A pilot program in New York City used the website Yelp to help identify unreported outbreaks of food-borne illness.

A software program was used to search through thousands of Yelp reviews looking for words like sick, vomit or diarrhea.  Researchers were able to find three instances where more than a dozen people had gotten sick in the same period of time. They had all eaten at just 3 restaurants.

Carol Selman, MPH with The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, "Anyway we can identify food-borne illness or food-borne illness outbreaks quicker is critical."

She says in the future it would be great for the public to have an avenue to report food-borne to the Heath Department. She says by finding these small clusters of illness early it could be a big help.

"It's these types that are kind of under the radar, so to speak, that we know nothing about yet at some point and time those places may be the source of a very large outbreak," says Selman.

Food-borne illness usually occurs from improper handling, preparation or food storage.  The CDC estimates that each year about 1 in 6 Americans or 48 million people get sick with a food-borne illness.  About 128,000 end up in the hospital and roughly 3,000 people die each year after eating contaminated food.