FoodLab Specification

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FoodLab

The truth behind every brand

FoodLab is an open-source food transparency specification for building a comprehensive, evidence-based database connecting food brands, products, chemical detections, scientific studies, regulatory information, recalls, and legislative provisions.

The system is designed around complete traceability. Each discovery should be connected to the source that documents it, allowing users to move from a brand to a product, from a product to a detected chemical, from that chemical to the supporting study, and from the study to relevant regulatory and legislative information.

Mission

FoodLab is intended to make food testing and chemical safety information accessible, searchable, verifiable, and transparent.

The specification requires the system to preserve the distinction between documented findings, interpretations, regulatory classifications, and allegations. FoodLab should present evidence and its sources clearly rather than treating an association or detection as proof that a product is unsafe.

Core Principles

Evidence-first data collection
Primary-source traceability
Complete citation of documented findings
Brand-level transparency
Product-level transparency
Chemical-level transparency
Study-level transparency
Legislative transparency
Historical preservation of findings
Clear separation between facts and interpretation
Public access to available source information
Open-source implementation
Community review and correction
Auditable data changes

Core Modules

Brand Intelligence Module

The Brand Intelligence Module manages detailed profiles for food brands.

Each brand profile should provide:

Brand name
Parent company or manufacturer
Country and market information when documented
Product categories
Products associated with the brand
Studies involving the brand
Chemical detections associated with tested products
Regulatory actions
Recalls and safety notices
Relevant legislative records
Historical discoveries
Source citations
Data verification status

Brand profiles should be automatically enriched as new verified discoveries are added to the database.

Product Intelligence Module

The Product Intelligence Module maintains individual records for food products and product variants.

Product records should include:

Brand
Product name
Product type
Product category
Product variant
Ingredients when documented
Product identifiers when available
Country or market
Testing history
Detected chemicals
Detection measurements
Associated studies
Regulatory information
Recalls
Source documentation

The system should distinguish between a specific tested product and a broader brand or product category.

Chemical Intelligence Module

The Chemical Intelligence Module maintains detailed records for chemical substances detected, tested for, or otherwise documented in food.

Each chemical profile should include:

Chemical name
Common names
CAS number when available
Chemical identifiers
Chemical category
Documented toxicological classifications
Known or reported health effects
Exposure information
Regulatory classifications
Regulatory limits or reference values when applicable
Countries and jurisdictions
Food detection history
Brands associated with documented detections
Products associated with documented detections
Supporting studies and government records

Toxicity classifications must identify their source and should not be presented as an unsupported FoodLab determination.

Food Testing Module

The Food Testing Module records laboratory testing and analytical results.

Each testing record should identify:

Organization conducting the test
Laboratory when available
Date of testing
Publication date
Food tested
Brand
Product
Sample information
Chemical tested
Chemical detected
Detection status
Concentration or measurement
Measurement unit
Detection limit
Quantification limit when available
Testing methodology when available
Number of samples
Geographic information
Original source

The system should preserve negative findings and non-detections when the source provides them.

Study & Evidence Module

The Study & Evidence Module manages scientific studies, government reports, laboratory reports, surveys, and other authoritative evidence.

Each evidence record should include:

Title
Authors
Organization
Publication date
Study date when different
Journal or publication
DOI
PubMed identifier when available
Official publication identifier
Funding information when available
Funding organization
Government sponsorship when documented
Full citation
Source URL
Access status
Copyright status
Public domain status when established
Open access status
Evidence type
Products tested
Brands tested
Chemicals tested
Chemicals detected
Key findings
Relevant tables or measurements
Data extraction notes

FoodLab should link directly to the original publication or official source whenever possible.

Discovery Module

The Discovery Module records individual findings extracted from studies and testing records.

Each discovery should be independently traceable and should identify:

Brand
Product
Chemical
Study or testing record
Sample
Detection result
Concentration
Measurement unit
Testing date
Publication date
Source
Exact source location when available
Verification status
Data extraction method
Supporting evidence

A discovery should never exist without a source record.

Toxicology Module

The Toxicology Module connects chemicals with documented toxicological evidence.

It should record:

Toxicological endpoints
Documented health effects
Exposure routes
Dose information
Animal studies
Human studies
Epidemiological findings
Mechanistic evidence
Agency classifications
Regulatory assessments
Evidence strength when established by the source
Source citations

FoodLab should distinguish between hazard identification, exposure, risk assessment, and regulatory status.

Regulatory Module

The Regulatory Module tracks official food safety and chemical regulatory information.

It should include:

Regulatory agencies
Chemical regulations
Maximum residue limits
Tolerances
Action levels
Permitted uses
Prohibited uses
Regulatory classifications
Enforcement actions
Warning notices
Recalls
Regulatory changes
Effective dates
Jurisdiction
Official source

Regulatory limits should always identify the jurisdiction and applicable food or exposure context.

Legislative Transparency Module

The Legislative Transparency Module tracks bills, statutes, amendments, regulations, and legislative provisions that may affect food safety, chemical regulation, manufacturer liability, enforcement, or consumer protection.

Each legislative record should include:

Bill or law name
Bill number
Jurisdiction
Legislative session
Sponsor information
Cosponsors when available
Introduction date
Passage date
Effective date
Current status
Relevant section
Relevant subsection
Provision text
Plain-language description
Legal effect
Regulatory effect
Liability implications
Enforcement implications
Chemical categories affected
Food categories affected
Industries affected
Brands or companies explicitly identified when applicable
Amendments
Previous versions
Official legislative source

FoodLab should clearly distinguish between an enacted law, proposed legislation, an amendment, a regulatory proposal, and commentary about legislation.

Corporate & Manufacturer Module

The Corporate & Manufacturer Module connects brands and products to their manufacturers, parent companies, subsidiaries, and corporate entities when those relationships are documented.

It should provide:

Corporate name
Brand relationships
Product relationships
Manufacturing relationships
Parent company relationships
Subsidiaries when documented
Corporate changes over time
Regulatory actions
Recalls
Relevant studies
Relevant legislative records
Source citations

The system should distinguish documented corporate relationships from inferred relationships.

Recall & Enforcement Module

The Recall & Enforcement Module tracks official recalls, warnings, enforcement actions, import alerts, and other government safety actions.

Records should include:

Brand
Company
Product
Chemical or hazard
Reason for action
Agency
Jurisdiction
Date
Action type
Affected products
Geographic scope
Official notice
Resolution
Source

Source & Provenance Module

The Source & Provenance Module provides the foundation for FoodLab’s transparency requirements.

Every significant database claim should be connected to a source.

Source records should include:

Source title
Publisher
Author
Publication date
URL
DOI or identifier
Source type
Jurisdiction
Funding information
Public domain status
Open access status
Copyright status
Retrieval date
Archived source when legally available
Citation information

The system should preserve provenance whenever data is transformed, corrected, merged, or derived from another record.

Data Verification Module

The Data Verification Module manages the reliability and review status of records.

Verification states should include:

Unreviewed
Pending verification
Verified
Verified with qualifications
Disputed
Corrected
Withdrawn

Verification should never erase historical information. Corrections should preserve the previous record and document why the change occurred.

Search & Discovery Module

The Search & Discovery Module should provide comprehensive search across:

Brands
Products
Chemicals
Studies
Discoveries
Testing records
Companies
Regulations
Bills
Laws
Recalls

Search should support filtering by:

Brand
Product
Chemical
Food category
Toxicity classification
Study
Date
Jurisdiction
Regulatory agency
Verification status
Testing organization

Analytics & Visualization Module

The Analytics & Visualization Module provides evidence-based summaries of the database.

Possible functions include:

Chemical detection frequency
Brand testing history
Product testing history
Chemical trends over time
Food category comparisons
Study counts
Testing counts
Regulatory actions
Recall history
Legislative activity
Geographic comparisons

Analytics must clearly identify the underlying dataset and methodology.

Audit & Change History Module

The Audit & Change History Module records changes to FoodLab data.

It should preserve:

Original record
Updated record
Date of change
Contributor
Reason for change
Supporting source
Verification status
Review history

Historical data should remain accessible where appropriate so users can understand how records changed over time.

Community Contribution Module

The Community Contribution Module allows contributors to submit:

Studies
Testing results
Brands
Products
Chemicals
Regulatory records
Legislative records
Recalls
Corrections
Additional sources

Contributions should undergo structured review before being marked verified.

Optional Plugin Modules

Government Data Plugin

Provides connectors for government datasets and public records from food safety, agriculture, environmental, health, and regulatory agencies.

Scientific Literature Plugin

Provides connectors for scientific publication databases and repositories.

Public Domain Research Plugin

Identifies government-produced and other legally reusable research and datasets, while preserving the applicable rights information for each source.

Open Access Research Plugin

Identifies and indexes legally accessible scientific publications without assuming that all accessible publications are public domain.

Laboratory Data Plugin

Provides standardized ingestion of laboratory testing datasets.

Recall Monitoring Plugin

Automatically monitors official recall and enforcement databases for new records.

Legislative Monitoring Plugin

Monitors legislative sources for new bills, amendments, votes, enacted laws, and regulatory changes.

Chemical Registry Plugin

Provides integrations with authoritative chemical registries and identifier databases.

Geographic Intelligence Plugin

Adds geographic mapping for manufacturing locations, testing locations, recalls, regulatory actions, and affected markets when such information is publicly documented.

Notification Plugin

Provides configurable notifications for new studies, new chemical detections, recalls, regulatory actions, legislative changes, and updates to selected brand or chemical profiles.

Data Export Plugin

Provides structured exports of FoodLab data in reusable formats while preserving source attribution and provenance metadata.

API Plugin

Provides machine-readable access to public FoodLab records and search functions.

Archive Plugin

Provides source preservation and historical snapshots where legally permitted.

Data Integrity Requirements

FoodLab should maintain strict separation between:

A chemical being detected
A chemical being hazardous
A product exceeding a regulatory limit
A regulator taking enforcement action
A study reporting an association
A study establishing causation
A company being named in a study
A company being legally responsible for a finding

The database must not convert scientific findings into unsupported conclusions.

All measurements must retain their original units and relevant methodological information.

All regulatory assessments must identify the jurisdiction and date to which they apply.

Brand Profile Requirements

Every brand profile should dynamically aggregate verified information from the database.

A brand profile should provide:

Brand overview
Company relationships
Product catalog
Tested products
Detected chemicals
Detection history
Supporting studies
Testing organizations
Regulatory actions
Recalls
Legislative records
Historical discoveries
Verification status
Complete source references

Users should be able to navigate directly from every discovery to the evidence supporting it.

Chemical Profile Requirements

Every chemical profile should provide:

Chemical identity
CAS number when available
Chemical classifications
Documented toxicological information
Regulatory information
Food testing history
Brands with documented detections
Products with documented detections
Studies
Government findings
Measurement data
Source references

Legislative Profile Requirements

Every bill or law profile should provide:

Legislative identity
Jurisdiction
Status
Relevant provisions
Full official source
Amendments
Regulatory implications
Liability implications
Enforcement implications
Related chemicals
Related food categories
Related companies or brands when explicitly documented

FoodLab should present legislative provisions as documented legal information and should avoid characterizing a provision as a protection or loophole without supporting evidence.

Transparency Requirements

FoodLab should:

Cite the original source for documented findings
Preserve source metadata
Preserve historical changes
Identify uncertainty
Identify disputed information
Distinguish facts from interpretation
Identify the source of toxicity classifications
Identify regulatory jurisdiction
Identify study funding when available
Identify public domain status only when supported
Avoid presenting copyrighted material as public domain
Preserve links to official sources
Make corrections publicly auditable

Open Source Requirements

FoodLab is intended to be developed as an open-source project under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).

The implementation should remain available for inspection, modification, and redistribution according to the license.

The project should encourage community contributions while maintaining rigorous standards for evidence, provenance, and data quality.

Specification Branding License (SBL)

Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
Copyleft enforced for network deployments
Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- https://www.roxanneardary.com/

Optional:

Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/foodlab/

License & Notice Requirements

FoodLab is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).

By contributing to this project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.

Please note the following:

All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to:
- Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
FoodLab specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
The project’s notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments.
Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update notice.md.
When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.

For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project’s notice.md file.

Notice – FoodLab

Attribution Requirement: Under Section 7 of the AGPL 3.0+ license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works, including network-deployed versions of this project, must provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.

Contributors

This file tracks contributors and their specific contributions to the project.

Roxanne Ardary, roxanneardary.com – April 10, 2026
Created the repository for FoodLab. Designed the initial architecture for a transparent, open-source database tracking food brands, detected chemicals, scientific studies, and legislative protections related to food safety.
[Add other contributors here] – [Date]
[Describe contribution in one sentence]

License – FoodLab

This repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).

Key Points:

You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code.
All redistributions, forks, and derivative works or network-deployed versions must also be licensed under AGPL-3.0+ and provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com as required under Section 7 of the license.
The software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind.

For the full license text, see GNU AGPL-3.0 License.