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== Introduction ==
 
== Introduction ==
 
== Why? ==  
 
== Why? ==  
Why do we need an ingredients ontology? The ontology describes how ingredients are derived from each other and how ingredients can be combined into new ingredients. An ontology might be useful to:
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Why do we need an ingredients ontology? The ontology describes how ingredients are derived from each other and how ingredients can be combined into new ingredients. The basic thesaurus can help to:
* '''Normalise ingredients''' - Producers take a lot of freedom in describing the ingredients they use. An ontology helps to standardise the ingredients.
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* '''Normalise ingredients''' - Producers take a lot of freedom in describing the ingredients they use. They use different words (synonyms) to designate the same ingredient. An ontology helps to standardise the ingredients;
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* '''Exclusive search''' - the taxonomy can be used to support search for ingredients in any language and multiple synonyms;
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* '''Translation''' - as the taxonomy contains translations of each ingredient, it can be used as means to translate ingredient lists;
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* '''Ingredient language inconsistencies''' - it happens that ingredients in different languages of a single product are different. That can be ingredients that are left out or simplified. The thesaurus might help revealing these.
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If the thesaurus is extended by relations between ingredients, other benefits arise, depending on what is defined in the taxonomy. The basic relation is the isa-relation or is-a-kind-of relation. The isa-relation defines two ingredients that are related. For instance the ingredient ''strawberry'' can also be found as ''strawberry puree'' and ''strawberry juice''. ''Strawberry'' is more generic than ''strawberry puree'', which is more specific. The rule here is: would it make sense to replace the children by the parent in the ingredients list? For instance ''strawberry puree'' and ''strawberry juice'' are still ''strawberry'', but under a different shape. So if you replace ''strawberry puree'' with ''strawberry'' in the ingredient list, it is still a valid ingredient list. Usually ''strawberry'' is the parent and ''strawberry puree'' a child.
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This isa-relation makes the following functionalities possible:
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* '''Inclusive source search''' - The '''inclusive search''' means that a search for the parent ''strawberry'' will also show the children ''strawberry puree'', etc. The '''source search''' means the the origin of the ingredient, i.e. strawberry , apple, cinnamon, soy, etc. (I want another word for source).
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* '''Inclusive condition search''' - in a similar way we could search for the condition of a source ingredient, for instance pureed, juiced, dried, reconditioned, etc. So if we would like to search for all pureed fruits, the relation between [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/fruit-puree fruit puree] and [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/strawberry-puree strawberry puree] should be defined in the taxonomy.
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One could also define other relations in order to support:
 
* '''Hidden ingredients''' - an ingredient might contain hidden ingredients, the ontology might reveal these. For example [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butter butter] contains [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butterfat butterfat].
 
* '''Hidden ingredients''' - an ingredient might contain hidden ingredients, the ontology might reveal these. For example [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butter butter] contains [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butterfat butterfat].
 
* '''Combined ingredients''' - an ingredient might appear as a single ingredient. In reality however
 
* '''Combined ingredients''' - an ingredient might appear as a single ingredient. In reality however
 
* '''Processed ingredients''' - often an ingredient is derived from an other ingredient through some process. We can make explicit what these processes are. Example [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/clarified-butter clarified butter] is created from [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butter butter] by separating the [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/milk-solids milk solids] and [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/water water] from the [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butterfat butterfat].
 
* '''Processed ingredients''' - often an ingredient is derived from an other ingredient through some process. We can make explicit what these processes are. Example [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/clarified-butter clarified butter] is created from [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butter butter] by separating the [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/milk-solids milk solids] and [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/water water] from the [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/butterfat butterfat].
* '''Ingredient incompleteness''' - often an ingredient is incomplete defined in an ingredient list. For instance if an ingredient-list specifies [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/milk milk], it should be defined from which mammal the milk comes from, for instance [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/cow-s-milk cow's milk].  
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* '''Ingredient incompleteness''' - often an ingredient is incomplete defined in an ingredient list. For instance if an ingredient-list specifies [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/milk milk], it should be defined from which mammal the milk comes from, for instance [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/cow-s-milk cow's milk].
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== Ingredients Thesaurus ==
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== Taxonomy ==
 
The current OFF ingredients taxonomy ([https://cryptpad.fr/code/#/2/code/edit/mKQp7RUB1z8lajY4GgPpfMNm/ cryptpad]) can be seen as a thesaurus.
 
The current OFF ingredients taxonomy ([https://cryptpad.fr/code/#/2/code/edit/mKQp7RUB1z8lajY4GgPpfMNm/ cryptpad]) can be seen as a thesaurus.
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As the same super-ingredient will also appear in combination with other ingredients, this might help the user understand what other fruits there are and how they are processed and what other juices from fruits exist.
 
As the same super-ingredient will also appear in combination with other ingredients, this might help the user understand what other fruits there are and how they are processed and what other juices from fruits exist.
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At the moment (2018-10-05) is taxonomy is not consistently structured. It uses sometimes the nouns and sometimes the adjective as structure principle.
    
These super ingredients and ingredients can also be found in ingredient lists, but then they are indicated by parentheses or colons). For example: ''Tomates (Dés, Jus, Purée)'', ''Yaourt (lait, crème, sucre, ferments lactiques)'', ''crème fraîche (dont lait)'' or ''Jus de : pomme, orange, passion, ananas, citron''. These are four different approaches to super ingredients and define different relations between ingredients.
 
These super ingredients and ingredients can also be found in ingredient lists, but then they are indicated by parentheses or colons). For example: ''Tomates (Dés, Jus, Purée)'', ''Yaourt (lait, crème, sucre, ferments lactiques)'', ''crème fraîche (dont lait)'' or ''Jus de : pomme, orange, passion, ananas, citron''. These are four different approaches to super ingredients and define different relations between ingredients.
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In the taxonomy multiple super ingredients can be defined as:
 
In the taxonomy multiple super ingredients can be defined as:
<br /><en:soya
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<br />'''<en:soya'''
<br /><en:sauce
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<br />'''<en:sauce'''
<br />en:soy sauce
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<br />'''en:soy sauce'''
<br />de:Sojasauce
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<br />'''de:Sojasauce'''
 
<br />
 
<br />
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=== • Compound ingredients ===
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Note that ''en:soya'' and ''en:sauce'' should exist as an ingredient in the taxonomy. (is there a consistency check done somewhere?)
It is possible to have a ingredient that in reality consists of multiple other ingredients. For instance ''fr:jus de soja'' can also be specified as ''en:water'' plus ''en:soybean''. On ingredients list this usually appears as ''jus de soja (eau, fèves de soja)'', i.e. the elements between parentheses define the real ingredients. The compound ingredients can also be seen as a (sub-)ingredient list.
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=== Specification ===
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==== • Origin list specification ====
 
Producers sometimes try to shorten the length of ingredients lists by suppressing repetition. For instance the entry ''vegetable fats (palm, sunflower)'' should actually be read as two elements: ''palm vegetable fat'' and ''sunflower vegetable fat''. In this case the parentheses act as method to avoid repetition.
 
Producers sometimes try to shorten the length of ingredients lists by suppressing repetition. For instance the entry ''vegetable fats (palm, sunflower)'' should actually be read as two elements: ''palm vegetable fat'' and ''sunflower vegetable fat''. In this case the parentheses act as method to avoid repetition.
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It also ahppens the other way around: palm (vegetable fat).
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==== • Processed list specification ====
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The example Tomates (Dés, Jus, Purée) is also used to shorten an ingredient list. In this case the processing used is in the parentheses.
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==== • Compound ingredients ====
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It is possible to have a ingredient that in reality consists of multiple other ingredients. For instance ''fr:jus de soja'' can also be specified as ''en:water'' plus ''en:soybean''. On ingredients list this usually appears as ''jus de soja (eau, fèves de soja)'', i.e. the elements between parentheses define the real ingredients. The compound ingredients can also be seen as a (sub-)ingredient list. This is currently NOT encoded as super ingredient.
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==== • Made of specification ====
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The example ''crème fraîche (dont lait)'' designates that ''crème fraîche'' is produced from ''lait''. This is usually used to indicate if an ingredient contains an allergenic substance. This is currently NOT encoded as super ingredient.
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==== Exceptions / Reality ====
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As the taxonomy is strongly tied to the url search function some exceptions have been implemented:
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* '''en:xxxxx flavour''' - has only one parent: ''<en:flavour''. The parent ''<en:xxxxx'' is not set up, as it would mix the real ingredient ''en:xxxxx'' with artificial flavour ingredient.
    
=== Language prefix ===
 
=== Language prefix ===
The language prefixes are based on the approach taken by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Languages Wikipedia]. In practice this implies that the languages prefixes as used by wikidata are used, this inlcudes both the language and the associated script (if applicable).
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The language prefixes are based on the approach taken by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Languages Wikipedia]. In practice this implies that the languages prefixes as used by wikidata are used, this inlcudes both the language and the associated script (if applicable). Sometimes the language prefix from the wikipedia-page is used. For two-letter prefixes the same prefix is used in wikipedia and wikidata. For three (and more) letter prefixes this is no longer true ([[language acronyms]]).
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=== Application ===
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==== Inclusive search =====
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The only application for the taxonomy at the moment is search by url. You coud enter the url [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/strawberry/ strawberry] to find all products that contain ''strawberry''. Or [https://world.openfoodfacts.org/ingredient/strawberry/language/finnish strawberry] to find all products that have a Finnish ingredient list with ''strawberry'' (puutarhamansikka). This is an inclusive search, which implies that all ingredients that are more specific are included as well in the results.
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What is supported as search is determined by parents that are defined in the taxonomy. So ''strawberry flavour'' is not found when searching for ''strawberry''.
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=== Practice ===
 
=== Practice ===
 
Some experiences have been gathered in building the OFF taxonomy. These can be divided into guiding principles and steps.
 
Some experiences have been gathered in building the OFF taxonomy. These can be divided into guiding principles and steps.
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* '''Wrong translation''' - the ingredient lists in different languages available on products, do not always offer a translations.
 
* '''Wrong translation''' - the ingredient lists in different languages available on products, do not always offer a translations.
 
* '''Translation bootstrapping''' - in order to get up to speed with the translations, we use the Wikipedia and Wikidata to find translations. This can result in the wrong translations as it can be something different than what is found on the package. So be careful for wikipedia disambiguation strings, latin species names, etc. In the long run these should be superseded by what is fond on the products.
 
* '''Translation bootstrapping''' - in order to get up to speed with the translations, we use the Wikipedia and Wikidata to find translations. This can result in the wrong translations as it can be something different than what is found on the package. So be careful for wikipedia disambiguation strings, latin species names, etc. In the long run these should be superseded by what is fond on the products.
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* '''Contaminated ingredients''' - a lot of products contain text that are not actual ingredients. Either this is caused by text recognition, which recognizes other elements as well. Or people add text that are not ingredients;
    
== Theory ==
 
== Theory ==
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