The UK Health Security Agency is exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) could help scientists detect and investigate foodborne illness outbreaks.
A new study has seen UKHSA experts assess different types of AI for their ability to detect and classify text in online restaurant reviews, which could eventually be sued to identify and target potential investigations into foodborne illness outbreaks.
Foodborne gastrointestinal (GI) illness, which often presents as vomiting and diarrhoea, is a big burden on the UK’s health, causing missions of people to become unwell each year. Most cases of GI are not formally diagnosed, however.
UKHSA experts and scientists looked at a range of large language models and rated their effectiveness at searching through thousands of online reviews for information about systems which might relate to GI illness, as well as what people were eating.
Although scientists have faith that gathering information in this way could become a routine way to be more aware of and prevent against GI illnesses, the study has highlighted the key challenges that would first need to be overcome, particularly around access to real-time data.
Although it is possible to use this approach to gather information on what type of food people have eaten which might be linked to illness, it is difficult to determine the specific ingredients involved or if there are other linked factors. Variations in the spelling and use of language also posed potential challenges, alongside people misattributing their illness to a given meal.
Professor Steven Riley, chief data officer at UKHSA, said: “We are constantly looking for new and effective ways to enhance our disease surveillance.
“Using AI in this way could soon help us identify the likely source of more foodborne illness outbreaks, in combination with traditional epidemiological methods, to prevent more people becoming sick.”
“Further work is needed before we adopt these methods into our routine approach to tackling foodborne illness outbreaks.”
This work forms part of the UKHSA’s evaluation of AI in its performance to carry out a range of tasks within public health.
