The food classification and description system FoodEx 2 (draft-revision 1)

The role of EFSA as a central repository for pan-European data from national food control and surveillance programs requires extensive harmonisation. A system for unique and universal identification of food items is essential to provide a common link to diverse information sources. A working group was appointed to develop a standardised Food Classification and Description System (FCDS) with general applicability and a preliminary technical system specification. A system was proposed that consists of descriptions of a large number of individual food items aggregated into food groups and broader food categories in a hierarchical parent-child relationship. Several hierarchies are proposed according to the needs of the specific food safety domain. These hierarchies are different aggregations of a set of detailed food groups defined as ‘core list’, further split into narrower groups, defined as ‘extended list’. The system also allows providing supplementary detailed information on specific aspects of the food (facets) using descriptors (facet descriptors) that can be added to the core and extended list terms. The present document is a support document to the scientific report describing the FCDS in the first revision and shows in the form of tables accompanied by a short description all the major elements of the system, including the proposed domain specific hierarchies.