--- title: Foodborne Illnesses Tracked Through Yelp Reviews description: New York health officials found cases of food poisoning on Yelp that weren’t reported to the health department canonical: https://time.com/109583/this-social-media-site-knows-what-restaurants-will-make-you-sick/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-23T12:00:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:00:28.981Z article:section: Health og:title: Yelp knows more than the health department about food poisoning og:description: Restaurateurs, beware og:url: https://time.com/109583/this-social-media-site-knows-what-restaurants-will-make-you-sick/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Yelp knows more than the health department about food poisoning twitter:description: Restaurateurs, beware twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Social Media Site Knows What Restaurants Will Make You Sick > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=062f5dbc-7b4d-4016-ab3a-65e8945c637f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Daily | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 240,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 54.1% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Written by TIME's health desk | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Health conscious and health connected. A broad health-conscious audience with a credible institutional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### TIME Health Matters: key statements * Health Matters is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Health Matters is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=062f5dbc-7b4d-4016-ab3a-65e8945c637f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/subscribe?i=062f5dbc-7b4d-4016-ab3a-65e8945c637f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is TIME's health newsletter? Health Matters is TIME's daily health newsletter, written by TIME's health journalists. It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. It reaches 240,000 subscribers with a 54.1% open rate as of August 2026, TIME's highest open rate of any newsletter. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 23, 2014 12:00 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 23, 2014 12:00 PM UTC Restaurateurs, beware: People who eat at your joints are brutally honest on Yelp, reporting on bad service, undercooked food, and yes, even diarrhea and vomiting after dining. So the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene decided to take advantage of those reviews and see if they could find outbreaks of [foodborne illness](http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/22/cdc-food-safety-report-card/), which are a sign that restaurants aren’t up to sanitation codes. From 294,000 restaurant reviews between 20012 and 2013, 893 were pulled out for containing red flag words like “sick,” “vomit,” “diarrhea” or “food poisoning.” Of these, more than half fit the conditions of a potential foodborne illness, including the fact that more than one patron reported symptoms, the symptoms occurred within 10 hours of the meal, the affected didn’t share any other meals before becoming sick, and so forth. **MORE:** [Which Will Make You Sicker: Four Star V. Fast Food](http://time.com/75810/which-will-make-you-sicker-four-star-v-fast-food/) Further investigation via phones calls and visits to the restaurants revealed three foodborne illness outbreaks affecting 16 people that were not reported to the health department. (In the study period, only 3% of the potential outbreaks identified by the analysis were actually reported.) In their report, published in the _MMWR_ from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), investigators found violations in food handling at the three establishments that included workers not washing their hands before handling food, not storing food in the refrigerator, and the presence of mice and roaches. As tempting as it may be for health departments to start scouring Yelp or other online reviews for health code violations, the investigators say the process isn’t ideal since not all reviewers can be contacted, and having the reports reviewed and coded for further investigation by outbreak specialists is very labor intensive. Still, it shows that online restaurant reviews can be a treasure trove of potentially helpful information, and possibly identify restaurants that may consistently have problems with hygiene. Not to mention those that have terrible service. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/109583/this-social-media-site-knows-what-restaurants-will-make-you-sick/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/109583/this-social-media-site-knows-what-restaurants-will-make-you-sick/"},"headline":"This Social Media Site Knows What Restaurants Will Make You Sick","datePublished":"2014-05-23T12:00:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:00:28.981Z","description":"New York health officials found cases of food poisoning on Yelp that weren’t reported to the health department","url":"https://time.com/109583/this-social-media-site-knows-what-restaurants-will-make-you-sick/","keywords":["Food & Drink","Yelp"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-drink/","name":"Food & Drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/109583/this-social-media-site-knows-what-restaurants-will-make-you-sick/","name":"This Social Media Site Knows What Restaurants Will Make You Sick"}}]}] ```