Promoting Upcycled Food: An analysis of social media communication strategies of Upcycled Food Association

Global food loss and waste are significant challenges in the food system, critical to addressing food insecurity and national security in the U.S. Upcycled food, which reduces waste at the source, is a promising solution. Social media offers both opportunities and challenges for communicating food benefits. This study examines publicly available data from Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter of a non-profit organization Upcycled Food Association (UFA) using content analysis and machine learning techniques. The analysis revealed that social media posts focused on promoting food waste awareness and benefits related to sustainability, health, and the economy, with environmental information being prioritized. UFA employs diverse impact information frames and uses positive emotion framing to increase food waste awareness and empower consumers by highlighting the impact of their purchasing power. Communication strategies are tailored to the unique characteristics of each social media platform and its users. We recommend social media initiatives continue emphasizing food waste awareness and upcycling, alongside increasing health information to encourage upcycled food consumption. Diverse strategies with diverse benefits and tailored to each platform's characteristics and sociodemographic groups are recommended. Future research can explore efficient topic modeling methods in larger datasets in social media analysis.