AG Food Science

Applied Science – Using science to solve real-life problems.

Aseptic Packaging – Packaging food in a sterile way to keep it safe.

Basic Science – The study of basic scientific knowledge.

Biotechnology – Using living things to make useful products.

Bulk Tank – A large cooled tank that stores milk on a farm.

Buttermilk – A thick, sour dairy drink made by fermenting milk.

Chromosome – A part of a cell that carries DNA.

Creaming – When milk fat rises to the top of milk.

Cross Contamination – When germs spread from one food or surface to another.

Cultured Milk Products – Dairy foods made using bacteria, like yogurt.

Curd – The solid part of milk used to make cheese.

Curing – Preserving meat with salt, smoke, or chemicals.

Denaturation – When proteins change shape from heat or chemicals.

Deterioration – Food slowly breaking down or going bad.

Domestication – Taming and breeding animals or plants for human use.

Dry Heat – Cooking with heat but no water (baking or roasting).

Drying – Removing water from food to preserve it.

Fermenting – Using bacteria or yeast to change food.

Food Biology – The study of living things in food.

Food-borne Illness – Getting sick from contaminated food.

Food Chemistry – The study of chemicals in food.

Food Poisoning – Illness from eating bad or contaminated food.

Food Physics – The study of physical changes in food.

Food Science – The study of how food is made and kept safe.

Food Spoilage – When food goes bad.

Gene Mapping – Finding where genes are located on DNA.

Grade A Milk – Milk safe to drink without further processing.

Grade B Milk – Milk used for making dairy products like cheese.

Heat Preservation – Using heat to kill bacteria in food.

Homogenization – Breaking fat in milk into tiny pieces so it stays mixed.

Inoculation – Adding helpful bacteria to food.

Irradiation – Using radiation to kill germs in food.

Mastitis – An infection in a cow’s udder.

Meat Thermometer – A tool used to check the temperature of meat.

Medium – Meat cooked with a warm pink center.

Medium-rare – Meat cooked lightly with a red center.

Milk Sterilization – Heating milk to kill all bacteria.

Moist Heat – Cooking with water or steam.

Nitrogen Fixation – Changing nitrogen in the air into a form plants can use.

Pasteurization – Heating food to kill harmful bacteria.

Perishable – Food that spoils quickly.

Preservation – Methods used to keep food from spoiling.

Rancidity – When fats or oils spoil and smell bad.

Scientific Principle – A basic rule explaining how something works in science.

Sterilization – Destroying all bacteria and germs.

Well Done – Meat cooked all the way through with no pink.

Whey – The liquid left after milk forms curds during cheese making.