Yelp is the newest resource for government inspectors trying to track down cases of food poisoning. By sorting through restaurant reviews left on Yelp, New York Citys Health Department has been able to identify and investigate disease outbreaks, ultimately finding food-handling violations at restaurants that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. The method was resource intensive, but it workedAn initial trial was conducted in partnership with Yelp and Columbia University for nine months between 2012 and 2013. Yelp provided an easily parseable stream of public reviews left on restaurants throughout the city, and a computer analyzed all of those for signs that they included complaints of illness.
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