[Data-modeling] Modeling nutritional information

[Jeff Prucher]

I just checked the fridge, and as far as nutritional information goes, both
food and drink use grams (at least in the US).
 
Looking at the types again, I think your two types could be collapsed into a
single "Food product" (or whatever) type. It would have the properties for
nutritional information, RDA (if you use it), serving size, etc. It would
have "consumer product" as an included type, and get the GTIN from there.
 
Jeff


  _____  

From: data-modeling-bounces at freebase.com
[mailto:data-modeling-bounces at freebase.com] On Behalf Of Mohammad Al-Ubaydli
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 2:46 PM
To: Freebase data modeling mailing list
Subject: Re: [Data-modeling] Modeling nutritional information


On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 10:02 PM, Jeff Prucher <jeff at metaweb.com> wrote:



>       3) The name of the "retail data" type should probably
> be something that more clearly describes the topics that will
> use that type -- something like "Food product" or "Packaged
> food" or something like that.
>
>
> Agreed. But also, would that include drinks like milk, or
> should a different type be created?


I would include drinks and eats in the same type for this, since
nutritionally, it doesn't matter whether it's liquid or solid. So maybe
"food" will be misleading for some people. It could be simply "Food or Drink
Product" or the like (and doesn't that phrase make it sound tasty?)


Sorry, what I meant to say was, does drink have different properties (e.g. a
volume rather than a mass) that require a different data model? If not, then
I much prefer your suggestion of just "food" rather than the less than
appetizing "food or drink product" :-)  



The USDA has a lovely, copyright-free database with quantitative information
about packaged food, which measures an insane amount of nutrients. You can
search the data here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ and
download it here: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964


Fabulous, I would like to upload this. I can take care of renaming and
rearranging the column headings to match the ones I currently have in
Freebase, but do I need someone from the Metaweb team to do the uploading
for me?

mohammad



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