food
Let an agent tell food from what merely looks edible, judge whether a particular quantity is safe to eat now, and act on allergy, spoilage and provenance.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent tell food from what merely looks edible, judge whether a particular quantity is safe to eat now, and act on allergy, spoilage and provenance.
Any substance taken in by an organism to sustain life, and in human use anything sold, prepared or served for eating.
What it is for: Sustaining an organism, and in human societies also trade, custom and pleasure.
It can be eat it; prepare it, which changes almost every property it has; store it, for a period that ends; buy, sell and give it under rules that differ by place; be harmed by it through allergy, contamination or spoilage.
Distinguishing features
Intended for consumption, which separates it from substances that merely can be ingested
The ingredient, the dish and the packaged product are three things sharing one name
Fitness to eat is a claim with a time on it, never a property
What it looks like
No single appearance. What is seen is one food in one state, and preparation changes that state completely.
Physical character
energy density: 0-900 kcal/100g - water to pure fat
safe storage temperature: -18 to 25 C - frozen, chilled and ambient are three regimes
shelf life: hours to years - a property of food, packaging and storage together
How it is recognised
State matters more than kind: raw, cooked, packaged and spoiled versions of one food look nothing alike
The label carries the facts that matter - ingredients, allergens, dates - and the food carries none of them
Some dangerous contamination has no visible sign at all, so sight cannot clear a food
Related models
is confused with - an ingredient becomes a different thing once prepared
needs - shelf life belongs to the pair, not to the food
regulated by - decides what may be sold, labelled and served
is a kind of - inherits composition and handling questions
In practice
Families and kinds
by origin: plant, animal, fungal, microbial, synthesised
by state: raw, prepared, preserved, packaged
by regime: fresh, chilled, frozen, ambient, dried
Identifiers
GTIN 8-14 digits identifies a packaged product, not the food
batch or lot code producer-specific the only identifier a recall can use
Standards and regulation
Codex Alimentarius standards, issued jointly by FAO and WHO
National food safety and labelling law, which decides what may be sold under a name
Allergen declaration rules, which differ in which allergens must be named
Failure modes and hazards
Microbial spoilage and pathogens, often with no visible sign
Allergic reaction, a hazard to a specific person rather than to anyone
Chemical contamination from packaging, processing or environment
Choking and physical hazards, which depend on form rather than composition
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.food-cognition
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Identity and state What this food is and what state it is in.
Almost nothing about a food is true independent of its state, so state belongs in the identity rather than in a note.
Composition and name
What it contains and what it may lawfully be called.
Composition and legal name
Ingredients and the name under which it may be sold.
- What is this food composed of, and under what name may it be sold? definition
- Which ingredients must be declared, and under whose rules? provenance
State and preparation
Raw, prepared, preserved or packaged.
State and its consequences
How preparation changes composition, hazard and shelf life.
- What state is this food in, and what did preparation change? definition
- Which recorded facts stop being true when the state changes? boundary
Safety and fitness to eat Whether it may be eaten, by whom, now.
Fitness to eat is the decision an agent is actually asked to support, and it is both time-bounded and person-specific.
Spoilage and storage
How it degrades and what storage slows that.
Shelf life under stated storage
The date, the storage it assumes, and what a broken chain means.
- What is the shelf life of this food, under which storage, stated by whom? measurement
- What must an agent do when the storage chain has been broken? action
Allergens and intolerance
Who specifically must not eat it.
Allergen profile
Declarable allergens and cross-contamination risk.
- Which allergens are present or possible through cross-contamination? definition
- What must an agent refuse to assert about safety for an individual? action
Supply and provenance Where it came from and how that is known.
Recall, fraud and dietary claims all depend on tracing a particular batch rather than a kind.
Traceability
Batch, producer and chain of custody.
Batch identity and its chain
What identifies this quantity and who handled it.
- What batch and producer does this quantity belong to? provenance
- What is the minimum evidence for a claim about its origin? provenance
Claims attached to it
Organic, halal, kosher, fair trade and their certifying bodies.
Certified claims
Claims, who certifies them, and what each actually asserts.
- Which claims are attached to this food, certified by whom? provenance
- What does each claim not assert that a reader may assume it does? boundary
Use and consumption How it is used and how much is consumed.
Quantity is where food meets health, cost and waste, and it is the thing least often recorded.
Portion and quantity
Serving sizes and how quantities are measured.
Quantity and its unit
How much is served or held, in what unit.
- In what units is this food measured, and what counts as a stated portion? measurement
- How should partial consumption and waste be recorded? action
Required preparation
Steps that are mandatory for safety.
Mandatory preparation
What must be done before it can safely be eaten.
- Which preparation steps are required for safety, to what threshold? action
- What evidence shows the threshold was reached? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Where should the model separate the food, the dish and the product, since safety facts attach to different ones?
- How should a shelf-life claim be recorded so it stays tied to its storage assumption?
- What evidence should an agent require before treating a food as safe for a person with a declared allergy?