Food Technology 2016 HSC exam pack

Candidates showed strength in the following areas:

• identifying a quality management system, such as HACCP (Q21a)
• identifying an aspect of a quality management system, such as temperature control or heating (Q21b)
• identifying the principles of preservation, such as, the exclusion of air
• identifying activities that may be conducted during idea generation of food product development, such as market research (Q23a)
• demonstrating an understanding of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in relation to a specific product, for example, a strength of the new chocolate product is its low environmental impact (Q23b)
• describing appropriate marketing strategies for a specified food product, such as posting a picture of a celebrity consuming the product on social media (Q23c)
• recognising and distinguishing between the various levels of operation by naming or describing appropriate levels of operation and examples (Q24)
• naming and describing the four sectors of the Australian Food Industry, indicating gender balance of employment in the sectors, for example more men than women are employed in Agriculture and Fisheries (Q24b)
• identifying gender issues such as stereotyping and physical strength differences between men and women and relevant to employment in some sectors, such as Agriculture and Fisheries and food Processing and Manufacture (Q24b)
• recognising characteristics and features of the types of work carried out in various sectors, for example heavy lifting and manual labour in the Agriculture and Fisheries sector (Q24b)
• identifying that changes to trade policy may mean that import and export market opportunities will increase for the Australian Food Industry (Q25a)
• identifying an advantage or a disadvantage to increased trade opportunities, for example, increases in imports will mean that Australians can benefit from an increased variety of foods (Q25a)
• providing specific examples such as; farmers will benefit financially by increased export options, Agriculture and Fisheries sector may be disadvantaged as they are competing against cheaper overseas products (Q25a)
• demonstrating understanding of specific characteristics and features of storage conditions for fresh fruit and vegetables; for example, storing fruits and vegetables at 4°celcius will slow microbial growth and packaging fruit and vegetables in waxed cardboard boxes will help protect the fruit and vegetables from physical damage such as bruising(Q25b)
• identifying that a suitable distribution system would be a refrigerated truck (Q25b)
• identifying an appropriate diet related disorder for example, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (Q26a)
• demonstrating an understanding of the physical effects and economic costs associated with the disorder (Q26b)
• providing a range of physical effects and economic costs (Q26b and 26c)
• identifying specific examples of social media, for example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (Q26c)
• acknowledging the impact that social media could have on nutritional health (Q26C).

Candidates need to improve in the following areas:

• providing a description of an appropriate quality management system, such as HACCP which increases the likelihood of food safety through the analysis and control of biological, chemical and physical hazards (Q21b)
• using appropriate terminology and examples
• accurately predicting the results of an experiment (Q22)
• providing clear links between expected results and experimental conditions (Q22)
• demonstrating an understanding of the causes of food spoilage including enzymatic browning and oxidation (Q22)
• understanding the role of blanching in preventing food spoilage using appropriate terminology (Q22)
• describing activities that maybe conducted during idea screening and generation such as using a focus group to brainstorm ideas (Q23a)
• making greater use of course specific terminology, for example, price skimming and intensive distribution (Q23c)
• explaining why marketing strategies are appropriate for the new chocolate product, for example, advertising on social media such as Facebook would be appropriate for the chocolate product as this is a popular communication method for teenagers (Q23c)
• identifying levels of operation and naming relevant food organisations as examples, such as McDonalds or Coca-Cola as multinational organisations or Dairy Farmers as a large company
• showing the effects of gender issues on employment in specific sectors, for example, women may feel inadequate or intimidated and avoid employment opportunities in the Agriculture sector
• providing specific examples of jobs, careers and roles in the sectors to support the discussion
• using term such as ‘resulting in … ‘this has the effect of …’, ‘this can cause …’, ‘this can limit/prevent/promote …’ to demonstrate impact by linking cause and effect
• understanding and using key terminology, such as free trade agreements, trade barriers, tariffs, quotas and subsidies (Q25a)
• reading the question carefully for plurals such as ‘issues’ (Q25a)
• identifying all components of the question, such as storage and distribution systems for export (Q25b) establishing the links between how storage and distribution systems help to maintain quality in fresh fruit and vegetables for export (Q25b)
• providing specific examples of how fruits and vegetables can be exported, for example, by air or ship (Q25b)
• identifying a diet related disorder that would not be a result of the diet consumed, for example, osteoporosis (Q26)
• avoiding generalised statements about the physical effects and economic costs (Q26b)
• reading the question carefully and including specific examples
• utilising the space available to succinctly answer the question.

Candidates showed strength in the following areas:

• identifying an appropriate target market for the specified product, for example, a high fibre, yoghurt drink and giving a supporting reason (part a)
• identifying that fibre and/or probiotics provided a benefit to gut health (part b)
• identifying an appropriate range of both packaging and material features for the specified product and linking how these features contributed to the success of the product (part c).  

Candidates need to improve in the following areas:

• responding to the question rather than generalised statements about a target market (part a)
• recognising a key syllabus term of ‘active non-nutrient’ and identifying dietary fibre and probiotics relevant to the specific product (part b)
• demonstrating knowledge of how fibre and/or probiotics work in the body to provide health benefits (part b)
• identifying packaging and material features that would be appropriate for the specific product (part c)
• linking the identified packaging material features to the success of the product (part c).

Candidates showed strength in the following areas:

• identifying the four sectors of the Australian Food Industry
• using appropriate and relevant examples that linked to each sector of the Australian Food Industry
• integrating appropriate course concepts
• demonstrating knowledge of relevant lifestyle changes and environmental factors and how each sector of the Australian Food Industry has responded to these

Candidates need to improve in the following areas:

• responding to the term ‘explain’
• presenting a logical and cohesive response
• understanding of the four sectors of the Australian Food Industry
• using clear and legible hand-writing.