Assessing the potential health hazards of purchasing prepared foods from unregulated private online sellers

Abstract

Social media and home-based businesses have taken the internet by storm as large online platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and Instagram have provided an outlet for private online sellers to sell food prepared in their home kitchens to the general public. Home-based sellers are currently unregulated, due to the sheer number of sellers and lack of manpower and resources at health authorities. With the increasing number of unregulated online food sales and the increasing popularity of purchasing foods from online platforms, the hazards associated with food prepared in home kitchens ought to be investigated. Because Potentially Hazardous Foods particularly increase the risk of foodborne illness, the number of listings containing them ought to be quantified.