March 8/Arlington, Va./Associated Press -- Anyone with a Twitter account can now be among the first to know about food recalls with a new service the Department of Agriculture is rolling out.

The USDA says state-specific food safety alerts for meat, poultry and processed egg products are included as well as information on how to protect food during severe weather events.

Until now, recalls have been announced in news releases and on a general USDA Twitter feed.

The agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service says state feeds will better provide information directly to people affected by recalls. Food recalls often involve specific states where food was distributed.

The alerts can be followed by listing any state's two-letter designation followed by underscore then FSISAlert. Iowa for example is IA_FSISALERT, and Nebraska is NE_FSISALERT.

 From the March 9, 2012, Prepared Foods' Daily News.