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What's Happening to Our Food? Reading Answers

Bhaskar Das

Mar 3, 2025

What's Happening to Our Food? Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic.

What's Happening to Our Food? Reading Answers has a total of 13 IELTS questions in total.In the question set you have to answer which passage contains the given information. In the next question set you have to Match each statement with the correct person given in the options. In the last question set you have to write the correct answer in no more than one word.

The IELTS Reading section is an essential part of the test that evaluates a candidate's comprehension and analysis of various passage types. You will work through a number of IELTS reading practice problems in this section that resemble actual test situations. These questions are designed to help you improve your ability to recognize essential concepts, extract particular facts, and make inferences. Practicing these IELTS reading problems can help you get comfortable with the structure and increase your confidence for the exam, regardless of whether you are studying for the Academic or General Training module.

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Section 1

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR FOOD?

Is the way we produce and process food making it less nourishing than in our grandparents' day?

A. We now know a lot about what food does to the body and the importance of a healthy diet. But what if modern intensive farming methods have affected the mineral and vitamin content of what we eat? Donald Davis, at the University of Texas, has found notable declines in nutrients in crops including tomatoes, eggplants and squash. Davis blames agricultural practices that quantity over quality. High-yielding crops produce more food, more rapidly, but they can't make or absorb nutrients at the same pace, so the nutrition is diluted. 'It's like taking a glass of orange juice and adding water to it. If you do that, the concentration of nutrients that was in the original juice drops,' he says, But the idea that modern farming produces less nourishing crops remains controversial. since nutrient levels can vary widely according to the variety of plant, the year of harvest and the time of harvest.

B. But intensive farming has also led to a huge increase in food supply, which has undoubtedly had a positive effect on our diet and health. 'Evidence suggests that some nutrients have fallen, particularly trace elements such as copper in vegetables, ' says Paul Finglas, at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich. “Foods are now bred for yield, and not necessarily nutritional composition. But I don't think that is a problem, because we eat a wider range of foods today than we did 10 years ago, let alone 40 years ago'. Eric Decker, professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, agrees. If nutrients are declining, the losses are insignificant, he says. 'Over the last century, lifespans have got longer, people are bigger

and stronger, and a lot of that has to do with the food supply being better.' Even Davis agrees that any differences in nutrient levels are relatively small. Despite their decline, fruit and vegetables are still our richest source of many nutrients, and you can make up for it by eating more," he says.'But we know that many people don't get the recommended amounts of nutrients such as iron, magnesium, and calcium. They aren't overt deficiencies in the usual sense. but they increase susceptibility to lots of different problems.'

C. In addition to changes in Its production, food is being transported for ever-increasing distances. Fruit and vegetables in supermarkets might look shiny and fresh, but often they were picked several days earlier. Some nutrients, particularly vitamin C and folic acid, begin to deteriorate as soon as picking happens, but manufacturers can take action to minimise this, 'Lots of these reactions are driven by enzymes, ' says Carol Wagstaff, from the University of Reading, UK, who points out that chilling is the best way of slowing down such reactions. That said, if you are choosing between organic fruit or vegetables from a distant country or locally grown, non-organic ones, always opt for home-grown, she says. From a nutritional standpoint. go for the shortest possible supply chain rather than the production method.'Many kinds of mass-produced fruit and veg, most famously tomatoes, are harvested unripe before being transported to supermarkets. Wagstaff agrees that this may cause some loss of flavor, compared with a tomato that you have grown at home, and left on the plant until it's absolutely ready to eat. But there's no way you could do that at a commercial level, because of the bruising and other types of damage that would occur if ripe fruits were transported through a typical supply chain,' she says. In addition, each method of shipping and storing foods has different effects on the compounds they contain, Vitamin C, for example, breaks down in the dark, whereas glucosinolates — found in vegetables like cabbage — deplete in the light.

D. Surprisingly, frozen fruit and vegetables are often nutritionally better than fresh. 'Frozen peas are much more nutritious than those you buy ready to Shell.' says Catherine Collins. principal dietician at St George's Hospital in London. What's more, frozen foods often have fewer addons. Freezing is a preservative,' she says. Similarly, processing has become a maligned word in the context of food, but there are some cases where it enhances a food's health benefits. For example, lycopene — a compound tomatoes are rich in, and which has been shown to protect against certain diseases — is much more readily absorbed by humans from tomato paste than fresh tomatoes. A recent trend is the sale of 'fresh-cut' fruit and vegetables

— peeled potatoes, ready chopped carrots and bagged salads. One in five adults in the UK regularly buys fruit and vegetables in this form every week, according to market research firm Mintel. Surely this cutting and peeling speeds up the degradation of nutrients? 'There is a chance that ready prepared vegetables may have a lower content of some vitamins,' says Judy Buttrlss, of the British Nutrition Foundation In London. 'But if their availability means that such vegetables are consumed in greater quantities, then the net effect is beneficial.'

E. The bottom line is that although aspects of today's food production, processing and storage might make what we eat a bit less nutritious, they are also making foods more available - and this is far more important. 'The most important thing you can do is eat more fruits. vegetables and wholegrains, and cut down on highly refined, processed foods, vegetable Oils and added sugars, “says Davis. He believes this will make a far greater difference to us than worrying about growing methods and transportation.

Questions 14 - 18

Reading passage 2 has 5 sections, A - E,

Which section contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A - E.

NB YOU MAY USE ANY LETTER MORE THAN ONCE.

14. an admission that if one type of food is harvested too soon, its taste may be affected

Answer: C

Supporting statement: but often they were picked several days earlier.

Keywords: picked, earlier

Keyword Location: Para C, Lines 2-3

Explanation: The text states that if a food is harvested too soon there is a possibility that its taste might change this can be due to the deterioration of vitamin C and folic acid taking place as soon as a fruit or vegetable is harvested.

15. the view that there is not a great difference between the quantity of nutrients in our food now and in the past

Answer: B

Supporting statement:because we eat a wider range of foods today than we did 10 years ago, let alone 40 years ago'

Keywords: wider range, years ago

Keyword Location: Para B, Lines 5-6

Explanation: According to the text, the food we eat nowadays has not much alterations that the food we used to eat in the past because of the wider range of foods available today in comparison to the past.

16. a comparison which illustrates why developments in agriculture may reduce the amounts of nutrients in foods

Answer: A

Supporting statement: High-yielding crops produce more food, more rapidly, but they can't make or absorb nutrients at the same pace, so the nutrition is diluted.

Keywords: more rapidly, nutrients

Keyword Location: Para A, Lines 5-6

Explanation: The text highlights that due to the high yielding of crops and the use of modern day methods of cultivation the food does not absorb the same amount of nutrients as it used to in comparison to the past.

17. a warning that customers could be deceived by the attractive appearance of a fruit or vegetable

Answer: C

Supporting statement:Fruit and vegetables in supermarkets might look shiny and fresh

Keywords: Fruit and vegetables, shiny and fresh

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 2

Explanation: The text states that nowadays customers might get attracted to the fruits and vegetables' shiny appearance with no context to the amount of nutrient it provides.

18. evidence of the popularity of a new development in food processing which aims to save customers trouble

Answer: D

Supporting statement:What's more, frozen foods often have fewer addons. Freezing is a preservative,' she says.

Keywords: frozen foods, Freezing

Keyword Location: Para D, Line 3

Explanation: The text highlights that the food processing method of freezing food might be more helpful in retaining the food nutrient content as it requires few addons or preservatives. It also makes the food requirement less hassle free and time consuming.

Questions 19 - 22

Look at the following statements and the list of people

below, Match each statement with the correct person

Write the correct letter, A — F.

LIST of PEOPLE

A. Donald Davis

B. Paul Finglas

C. Eric Decker

D. Carol Wagstaff

E. Catherine Collins

F. Judy Buttriss

19. People are more likely to become ill if they have low levels of some nutrients,

Answer: A

Supporting statement:They aren't overt deficiencies in the usual sense. but they increase susceptibility to lots of different problems

Keywords: deficiencies, increase

Keyword Location: Para B, Line 13

Explanation: According to Donald Davis, despite the small amount of change in the nutritional value of food it is still impossible to retain the same amount of nutrients if a person eats less amount of food so to compensate for the deficiencies one should eat a great amount of fruits and vegetables to avoid becoming ill.

20. Making healthy foods easy to cook may be more important than their vitamin content.

Answer: E

Supporting statement: frozen fruit and vegetables are often nutritionally better than fresh. 'Frozen peas are much more nutritious than those you buy ready to Shell.' says Catherine Collins.

Keywords: nutritionally better, nutritious

Keyword Location: Para D, Line 1

Explanation: According to Catherine Collins making the food readily available is far more necessary nowadays than debating about the national values of the food produced

21. An improved diet has made people nowadays live longer and be healthier than in the past.

Answer: C

Supporting statement:Over the last century, lifespans have got longer, people are bigger

and stronger, and a lot of that has to do with the food supply being better.

Keywords: lifespans, food supply

Keyword Location: Para B, Line 8

Explanation:According to Eric Decker the lifespan of people is longer than it used to be in the past and people nowadays are much stronger all this is due to the better quality of food being supplied nowadays.

22. People's diets are more varied now than they were In the past.

Answer: B

Supporting statement: But I don't think that is a problem, because we eat a wider range of foods today than we did 10 years ago, let alone 40 years ago'

Keywords: problem, wider range

Keyword Location: Para B, Line 5

Explanation: According to Paul Finglas the diet of people nowadays has a wider range of foods as compared to the diet of people in the past this could be due to more production Various food products.

Questions 23-26

Choose ONE WORD ONLY for each.

FOOD TRANSPORTATION

In order to prevent loss of nutrients when transporting fruit and vegetables, chilling is used to slow down the effect that 23………. have on them.

Answer: ENZYMES

Supporting statement: Lots of these reactions are driven by enzymes, ' says Carol Wagstaff, from the University of Reading, UK, who points out that chilling is the best way of slowing down such reactions.

Keywords: enzymes, chilling

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 5

Explanation:According to the text To preserve food nowadays the method of freezing is used to slow down the enzymes which changes the food quality and taste. This is done to stop the process of loss of nutrients in food which happens during transportation.

Some foods, such as tomatoes, must be picked before they are ripe to avoid problems such as 24…….during transportation.

Answer: BRUISING

Supporting statement: because of the bruising and other types of damage that would occur if ripe fruits were transported through a typical supply chain

Keywords: bruising, transported

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 13-14

Explanation:According to the text tomatoes can become bruised while in transportation to the process of ripping.

Other foods, such as cabbage, lose nutrients when kept in the 25………..

Answer: LIGHT

Supporting statement: found in vegetables like cabbage — deplete in the light.

Keywords: cabbage, light

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 17

Explanation: According to the text, cabbage starts losing its nutrients if kept in light after harvesting.

Vegetables such as 26...……., which are picked fresh and transported to the supermarket, may be less nutritious than those which are frozen.

Answer: PEAS

Supporting statement:Frozen peas are much more nutritious than those you buy ready to Shell.

Keywords: Frozen peas, Shell

Keyword Location: Para D, Lines 1-2

Explanation: The text mentions that frozen peas have more nutritional value than those peas which are sold on shelf for ready to eat purpose.

Read More IELTS Reading Related Samples

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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