Kitchen Chemistry
This primary macronutrient group includes simple sugars, starches, and fibers, serving as the body's main energy source.
What are Carbohydrates?
Transferring harmful bacteria from raw meat to ready-to-eat vegetables using the same cutting board is known as this type of contamination.
What is Cross-Contamination?
While smell and texture are critical to flavor, these tiny structures located primarily on your tongue detect basic tastes like sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.
What are Taste Buds (or Papillae)?
Named after Louis Pasteur, this mild heat-treatment process kills pathogenic microorganisms in raw milk and juice without cooking the product.
What is Pasteurization?
This federal government agency (abbreviated FDA) oversees and regulates the safety of most packaged food products and nutrition labeling in the United States.
What is the Food and Drug Administration?
This chemical process occurs when heat causes proteins in foods—like eggs or meat—to unwind and change their natural shape.
What is Denaturation?
The "Danger Zone" temperature range where foodborne bacteria multiply most rapidly is between 40°F and this upper limit.
What is 140°F (accept 135°F depending on state code guidelines)?
Borrowed from the Japanese language, this term describes the rich, savory "fifth basic taste" commonly found in aged cheeses, meats, and mushrooms.
What is Umami?
This food preservation method removes moisture by freezing the food product and then reducing surrounding pressure so the ice changes directly from solid to gas.
What is Freeze-drying (or Lyophilization)?
On a standard FDA food package label, the ingredients must be listed in descending order by this physical measurement.
What is Weight?
Named after a French chemist, this non-enzymatic browning reaction occurs between amino acids and reducing sugars when foods like steak or bread are seared.
What is the Maillard Reaction?
This common, microscopic organism responsible for fermentation in bread and beer is actually a single-celled fungus.
What is Yeast?
In a food science laboratory, this general term describes testing food quality using the five human senses rather than chemical instruments.
What is Sensory Evaluation (or Organoleptic Testing)?
Often used for meat products, MAP packaging changes the atmosphere inside a sealed bag to slow down spoilage. MAP stands for this.
What is Modified Atmosphere Packaging?
Under federal law, major food allergens (like peanuts, milk, and soy) must be clearly disclosed on labels because they trigger reactions in this body system.
What is the Immune System?
On the pH scale (0 to 14), any food with a value less than this number is classified as acidic.
What is 7.0?
This 5-letter acronym stands for the preventative food safety system used by food processing plants to identify and control hazards before they occur.
What is HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point)?
In the Missouri FFA Food Science CDE, students perform this 2-word sensory test where they are given three samples (two identical, one different) and must identify the odd one out.
What is a Triangle Test?
This thermal processing method uses sealed, airtight containers heated under pressure (like cans or pouches) to render food shelf-stable for years.
What is Canning (or Retort processing)?
While the FDA regulates general processed foods, this federal department oversees the safety, inspection, and labeling of raw meat, poultry, and egg products.
What is the United States Department of Agriculture?
This spore-forming bacterium produces a deadly neurotoxin in anaerobic (oxygen-free) environments, making it the primary target hazard when designing safety controls for low-acid canned foods.
What is Clostridium botulinum (accept Botulism)?
Unlike moisture content, this two-word term (abbreviated $a_w$) measures the unbound water available in food for bacterial growth, ranging from 0.0 to 1.0.
What is Water Activity?
In HACCP systems, a step where a control measure can be applied to prevent, eliminate, or reduce a food safety hazard to acceptable levels is called a CCP, which stands for this.
What is a Critical Control Point?
During sensory evaluation, a combination of taste and this sense (often triggered when airborne compounds enter the back of the nasal cavity) forms the perception of flavor.
What is Olfaction (or Smell / Olfactory System)?
During milk processing, this mechanical step breaks down fat globules into uniform, microscopic sizes so the cream does not separate and float to the top.
What is Homogenization?
This 2-word label requirement tells consumers the total amount of food in a package, expressed in both U.S. customary units (like ounces) and metric units (like grams).
What is Net Quantity (or Net Weight)?