AI-Assisted Foodborne Illness Detection from Social Media

This system uses a text classifier to scan Yelp restaurant reviews and assign a "sick score" indicating the likelihood that a review describes a foodborne illness. DOHMH staff then review high-scoring entries and, where appropriate, reach out to reviewers and combine findings with 311 complaint data to detect restaurant-associated disease outbreaks more efficiently. As of January 2025, the system has been unable to receive data due to an unresolved technical issue. Members of the public who post Yelp reviews of New York City restaurants may have their review analyzed and may be contacted by DOHMH.