Too Much Power to the People? A Food Safety Site Tests the Limits
- 6 years ago
Too Much Power to the People? A Food Safety Site Tests the Limits
“We constantly monitor all available sources of information — including social media platforms
and third-party reporting websites — to ensure we are aware of any allegation of illness, and we have robust procedures in place to look into any claims that are made.”
After the 2015 Chipotle incident drew attention to the site, Mr. Quade realized that IWasPoisoned could become a real business.
Power users — like, say, a hedge fund that can profit from knowing about an E. coli outbreak at a major restaurant chain ahead
of the rest of the market — pay up to $5,000 a month for real-time alerts whenever a new report is posted to the site.
“With every report, our promise is to make sure it’s a real person who believes they have food poisoning,” Mr. Quade said.
According to Mr. Quade, public health agencies in 46 states
and representatives from more than half of the top 50 restaurant chains in America subscribe to the site’s daily email alerts.
“I could tell that Chipotle was a problem brand,” Mr. Quade said.
Dunkin’ Brands, the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts
and Baskin-Robbins, saw its stock fall 2.4 percent last July after traders on Wall Street circulated reports of a food-poisoning incident at one of the chain’s stores, according to the financial news site Benzinga.
“We constantly monitor all available sources of information — including social media platforms
and third-party reporting websites — to ensure we are aware of any allegation of illness, and we have robust procedures in place to look into any claims that are made.”
After the 2015 Chipotle incident drew attention to the site, Mr. Quade realized that IWasPoisoned could become a real business.
Power users — like, say, a hedge fund that can profit from knowing about an E. coli outbreak at a major restaurant chain ahead
of the rest of the market — pay up to $5,000 a month for real-time alerts whenever a new report is posted to the site.
“With every report, our promise is to make sure it’s a real person who believes they have food poisoning,” Mr. Quade said.
According to Mr. Quade, public health agencies in 46 states
and representatives from more than half of the top 50 restaurant chains in America subscribe to the site’s daily email alerts.
“I could tell that Chipotle was a problem brand,” Mr. Quade said.
Dunkin’ Brands, the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts
and Baskin-Robbins, saw its stock fall 2.4 percent last July after traders on Wall Street circulated reports of a food-poisoning incident at one of the chain’s stores, according to the financial news site Benzinga.