The Flavour Industry Reading Answers

Dec 15, 2022

The Flavour Industry Reading Answers contains a write up that explains about the flavor industry and its efficiency and workings. The Flavour Industry Reading Answers comprises 13 different types of questions. Candidates in this IELTS Section will be shown various question types with clear instructions. The Flavour Industry Reading Answers comprises three types of questions: Matching heading, sentence completion, and Choose the correct option. For Matching heading in IELTS Reading passage, candidates need to thoroughly go through each passage. For sentence completion, candidates need to skim the passage for keywords and understand the concept. To choose the correct option, candidates must read the IELTS Reading passage and understand the statement provided. To gain proficiency, candidates can practice from IELTS reading practice test.

Identifying information
True/False/Not Given
Choose the correct answer

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

The Flavour Industry Reading Answers

Read through the nutritional information on the food in your freezer, refrigerator or kitchen pantry, and you are likely to find a simple, innocuous-looking ingredient recurring on a number of products: “natural flavour”. The story of what natural flavour is, how it got into your food, and where it came from is the result of more complex processes than you might imagine.
During the 1980s, health watchdogs and nutritionists began turning their attention to cholesterol, a waxy steroid metabolite that we mainly consume from animal-sourced products such as cheese, egg yolks, beef, poultry, shrimp, and pork. Nutritionists blamed cholesterol for contributing to the growing rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and several cancers in Western societies. As extensive recognition of the matter grew amongst the common people, McDonald’s stopped cooking their French fries in a mixture of cottonseed oil and beef tallow, and in 1990, the restaurant chain began using 100% vegetable oil instead.
This substantially lowered the amount of cholesterol in McDonald’s fries, but it created a new dilemma The beef tallow and cottonseed oil mixture gave the French fries high cholesterol content, but it also gifted them with a rich aroma and “mouth-feel” that even James Beard, an American food critic, admitted he enjoyed. Pure vegetable oil is bland in comparison. Looking at the current ingredients list of McDonald’s French fries, however, it is easy to see how they overcame this predicament. Aside from a few preservatives, there are essentially three main ingredients: potato, soybean oil, and the mysterious component of “natural flavour”.
Natural flavour also entered our diet through the rise in processed foods, which now make up over 90% (and growing) of the American diet, as well as representing a burgeoning industry in developing countries such as China and India Processed foods are essentially any foods that have been boxed, bagged, canned or packaged, and have a list of ingredients on the label. Sometimes, the processing involves adding a little sodium or sugar, and a few preservatives. Often, however, it is coloured, bleached, stabilized, emulsified, dehydrated, odour-concealed, and sweetened. This process typically saps any original flavour out of the product, and so, of course, flavour must be added back in as well.
Often this is “natural flavour”, but while the term may bring to mind images of fresh barley, hand-ground spices, and dried herbs being traded in a bustling street market, most of these natural sources are, in fact, engineered to culinary perfection in a set of factories and plants of the New Jersey Turnpike outside of New York. Here, firms such as International Flavors & Fragrances, Harmen & Keimer, Flavor Dynamics, Frutarom and Elan Chemical isolate and manufacture the tastes that are incorporated in much of what we eat and drink. The sweet, summery burst of naturally squeezed orange juice, the wood-smoked aroma in barbeque sauces, and the creamy, buttery, fresh taste in many dairy products do not come from sun-drenched meadows or backyard grills but are formed in the labs and test tubes of these flavour industry giants.
The scientists – dubbed “flavourists” who create the potent chemicals that set our olfactory senses to overdrive use a mix of techniques that have been refined over many years. Part of it is dense, intricate chemistry: spectrometers, gas chromatographs, and headspace-vapor analyzers can break down components of a flavor in amounts as minute as one part per billion. Not to be outdone, however, the human nose can isolate aromas down to three parts per trillion. Flavourists, therefore, consider their work as much an art as a science, and flavorism requires a nose “trained” with a delicate and poetic sense of balance.
Should we be wary of the industrialization of natural flavour? On its own, the trend may not present any clear reason for alarm. Nutritionists widely agree that the real assault on health in the last few decades stems from an “unholy trinity” of sugar, fat, and sodium in processed foods. The natural flavour on its own is not a health risk. It does play a role, however, in helping these processed foods to taste fresh and nutritious, even when they are not. So, while the natural flavor industry should not be considered the culprit, we might think of it as a willing accomplice.

Section 2

Solution With Explanation

Questions 14-21:

Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter. A-G, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet
NB You may use any letter more than once.

Question 14: examples of companies that create natural flavors

Answer: E
Supporting Statement: “firms such as International Flavors & Fragrances, Harmen & Keimer, Flavor Dynamics, Frutarom and Elan Chemical isolate and manufacture the tastes that are incorporated in much of what we eat and drink”
Keyword: Firms, manufacture
Keyword location: Para E, line 4
Explanation: Manufacturers of natural flavors include International Flavors & Fragrances, Flavor Dynamics, Frutarom, Elan Chemical and Harmen & Keimer.

Question 15: an instance of a multinational franchise responding to public pressure

Answer: B
Supporting Statement: “Mcdonald's stopped cooking their french fries in a mixture of cottonseed oil and beef tallow, and in 1990, the restaurant chain began using 100% vegetable oil instead.”
Keywords: McDonald's
Keyword location: Para B, line 5
Explanation: In response to public demand, the worldwide fast food chain McDonald's has switched from using a blend of cottonseed oil and cattle tallow to just using 100% vegetable oil while preparing French fries.

Question 16: a statement on the health effects of natural flavors

Answer: G
Supporting Statement: “Natural flavor on its own is not a health risk”
Keywords: natural flavor, not a health risk
Keyword location: para G, line 3
Explanation:Natural taste is claimed to be completely safe for your health on its own.

Question 17: an instance where a solution turns into a problem

Answer: C
Supporting Statement: “This substantially lowered the amount of cholesterol in McDonald's' fries, but it created a new dilemma The beef tallow and cottonseed oil mixture gave the French fries high cholesterol content, but it also gifted them with a rich aroma and "mouth-feel" that even James Beard, an American food critic, admitted he enjoyed”
Keywords: The beef tallow and cottonseed oil mixture, high cholesterol content, but it also gifted them with a rich aroma and “mouth-feel
Keyword location: para c, line 1
Explanation: McDonald's used 100% vegetable oils to reduce the cholesterol content of their French fries, but the beef tallow as well as cottonseed oil provided the fries a rich flavor and texture.

Question 18: a place in the home where one may encounter the term "natural flavor”

Answer: A
Supporting Statement: “Read through the nutritional information on the food in your freezer, refrigerator, or kitchen pantry, and you are likely to find a simple, innocuous-looking ingredient recurring on a number of products: "natural flavor"
Keyword: natural flavor
Keyword location: para A, line 1
Explanation: The refrigerator, freezer, or kitchen pantry are places in the house where one might locate natural taste.

Question 19: details about die transformation that takes place in processed grocery items

Answer: D
Supporting Statement: Processed foods are essentially any foods that have been boxed, bagged, canned or packaged, and have a list of ingredients on the label“
Keywords: Processed
Keyword location: Para D. line 3
Explanation: Processed food is any item which has been boxed, bagged, canned, or packaged and contains a list of ingredients on the label.

Question 20: a comparison of personal and technological abilities in flavor detection

Answer: F
Supporting Statement: “Part of it is dense, intricate chemistry: spectrometers, gas chromatographs, and headspace-vapor analyzers can break down components of a flavor in amounts as minute as one part per billion. ”
Keywords: components
Keyword location: Para F, line 2
Explanation: The components of a flavor can be divided into parts as small as one part per billion using spectrometers, headspace-vapor analyzers, and gas chromatographs.

Question 21: examples of diet-related health conditions

Answer: B
Supporting Statement: “Nutritionists blamed cholesterol for contributing to the growing rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and several cancers in Western societies.”
Keywords: blamed cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, obesity
Keyword location: para B, line 3
Explanation: Nutritionists in western nations blamed cholesterol for a variety of health problems, including obesity and heart disease. Numerous malignancies and diabetes.

Questions 22-25:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

Question 22: On their own, vegetable oils do not have a strong flavor

Answer: True
Supporting Statement: “Pure vegetable oil is bland in comparison. ”
Keywords: bland in comparison
Keyword location: Para C, line 4
Explanation: Comparatively, the vegetable oils are bland and lack flavor.

Question 23: Soybean oil is lower in cholesterol than cottonseed oil.

Answer: Not Given
Explanation:No relevant information has been given in the paragraphs associated with the question.

Question 24: Processed foods are becoming more popular in some Asian countries.

Answer: True
Supporting Statement: “Natural flavor also entered our diet through the rise in processed foods, which now make up over 90% (and growing) of the American diet, as well as representing a burgeoning industry in developing countries such as China and India ”
Keywords: entered our diet, China, India
Keyword location: para D, line 1
Explanation: In nations like China and India, processed food has supplanted natural flavor in our diet.

Question 25: All food processing involves the use of natural flavors.

Answer: False
Supporting Statement: “This process typically saps any original flavor out of the product, and so, of course, flavor must be added back in as well.”
Keywords: saps any original flavor out
Keyword location: Para D, last line
Explanation: All of the original flavor is removed from the product during processing, and some fake flavors are added back.

Question 26: Choose the correct letter. A B.C, or D.
Write the correct letter in box 26 on your answer sheet

The writer of Reading Passage 2 concludes that natural flavors…………………..

is the major cause of dietary health problems
are unhealthy, but not as had as sugar, fat, and sodium
have health benefits that other ingredients tend to cancel out.
helps make unhealthy foods taste better.

Answer: D
Supporting Statement: “while the natural flavor industry should not be considered the culprit, we might think of it as a willing accomplice.”
Keywords: natural flavor industry
Keyword location: Para G, last line
Explanation: Unhealthy food is improved in taste by the natural flavor.

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