Last May, it was reported that 195 of the 580 people served Easter Brunch at Luciano's Cotton Club in Worcester, Mass. were struck by norovirus contracted from a sick employee, and the incident was chronicled on Yelp and a food safety site called barfblog.com.

“I would really drive home the point that they had a problem, investigated to determine what it is, and outlined a plan for what we're going to do from now on,” said Gregory Charland, founder and chief executive officer of Charland Technology, a Hubbardston-based company offering a wide range of technology services. “Organizations should use problems like that to really do some soul searching and figure out how and why this happened. The overriding concept to underline is that they are never going to have their name in the news about this again.”

(Hint, and it’s in the blog post: don’t let sick employees work, even at an Easter buffet).

Alex Barbosa, the restaurant's manager, declined comment.

That’s one anecdote in a story about on-line reviewing, which some love and some hate.

Alec Lopez dislikes consumer-driven review websites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and UrbanSpoon.

The owner of Armsby Abey in Worcester, Mass. said, “I don't read reviews often,” Mr. Lopez said. “I hate Yelp because it's an unanswered forum for people to bitch. I feel like it's a green light to voice your opinion without consequences.”

Worcester native Andrew Chandler, a 29-year-old medical student at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, had an unpleasant dining experience at Armsby Abbey, and chronicled it on Yelp.

“I was really sad to have done it, but I think that when a place isn't responsive or accommodating, people should know about it. I was hoping Armsby Abbey would read it and respond. I think it goes a long way if a manager explains what the circumstances were, and how they'll prevent the problem from happening again. Today, online reviews can make or break a customer's decision.”

In September, Harvard Business School professor Michael Luca released research that found a one-star rating increase on Yelp directly led to a 5 percent to 9 percent boost in revenue for independent restaurants, with comparable projections for independents in other industries. Despite the growing influence of Yelp and similar websites, business owners like Mr. Lopez continue to ignore — or worse, incorrectly address — negative feedback when it comes in the form of an online review.

With 61 million monthly visitors and 22 million reviews online by the end of the third quarter last year, Yelp is the most popular online review destination for everything from dentists to dieticians. Yelp's popularity is proof that consumers trust reviews written by the average Joe, and enjoy contributing their own 2 cents.

Wilson Wang, chef and owner of Baba Sushi in Worcester, said he checks online reviews of his restaurant “all the time,” monitoring what diners like — and don't like.

Mr. Wang, whose customers' reviews currently rank Baba Sushi 4.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp.com, said he doesn't respond personally to people's comments but rather sees such reviews “as a mirror” to reveal what could be done better. “We are on the high level and we are really proud,” he said last week.

Yelp and websites like it open the door for independent businesses with limited marketing budgets, giving them an opportunity to advertise through old-fashioned word of mouth in a high-tech world. They offer a safety net to consumers who, with a few keystrokes, can be reassured that trying something new — rather than falling back on the reliability of a chain — won't be a waste of their money.

“Every time I've given a negative review and gotten some sort of constructive, non-judgmental response, I've made it a point to go back to whatever business it was and give them a clean slate,” said Amy Jamieson, a 42-year-old Yelp user and homemaker from Worcester. “If they're willing to try again, so am I.”

Maybe I’m losing something in translation, but Xinhua reports that experts in China have called for strengthening moral education to ensure food safety following a string of scandals in recent months.

Zhao Chenggen, an expert at the School of Government at Peking University, said on Wednesday that to promote moral education is conducive to urging food producers to place a higher value on public health.

Under the influence of moral cultivation, food producers could enhance their subjective consciousness to resist ill-gotten gains through adding toxic materials into food, he said.

"Moral decline in the food industry is more terrible than that in social communications," said another expert, Xu Yaotong, a professor of political science at the National School of Administration.

Premier Wen Jiabao said, "A country without the improved quality of its people and the power of morality will never grow into a mighty and respected power.”

Wen said that advancing the moral and cultural construction would help safeguard normal production, life and social order, as well as to eradicate the stain of swindling, corruption and other illegal conduct.

Keep using those fancy cell phones and social media to hold people accountable.

According to The Tico Times, Nelly Campos joined three of her friends for a meal at Café Mundo on March 22. After having some appetizers at a cocktail reception, she ordered a light meal of bruschetta topped with tomato, cheese and basil. She finished her meal with a portion of sugary pecan pie.

The following night Campos and her friends all experienced symptoms of food poisoning: vomiting, diarrhea, body aches and dehydration. One of the women, Francella Conejo, ended up in the hospital.

Two weeks later, the Health Ministry shuttered Café Mundo, citing unsanitary conditions. A health report released by the ministry remarked on various health code violations found on the morning of April 5.

Inspectors observed surfaces that were neither washed nor disinfected, cleaning solutions were placed near the liquors, uncooked meat settled next to vegetables in the kitchen. The restaurant was undergoing remodeling but no separation existed between the construction area and the kitchen. Dust coated the walls, floors and tables in the kitchen.

“The food was tasty,” Conejo said. “There’s no way we could’ve imagined the level of problems that existed [in the kitchen].”

The reports of food poisoning at Café Mundo seemed to occur over a three-week period beginning in mid-March. But the decision to close the popular San José restaurant in Barrio Otoya didn’t occur until early April. Instead Campos and others, with the help of social network Facebook, gathered the names of food poisoning victims at Café Mundo and encouraged them to create an uproar.

In the end, the Health Ministry received 25 to 35 “denuncias,” or complaints.

Each complaint represented one member of a family or a dinner with friends or business gathering that had been affected by the restaurant’s food.

On March 31, Cristy Valdés had a friend post her criticism about Café Mundo on the Facebook page of Health Minister María Avila. Valdés began her message by saying, “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry or whether to denounce Café Mundo or the Health Ministry.” She went on to explain that after the incident occurred, Valdés spent three days calling the Health Ministry trying to file a complaint. Once she explained what happened, Valdés said she was told that four denuncias weren’t enough to lead to an inspection. On Facebook though, the complaints found an audience.

Valdés learned from one commenter that another woman named Nelly Campos was putting together a list of those afflicted by a meal at Café Mundo. They worked together to find people who alleged food poisoning from an unsanitary meal. Valdés also continued to call Café Mundo, only to have the people working the phone deny that customers had called about any grievances with the food.

As Valdés built up her list, a member of the Health Ministry started noticing the outcry on Facebook over Café Mundo.

On April 6, 2011 health inspectors dropped by Café Mundo, saw numerous violations and shut down the prominent tourist dining spot.

The networking done by Valdés, Campos and others had compelled the government to take action.

Reached by phone Thursday, Café Mundo’s owner Diego Meléndez said the restaurant plans to reopen during the first week of May. He contradicted some of the claims made in the Health Ministry's report, saying there was a plastic barrier separating the parts of the kitchen under construction. Although concerned, Meléndez said he decided to keep the restaurant open since only 0.04 percent of his customers were reporting an illness. And when Café Mundo finally did close, Meléndez said it was his decision after he invited a health administrator to investigate the problems.

The owner also cast doubt that his clients were actually sickened by food poisoning, adding that doctors told him there's been a stomach flu epidemic in the country.