Food and Nutrition Skills and Application
What you must know
This domain applies knowledge to practical food work. You must understand the principles of safe food handling (the four Cs: cleaning, cooking, chilling, cross-contamination prevention), temperature control (fridge around 0–5 °C, freezer −18 °C, cooking to at least 75 °C at the centre), and the causes and prevention of food poisoning. Know how cooking methods (boiling, steaming, frying, grilling, baking, microwaving) affect nutrient retention - water-soluble vitamins leach into cooking water and are heat-sensitive, so steaming and stir-frying preserve more than prolonged boiling. Be able to modify recipes for health (reducing salt, sugar and saturated fat, increasing fibre) and to interpret food labels and reference intakes to make choices.
Traps to watch
Questions often confuse cross-contamination with food spoilage, or assume reheating makes unsafe food safe - reheating does not destroy all toxins. Watch for the misconception that washing raw poultry is good practice (it spreads bacteria). Another trap is assuming all cooking destroys nutrients equally: fat-soluble vitamins are more heat-stable than vitamin C. Distinguish 'use-by' (safety) from 'best-before' (quality).
Worked example
A recipe uses 100 g butter; replacing 50 g with 50 g low-fat spread reduces saturated fat and energy but may alter texture and flavour. Rule of thumb for healthier modification: make one or two targeted changes (e.g. reduce salt by a third, swap saturated for unsaturated fat, add vegetables or whole grains) and evaluate the effect on taste, texture and cost rather than changing everything at once.