapers, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. We identified and analyzed all articles discussing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration notification of contamination of spinach products, the source and means of contamination of spinach, consumer and policy responses, and related issues from these newspapers between the Sept. 15, 2006 and Oct. 15, 2006. The total study sample consists of over 300 articles. Articles were coded by two coders for a broad range of issues related to scientific content and expertise presented, conflicts between news values and public health goals, food safety recommendations, issue framing, and agenda-setting. As food safety issues and recalls are an ongoing issue in the United States, print media content analysis serves as a primary method for understanding and ultimately helping to predict the effectiveness of methods to communicate information about food safety, food product recalls, and policy and public reactions to fast-breaking food safety issues.