PestOn: an ontology to make pesticides information easily accessible and interoperable

Globally present regulations treat pesticide use with a light touch, leaving in the field users with scarce reporting requirements, although numerous initiatives that have been undertaken to reduce risks from pesticide product use and to provide the public with sufficient level of information. Nevertheless, food chain actors are not required to disclose much information on hazards, with many safety aspects laying undervalued. This has resulted in information gaps concerning production, authorization, use, and impact of pesticide products for both consumer and regulatory stakeholders. Often the public cannot directly access relevant information about pesticides with respect to retail products or their farm origins. National authorities have poor legal tools to efficiently carry out complete investigations and take action to mitigate pesticide externalities. Aimed at bridging these gaps, the ontology PestOn was created to directly access pesticide products information, making existing data more useful, and improve the flow of information in food value chains. This demonstration project shows how to integrate various already existing ontologies to maximize interoperability with related information on the semantic web. As a semantic tool, it can help in addressing challenges related to food quality, food safety and information disclosure, opening up to several opportunities for food value chain actors and the public. In its first version, the ontology PestOn accounts for more than 16,000 pesticide products authorized in Italy during the last 50 years.