Section 3 - Food Processes Flashcards
What is a suspension
A solid held in a liquid e.g flour mixes with water
If you don’t stir the mixture the solid usually sinks to the bottom
If you stir and heat up a starchy suspension it’ll thicken into a sauce
What is an emulsion
Oil and watery liquids are mixed together and the usually seperates unless you keep shaking or stirring them. Require emulsifiers.
What is an example of s natural emulsifier
Egg yolk contains lecithin used in mayonaise to make a stable emulsion of oil and vinegar otherwise it’s just vinaigrette and unstable
What is a gel
A thick solution between a liquid and a solid and only a small amount of solid ingredient is needed to set a lot of liquid e.g small bit of gelatine can set a lot of water
What is a natural gelling agent in some fruits
Pectin and is released from the fruit during cooking to help foods like jam set
How can you change your food product to make it exactly how you want it
Change the ingredients e.g different flavours or types of flour
Change the way you combine ingredients e.g folding instead of beating or beating for longer
Change proportions of ingredients e.g more moist = add more egg
What should you use to measure everything accurately and ensure there won’t be any measuring errors
Measuring spoons, measuring jugs and electronic scales
What would measuring errors lead to if you try to make a product on a large scale
Expensive and waste of time if you make a rubbish batch or run out of ingredients
To change the nutritional value of a product what do you need to change
The ingredients or proportions of ingredients
What are four examples of ways to change the nutritional value of a product
- Low sugar cakes or biscuits done but using less sugar but may need to swap it for something like honey. Need to get proportions and cooking time right
- Low fat pastry done by using less fat but making sure texture was still suitable
- Gluten free bread done by using gluten free flour but it would be heavy without gluten to make it elastic. Could add xanthan gum to dough to make it stickier.
- Low salt sauces but may need flavour from something else e.g herbs
What are standard food components
Ready made ingredients
What are some examples of standard food component
Pizza bases, chilled and frozen pastry, cake mixed, bread mixed,ready made filling, ready to roll icing and marzipan
What are advantages of using ready made fillings
Longer shelf life, can be used at any time of the year, saves time
Advantages of using ready to roll icing
Saves a lot of time
What are the 6 advantages of standard components
- Saves time
- Saves money because can buy in bulk which is cost effective
- Less machinery and less specialised equipment
- Fewer specialist skills are needed by staff
- Safer and more hygienic especially if high risk foods like chickens are stored and prepared somewhere else
- Consistent products because they are quality controlled
What are five disadvantages to standard components
- Can’t pick and choose exactly what you want e.g can’t make things sweeter
- Not always reliable because late deliveries from supplier holds up production line
- Products might not be as tasty
- Extra space may be needed to store them
5 extra packaging and transport involved which is bad
What are the characteristics of one-off production or job production
You make a single product and they are all made different to meet specific requests like a wedding cake.
Every product needs an individual recipe and method.
Experienced workers with special skills are needed.
High quality but take a lot of time and cost a lot.
Characteristics of batch production
When you make lots of products in one go.
Each batch meets specific requests from one retailer.
You can change batches to make another similar product. Machines need to be cleaned and this ‘down time’ is unproductive. Staff and machines need to be flexible to be changed quickly and avoid money loss.
Quicker and cheaper than one off production.
What are the characteristics of mass production
Make large numbers of a product that sells well e.g bread.
Made using a production line and are made quickly so they are cheap.
Machines used at some stages so fewer workers.
To make a new product you need to change production line which takes a while and this unproductive time costs money.
Characteristics of a continuous flow
Make product all the time with no interruption.
Non stop mass production with a production line using expensive specialised equipment.
Used for products that are sold regularly in large number e.g baked beans.
It’d cost a lot to turn equipment off so it runs all the time keeping production costs low.
If anything goes wrong it takes time to start again and unproductive time costs money.
What does CAD help
Design products. You can use computer aided design to produce models of the product and its packaging in 2D and 3D so you can view from all angles.once it’s draw you can recalculate values and change designs until you’re happy.
What is the advantage of using CAD instead of paper
More accurate and more quicker
What can you use CAD to calculate other than just designing the product
Nutritional value, portion size, shelf life and what it’ll cost to make
When computers are used in the manufacturing process what is it called
Computer aided manufacturer
What is CAM used for
Weigh out the correct amount of each ingredient, set the correct oven temperature and cooking time
What are the advantages of CAM
- production costs are lower because less staff
- machines controlled by computers staff don’t need to go near sharp blades
- staff don’t handle food as much making it more hygienic
- products are more consistent
- more accurate as it weighs ingredients precisely so less human error
- quicker and more efficient
What does CAM include
Anything from bread making machines to computerised scales
What is a solution
A solid dissolved in a liquid e.g sugar dissolves in water
How does using standard methods and equipment help to produce consistent products
- All ingredients are weighed using accurate electronic scales so they are a consistent weight
- Standard moulds, templates and cutting devices
- To get consistent flavour and texture use standard components
- Using identical ingredients, cooking times and temperatures to give consistent colour
What is quality control
Manufacturers set standards that their products must meet and they check to make sure standards are met and if they aren’t the problems are corrected
When are checks for quality made
Every stage of production and the final product is checked
What are the two types of quality control checks
Visual checks - the colour is checked against a standard colour, the packaging is checked so it’s not damaged and labels printed clearly
Testing - taste is tested at end snd the size, thickness and Ph are also tested
What is feedback
If a products not right the problem is relayed back to the factory floor
Why does feedback happen straight away
So the problem can be fixed quickly so ingredients aren’t wasted and the manufacturer doesn’t waste time and money
What do manufacturers need to avoid
Contamination
What are the three types of contamination
Biological contamination
Physical contamination
Chemical contamination
What is biological contamination
Could be contaminated by bacteria especially if it’s high risk food e.g if the eggs carry salmonella
How would you prevent biological contamination if it were the eggs
Random samples of eggs would be tested for salmonella near the beginning of production