Development of Flavouring Ontology for Recommending the Halal Status of Flavours

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in halal-related ontology research in recent years, as ontology has gained recognition in the halal industry. This paper discusses the development of a flavouring ontology that will assist halal management auditors in predicting the halal status of flavours in order to process food producers’ applications for halal certification. The development of a flavouring ontology is based on multiple references, because the auditors of halal management divisions must consult a variety of sources independently in order to determine the halal status of flavourings. The process includes 1) determining the ontology goal and scope, 2) building ontologies, and 3) evaluating the ontologies. The researcher used Protégé to design the ontologies, and Phyton was used to develop a prototype based on flavouring ontology. The developed ontology consists of four classes, nine sub-classes, and 11 relationships. The evaluation of the ontology using the prototype revealed that the majority of experts were satisfied with the information generated by the ontology in the prototype, particularly in relation to synonyms and the hierarchical structure of a flavour. However, the experts suggest improvements in terms of flavour metadata, especially on raw materials and natural occurrence data, so that the flavour information retrieved is comprehensive and accurate.

Keywords

• flavouring ontology
• flavour
• ontology development
• halal status
• flavouring traceability system
• flavour metadata-malaysia