Was It Something You Ate? Google Data Can Help Figure Out Where You Got Food Poisoning
The Foodborne Illness Detector in Real time (or FINDER, for short) was tested out in Chicago and Las Vegas, and results—published in the NPJ Digital Medicine—show it's 3.1 times more likely to locate unsafe restaurants than other health inspection methods, Quartz reports.
By analyzing a combination of users' search history and location services, FINDER tracks down restaurants that may be serving food poisoning as the unwanted special of the day, and then sends health department officials to take a closer look. For example, if someone searched “diarrhea," then FINDER would comb their location services data over the past day or so to see where they might have caught the illness.
52 percent of restaurants flagged by FINDER were actually deemed unsafe upon inspection—and only 25 percent of restaurants are found unsafe via routine inspections.
While yes, the tool does impose a Big Brother–esque vibe, the results of the study reveal that the privacy sacrifice might be worth it (for the sake of never upchucking your sushi roll again). Why? Well, 52 percent of the restaurants flagged by FINDER were actually deemed unsafe upon inspection—and only 25 percent of restaurants are found unsafe via routine inspections.
Hopefully public health departments will start using FINDER nationwide. Or better yet, can we democratize this very pertinent info? I personally wouldn't mind this handy-dandy model living in my bookmarks bar. Are you listening, Google?
As far as beauty searches go right now, Googlers are on the hunt for the best dry-skin moisturizers and the most effective anti-itch lotions.
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