Food Preparation and Nutrition key terms

An appliance with interchangeable blades or attachments for preparing food by chopping, slicing, grating or mixing.

The origin and history of a food, including where its ingredients come from and how it has been produced.

Reliable access to enough safe, nutritious, affordable, high-quality food to meet people's needs.

Deterioration that makes food unacceptable to eat, such as mould growth, slime or an unpleasant smell.

Providing food for people now while protecting the resources and food sources needed by future generations.

A thermometer inserted into food to measure its internal temperature during cooking or reheating.

Food or parts of food discarded during production, processing, selling, preparation or consumption.

The addition of vitamins or minerals to food to increase its nutritional value.

A food with a nutrient added to it, such as calcium added to a plant-based milk alternative.

A reactive substance that can damage body cells.

Animal production in which animals have access to the outdoors for at least part of the day.

Sugar added to foods and drinks, or naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and purées.

Drying and deterioration of frozen food exposed to cold, dry air; it affects quality rather than safety.

Storing food at about −18°C, which stops most bacterial growth but does not reliably kill bacteria.

The useful job an ingredient performs in a food, such as egg protein setting a quiche filling or stabilising a foam.

A small edible addition to a dish that improves its appearance and may also contribute flavour or texture.

A mixture in which gas bubbles are dispersed through a liquid, such as air bubbles in whisked egg white.

The thickening of a mixture as starch granules absorb liquid, swell and release starch during heating. On cooling, the thickened mixture may set into a gel.

The setting of a mixture as it cools or is chilled; for example, a cooked starch-based custard becoming a gel.

Food produced from an organism whose genetic material has been deliberately altered to give it particular characteristics.

A food produced from an organism whose genetic material has been deliberately altered to give it particular characteristics.

A coating applied to food to produce a particular surface finish, such as shine or colour.

Coating food with a liquid such as beaten egg, syrup or sauce to improve its colour, shine, flavour or finish.

The long-term rise in the Earth's average temperature; it is one part of climate change.

A protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

An enlargement of the thyroid gland that causes swelling at the front of the neck; iodine deficiency is one possible cause.

Coating a cooking surface with a thin, even layer of fat, such as softened butter, to help prevent food sticking.