STEM Jobs in Food and Nutrition

52 Pages·2014·5.996 MB·English

by  Jane Katirgis

JOBS IN
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IA Jane Katirgis

S T E M J o b s i n
F o o d a n d N u t r i t i o n
Jane Katirgis
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Before & After Level: U Word Count: 2,139 Words
Reading Activities 100th word: most page 5

Before Reading:
Building Academic Vocabulary and
Content Area
Background Knowledge
Vocabulary
Read the list. What do these
Before reading a book, it is important to tap into what
words mean?
your child or students already know about the topic. This
will help them develop their vocabulary, increase their abundance
reading comprehension, and make connections across the
bacteria
curriculum.
biotechnology
1. Look at the cover of the book. What will this book cholesterol
be about?
chromatography
2. What do you already know about the topic?
3. Let’s study the Table of Contents. What will you learn about contaminated
in the book’s chapters? fermentation
4. What would you like to learn about this topic? Do you think
gene
you might learn about it from this book? Why or why not?
5. Use a reading journal to write about your knowledge of this genetically-modified food
topic. Record what you already know about the topic and microbes
what you hope to learn about the topic.
preservative
6. Read the book.
7. In your reading journal, record what you learned about the sanitary
topic and your response to the book. saturated fat
8. After reading the book complete the activities below.
specialized
After Reading:
Comprehension and Extension Activity
After reading the book, work on the following questions with your child or students in order to check
their level of reading comprehension and content mastery.
1. Describe the role of STEM in the food industry. (Summarize)
2. Why might some farmers choose not to spray their crops with pesticides? (Infer)
3. How do you benefit from preservatives used in food? (Text to self connection)
4. Describe the role of technology in agriculture. (Summarize)
5. How do CDC scientists track an outbreak? (Visualize)
Extension Activity
Where does your food come from? Write down all of the ingredients in your lunch today. Research
what states or countries produce the majority of this food. Create a map showing where everything in
your lunch came from.
T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s
What Is STEM? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chemistry and Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Numbers in Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Animals Need Good Food, Too . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Agriculture and the Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Food Safety Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Microbiology and Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Improving Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
STEM Job Fact Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Show What You Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Websites to Visit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
What does
STEM stand for?
Science
Technology
Engineering
Mathematics
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W h a t I s S T E M ?
Sit down at your dinner table and take a look at the food in
front of you . It may seem simple, but in reality, many people are
hard at work making the food we eat every day . Food chemists
create new flavors for packaged food . Farmers calculate the
number of seeds to buy for planting all their fields . Dietitians use
nutritional software programs to plan diets for people with food
allergies .
All these people make a living working in jobs that require a
STEM education . STEM is a quick way of talking about science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics .
Some of the most exciting
careers are in STEM fields . A
strong STEM education can
take you to the next level in
just about any career field .
What great STEM job may
be waiting for you?
A scientist records his observations of a
crop of corn.
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C h e m i s t r y a n d F o o d
When is the last time you had ethyl butyrate? If you drank
orange juice at breakfast, you probably had some of this added
flavor this morning!
Years ago, families shopped each day for fresh food . Today
businesses make products, such as packaged orange juice, that
last weeks in a refrigerator or months when it is unopened . But
to do this, they have to take out parts that can cause it to go
bad quickly . But this also removes some flavor . A flavor chemist
supplies new flavors, such as ethyl butyrate, to add back to the
juice .
A flavor chemist creates many
flavors to add to packaged food.
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Flavor chemists study the
chemicals that give foods their
unique flavor, such as sweet
strawberry or savory roasted
tomato . Then they mix pure
forms of these chemicals,
hoping to recreate the flavor so
that a food company will use it .
Food scientists also study
how flavors interact with each
other . How does freezing or
heating affect the flavor? A
raspberry flavor used in a liquid
sports drink might not be as
delicious in a cookie mix if it
breaks down during baking .
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ST E M i n A c t i o n !
Testing Your Taste
Which of your senses do you think is most important
when identifying a flavor? You can do an experiment to
find out.
Cut a small piece of peeled potato and a small piece of
peeled apple into equal sizes. Place each on a plate. Close
your eyes and hold your nose. Ask a partner to feed you
one piece without telling you if it is the apple or potato.
Keep holding your nose and try the second piece. Can you
tell the difference?
Do you think your sense of smell is as important as your
sense of taste in identifying flavors?
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