FoodBlock

A content-addressable protocol for universal food data.

One axiom. Three fields. Six base types. Every food industry operation.

{
  "type": "substance.product",
  "state": { "name": "Sourdough", "price": 4.50, "allergens": { "gluten": true } },
  "refs": { "seller": "a1b2c3...", "inputs": ["flour_hash", "water_hash", "yeast_hash"] }
}

id = SHA-256(canonical(type + state + refs))

Why

The food industry spans 14 sectors — farming, processing, distribution, retail, hospitality, regulation, sustainability, and more. Every sector models food data differently. There is no shared primitive.

FoodBlock is that primitive. One data structure that can represent a farm harvest, a restaurant menu item, a food safety certification, a cold chain reading, a grocery order, or a consumer review. Same three fields. Same hashing. Same protocol.

The Primitive

Every FoodBlock has exactly three fields:

Identity is derived from content: SHA-256(canonical(type + state + refs)). Same content always produces the same hash, regardless of where or when the block is created.

Six Base Types

Entities — things that exist:

• actor — farmer, restaurant, retailer, regulator, consumer, device
• place — farm, factory, store, warehouse, kitchen, vehicle
• substance — ingredient, product, meal, surplus, commodity

Actions — things that happen:

• transform — cooking, milling, harvesting, fermenting, composting
• transfer — sale, shipment, donation, booking, subscription
• observe — review, certification, inspection, post, sensor reading

Subtypes via dot notation: actor.producer, substance.product, observe.review, transfer.order.

Install

npm install foodblock

Quick Start — fb()

The fastest way to use FoodBlock. Describe food in plain English, get structured blocks back.

const { fb } = require('foodblock')

fb("Sourdough bread, $4.50, organic, contains gluten")
// => { type: 'substance.product', state: { name: 'Sourdough bread', price: { value: 4.5, unit: 'USD' }, organic: true, allergens: { gluten: true } }, blocks: [...] }

fb("Amazing pizza at Luigi's, 5 stars")
// => { type: 'observe.review', state: { name: "Luigi's", rating: 5, text: "..." }, blocks: [...] }

fb("Green Acres Farm, 200 acres, organic wheat in Oregon")
// => { type: 'actor.producer', state: { name: 'Green Acres Farm', acreage: 200, crop: 'organic wheat', region: 'Oregon' }, blocks: [...] }

fb("Walk-in cooler temperature 4 celsius")
// => { type: 'observe.reading', state: { temperature: { value: 4, unit: 'celsius' } }, blocks: [...] }

fb("Ordered 50kg flour from Stone Mill")
// => { type: 'transfer.order', state: { weight: { value: 50, unit: 'kg' } }, blocks: [...] }

No types to memorize. No schemas to configure. No API calls — fb() is pure pattern matching, runs locally, costs nothing.

Programmatic API

const fb = require('foodblock')

// Create a farm
const farm = fb.create('actor.producer', { name: 'Green Acres Farm' })
// => { hash: 'e3b0c4...', type: 'actor.producer', state: {...}, refs: {} }

// Create a product with provenance
const wheat = fb.create('substance.ingredient', { name: 'Organic Wheat' }, { source: farm.hash })
const flour = fb.create('substance.product', { name: 'Stoneground Flour' }, { source: wheat.hash })
const bread = fb.create('substance.product', {
  name: 'Sourdough',
  price: 4.50
}, {
  seller: bakery.hash,
  inputs: [flour.hash, water.hash, yeast.hash]
})

// Update (creates new block, old one preserved)
const updated = fb.update(bread.hash, 'substance.product', {
  name: 'Sourdough',
  price: 5.00
}, { seller: bakery.hash })
// updated.refs.updates === bread.hash



... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/FoodXDevelopment/foodblock#readme)