Food Informatics: Transforming Food Systems Through Data-Driven Discovery

The term Food Informatics has been increasingly used in scientific publications. However, its definition and scope remain inconsistent across disciplines and applications. This lack of conceptual clarity limits cumulative knowledge development and constrains the formation of Food Informatics as a coherent interdisciplinary field. In this commentary, we review representative definitions and usages of Food Informatics and propose an updated definition with a clearer scope. The aim is to provide a more consistent conceptual foundation that supports integration across data, methods, and food systems research.