An Ontological Guide to Make Novel Foods Familiar

Abstract

 The goal of this paper is to develop strategies for novel food familiarization based on ontological modelling. I begin by offering an array of criticisms to standard definitions of novel food, focusing on the European Union (EU) approach as a case study, showing its difficulty in identifying and categorizing novel foods (§1). Next, I refine the EU approach by setting up a more robust ontological categorization suitable for assessing kinds and grades of food novelty (§2). Then, I add a further layer to this ontology outlining initial steps to incorporate novel food items within already known and accepted ontological categories (i.e., local food and symbolic food) (§3). I conclude by arguing that the decision-making process regarding novel food ontological categorization should include input from stakeholders (§4).