Glossary

How the glossary works

The glossary defines the vocabulary used across the rest of the site: trade terms, processing terms, quality parameters, certification acronyms and logistics jargon. It exists so that the guides and specification pages can use precise language without stopping to explain it every time.

Definitions, not explanations

A glossary entry says what a term means and, where it matters, what it is frequently confused with. It does not walk through how to apply the concept – that is what the guides are for, and each entry links to the guide that does the work. Keeping the two apart is what stops the glossary turning into a second, worse copy of the knowledge base.

Where the definition comes from

Where a term is defined in law or in a published standard, the entry uses that definition and names the source. Where a term is industry usage with no governing text – and a great deal of trade vocabulary is exactly that – the entry says so, and describes the range of ways the term is used rather than inventing an authority for one of them.

Linking discipline

A glossary term is linked on its first mention in an article and nowhere else. That rule exists because a page with the same term linked nine times is harder to read and no more useful. If you land on an article mid-way and meet an unfamiliar term with no link, it was linked further up the page, and it is here.

Abbreviations are spelled out once

An entry gives the full form of an acronym before it uses it, even when the acronym is the form everyone says out loud. IQF, MOQ, FCL, MRL and HS code all have an entry under the abbreviation and, where a reader would search for it, under the spelled-out term as well. The second slug is a redirect and not a second definition, so there is never a duplicate text to keep in step with the first one.

When a definition changes

Definitions taken from a regulation or from a certification scheme change when the source changes, and the entry is then rewritten rather than annotated. The review date at the foot of each entry says when the source was last read. If you are quoting a definition in a contract or in a specification, quote the source document and not this page: a glossary is a place to understand a term, not a place to cite it.

Same word, different trade

Several terms mean different things in different parts of the supply chain. Grade, class, lot and batch are the usual offenders, and the difference between a processor’s usage and a retailer’s usage has consequences in a specification. Where that happens, the entry gives both readings instead of quietly choosing one.