Food Allergen Database for Japanese Restaurants and Its Application to Menu Recommendation System to Foreign Travelers

The number of people with food allergies has been on the rise in recent years. Recent data estimate that between 1.1% and 10.8% of the global population suffer from food allergies. Confirming whether the corresponding allergic substances are present in the food is very important for people with allergic reactions. Through the investigation of allergens, we know that for people with allergies, the distribution of allergen information is scattered, it is relatively difficult to query, and there is also a lack of allergen information when eating out. In addition, with the gradual recovery of the tourism industry, for people with food allergies if they travel abroad, catering will become a problem for them. In order to face different situations and solve these problems, this article takes Japan as a tourist destination and collects allergen information scattered on various restaurant websites. Creates tables in MySQL, a database designed to unify the data, and the recommendation system accesses the database—a dataset of restaurant allergens with 340 menus in 13 restaurants. In the system, we search the database for foods and restaurants that meet the requirements according to the user's allergen information and preferences and recommend this information to the user as a reference. In order to test the function of the software and the effect of data collection, we used the software to conduct experiments on 30 Chinese people. The experiments assumed allergens according to the selection of allergens, regions, and dishes. From the results of the experimental data, 28 out of 30 people could find a suitable menu. Fundamental problems for users traveling, such as information confusion, language barriers, and lack of information when dining out, have been solved.