Our project, entitled Bite Right, is a personalized dietary advice web application developed as part of the Maker Track. Our project aims to make dining experiences more accessible for individuals with specific dietary restrictions that go beyond the pre-outlined allergens found on the 5c menus website. Depending on given restrictions, we filter out ingredients that are incompatible with the individual’s diet, including those related to autoimmune diseases, religious beliefs, as well as common food allergies and intolerances. We understand the direct impact of our information on users’ health, and to mitigate this, we ensured its accuracy by manually entering, and double-checking meal ingredients, as well as seeking input from individuals with these specific restrictions to tailor our filtering system as accurately as possible.
We aimed to tackle the difficulty people with specific dietary restrictions face when identifying suitable meals. Our motivation stemmed from our interactions with fellow students at the 5Cs, who expressed a need for a more nuanced meal filtering system. We believe our project matters because it addresses a change in the dining experience for a large number of people. We see our project as a step towards a more inclusive world where dietary restrictions are not a barrier to enjoying meals.
Our web-app works by users inputing their specific dietary restrictions into our website. The Python-based filtering system processes the available meals and outputs a list of suitable options by comparing with the user’s selected dietary restrictions. Additionally, then the OpenAI API offers advice on choosing what dining hall to eat at based on the available food and restrictions. This allows users to quickly identify meals they can consume, saving them time and effort. The result is a personalized, user-friendly dining experience.
Ethics Statement: The ethical considerations of our project are central to its design. Our project filters meals for individuals with dietary restrictions due to autoimmune diseases, religious beliefs, and common food allergies and intolerances. We’ve considered a range of dietary restrictions, but we strive for maximum inclusivity. This includes considering less common dietary restrictions and providing options for users to specify their own restrictions. Autoimmune diseases like PCOS and Hashimoto’s are widespread and common, (With PCOS affecting 6-12% of women of reproductive age) and we believe they should be accounted for at the 5Cs. The information provided by our website can directly impact people’s health. Therefore, we ensure the accuracy of the information we provide. This involves manually entering and double-checking the ingredients of meals, as well as checking with those who are included in these dietary restrictions. Users should understand how the website works and how decisions are made. For example, how does the website decide which meals to suggest? Are there any biases in these decisions? It was tricky for us to make judgement calls about when to exclude a meal from a suggested option, as it can truly depend for some people with autoimmune diseases/religious beliefs. To work around this, we asked for as much input as possible from people who actually had these specific restrictions, in an attempt to tailor our experience as best we can.Our project is a testament to our commitment to ethical considerations in technology. We believe in creating solutions that are secure, inclusive, accurate, accessible, and transparent. We are proud to contribute to a future where technology serves the greater good.
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