Three years after its launch, the New Mexico State University Food Safety and Protection blog site at www.nmsufoodsafety.blogspot.com is averaging more than 1,000 hits a month. The blog features the latest notifications from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service that pertain to New Mexico, Texas and the Four Corners region.
The Southwest Border Food Protection and Emergency Preparedness Center, which is housed at NMSU, and the New Mexico Food Protection Alliance established the blog, which was created by Sonja Koukel, community and environmental health specialist with NMSU’s Extension Family and Consumer Sciences department.
Koukel said the blog was created after Extension agents asked for a website where the notifications could be archived for future reference.
The project became so big, Koukel asked to hire media specialist Jennifer Quintana to help run the blog, along with its affiliated Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Quintana said in 2012, the blog averaged about 100 hits a month. That number has since ballooned to more than 1,000. In July, the blog received close to 1,600 hits. In August, the blog received more than 1,700 hits.
“It’s been very popular and it’s grown,” Quintana said. “Users find the information useful, especially moms looking out for their children.”
Quintana is also responsible for sending out email versions of blog posts to faculty and Extension staff on campus, as well as to the El Caldito Soup Kitchen in Las Cruces.
For more information, visit www.nmsufoodsafety.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/nmsufoodsafety or www.twitter.com/NMSUFoodSafety