Glossary

Author: Glossary

  • Foods for specified health use (FOSHU, Japanese)

    Processed foods containing ingredients that aid specific bodily functions, as well as being nutritious (functional foods).  

  • Food technology

    The application of science and technology to the treatment, processing, preservation and distribution of foods. Hence the term food technologist.  

  • Food standards agency (FSA)

    Permanent advisory body to UK Parliament through Health Ministers, established in 2000 to protect the public’s health and consumer interests in relation to food; website http://www.food.gov.uk. An independent agency set up by the UK government with the aim of protecting consumers interests in every aspect of food safety and nutrition. The agency advises ministers and…

  • Food security

    When all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Food security requires more than just adequate food availability; it also is a matter of access to the food that is available and appropriate…

  • Food science

    The study of the basic chemical, physical, biochemical, and biophysical properties of foods and their constituents, and of changes that these may undergo during handling, preservation, processing, storage, distribution, and preparation for consumption.  

  • Food pyramid

    A way of showing a healthy diet graphically, by grouping foods and the amounts of each group that should be eaten each day, based on nutritional recommendations. Established by the US Department of Agriculture in 1993, the pyramid replaces the traditional reliance on the four food groups concept long advocated by nutritionists. It emphasizes a…

  • Food poisoning

    Food poisoning

    May be due to (1) contamination with harmful bacteria or other microorganisms; (2) toxic chemicals; (3) adverse reactions to certain proteins or other natural constituents of foods; (4) chemical contamination. The commonest bacterial contamination is due to species of Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Campylobacter, Listeria, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium welchii. Very rarely, food poisoning is due to…

  • Food insecurity

    The absence of food security.  

  • Food and nutrition information center (FNIC)

    Located at the National Agricultural Library, part of the US Department of Agriculture; website http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic.  

  • Food, foodstuffs

    Any solid or liquid material consumed by a living organism to supply energy, build and replace tissue, or participate in such reactions. Defined by the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission as a substance, whether processed, semi-processed, or raw, which is intended for human consumption and includes drink, chewing gum, and any substance that has been used…