Communications of the ACM
Incorporating Social Media Reviews Can Improve Surveillance of Restaurant Health Problems
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is taking advantage of a system that tracks food-borne illness via Yelp reviews to identify instances of such illness tied to specific restaurants.
Credit: vivabarkitchen.com
In 2012, researchers at Columbia University developed a system that tracks food-borne illness via online Yelp restaurant reviews, and it has been used by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to identify instances of food-borne illness in city restaurants.
In an initial pilot study, the researchers found only 3% of illness incidents discovered via online reviews had been reported with the city's established complaint system. DOHMH decided to integrate Yelp reviews into its food-borne illness complaint surveillance system, and the agency continues to mine Yelp reviews and investigate those that involve food-borne illness.
DOHMH continues to work with Columbia University researchers to integrate new data sources, including Twitter, into the food-borne illness complaint system.
"We find that the application of machine learning, specifically in the form of document classification techniques, can contribute greatly to public health surveillance in social media," says Columbia University's Thomas Effland.
From EurekAlert
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