NCEA Level 3 Home Economics flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Socio-ecological model

A framework describing health and wellbeing influences at individual, interpersonal, community, and societal levels, used to explain why outcomes differ between groups and how interventions can work at multiple levels.

Determinants of wellbeing

The cultural, economic, social, environmental, and political factors that shape people's health and wellbeing outcomes. Level 3 analysis explains how these determinants interact rather than listing them separately.

Health promotion

The process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health, using strategies such as policy, supportive environments, community action, and personal skills rather than individual behaviour change alone.

Food security

Reliable physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food meeting dietary needs and cultural preferences. Its four dimensions are availability, access, utilisation, and stability.

Food insecurity

Limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate and culturally appropriate food. It ranges from anxiety about food supply to skipped meals and is not identical to hunger.

Three pillars of sustainability

Environmental, economic, and social/cultural dimensions. A practice is judged sustainable only when impacts and trade-offs across all three pillars are considered together.

Consumer Guarantees Act 1993

New Zealand law giving consumers guarantees that goods are of acceptable quality and fit for purpose, and services are carried out with care and skill. Remedies include repair, replacement, or refund.

Fair Trading Act 1986

New Zealand law prohibiting misleading or deceptive conduct, false representations, and unfair contract terms in trade. Enforcement is by the Commerce Commission rather than individual remedy claims.

Resource management

Planning and allocating time, money, skills, and equipment to meet household or individual goals. Level 3 requires evaluating options against criteria and justifying a chosen plan.

Needs versus wants

Needs are essential for survival and wellbeing such as food, shelter, and safety; wants improve comfort but are not essential. Prioritising between them underpins budgeting decisions.

Budgeting process

Setting financial goals, estimating income and expenditure, allocating funds by priority, monitoring actual spending against the plan, and adjusting the plan when variances appear.

Opportunity cost

The value of the next best alternative forgone when a resource such as money, time, or land is committed to one use rather than another.

Cultural appropriateness of food

The extent to which food matches a group's traditions, beliefs, and practices. It is a determinant of food security and a criterion in evaluating meal plans.

Nutritional adequacy

Whether a diet supplies energy and nutrients in amounts meeting requirements for a person's age, sex, and activity level, assessed against national nutrient reference values.

Dietary Guidelines NZ

National recommendations covering vegetables and fruit, wholegrain foods, dairy or alternatives, protein foods, limited processed foods, and water as the preferred drink.

Food label requirements

New Zealand labels must show a nutrition information panel, ingredient list in descending order by weight, allergen declarations, and date marking where applicable.

Food safety temperature zone

Bacteria multiply rapidly between 5°C and 60°C. High-risk foods should be kept below 5°C or above 60°C and cooled or reheated quickly through this range.

Cross-contamination

Transfer of harmful microorganisms from raw food, hands, surfaces, or equipment to ready-to-eat food. Separate chopping boards and handwashing prevent it.

HACCP principles

A food safety system identifying hazards, determining critical control points, setting limits, monitoring them, and taking corrective action. Applied in food service and manufacturing.

Sensory evaluation

Systematic assessment of food using sight, smell, taste, texture, and sound, often with hedonic scales or ranking, to judge acceptability and support product development decisions.

Functional properties of food

Physical and chemical behaviours such as gelatinisation, coagulation, emulsification, aeration, and caramelisation that determine texture and structure in food products.

Gelatinisation

Starch granules absorb water and swell when heated, then release amylose to thicken a liquid. Cooling sets the gel. Used in sauces and roux-based products.

Coagulation

Protein denaturation and setting caused by heat, acid, or mechanical action, as when egg white sets or milk curdles. Excess heat causes toughening and syneresis.

Emulsification

Dispersion of one liquid in another that would normally separate, stabilised by an emulsifier such as lecithin in egg yolk. Used in mayonnaise and salad dressings.

Aeration

Incorporation of air into a mixture to increase volume and lightness, achieved by whisking, creaming fat and sugar, or chemical raising agents producing carbon dioxide.

Maillard reaction

Browning between amino acids and reducing sugars during heating, producing flavour and colour in baked and grilled foods. Requires dry heat and temperatures above about 140°C.

Caramelisation

Thermal breakdown of sugars producing brown colour and characteristic flavours. Occurs at high temperatures and differs from the Maillard reaction, which requires protein.

Convenience food evaluation

Judging processed or partly prepared foods against criteria such as time saved, cost per serve, nutrition, additives, packaging waste, and skill development.

Meal planning criteria

Criteria used to evaluate a meal plan include nutritional balance, cost per serve, seasonality, time and equipment, cultural fit, and food waste generated.

Food waste hierarchy

A ranked order of preferred actions: prevent waste, redistribute surplus food, recycle through composting or animal feed, then dispose. Prevention ranks highest.

Seasonal food purchasing

Buying produce at its natural harvest time locally, typically reducing transport distance, cost, and storage energy use while improving flavour and nutritional quality.

Ethical consumerism

Purchasing decisions informed by social and environmental impacts such as labour conditions, animal welfare, packaging, and carbon footprint, weighed against cost and availability.