Food & Cooking · Unit 4
From Farm to Plate
The journey food takes before it reaches you
Between a field and a plate there is a supply chain most people never think about, and its length explains a great deal about price, freshness and waste.
The unit covers farms and growing, transport and distribution, markets and shops, food labels and date marks, and the scale of food waste at each stage.
This unit breaks down into 19 short steps and 111 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.
- Steps
- 19
- Questions
- 111
- Difficulty
- 1-3
What this unit covers
- Labels and Dates
- Food Waste
- Farms and Fields
- Getting Food to Shops
- Markets and Shops
Where this fits
Follows What We Eat. Food Systems and the Future returns to it in depth.
Where people slip
Best before and use by mean different things. One is about quality and is a judgement; the other is about safety and is not.
How the unit is structured
From Farm to Plate runs as 19 short steps that unlock in order. 14 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.
Challenge rounds
Example questions
30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 111 in the unit altogether.
Farms and Fields
- Multiple choiceLevel 1
1. Why do farmers plough fields?
- To loosen the soil for plantingcorrect
- To make patterns
- To water the crops
- To harvest grain
Ploughing turns and loosens soil so seeds can be planted.
- Picture questionLevel 1
2. 🐄 Which farm animal gives us milk?
- A cowcorrect
- A chicken
- A fish
- A bee
Dairy cows are milked every day on dairy farms.
- True or falseLevel 1
3. Some farms grow crops and some keep animals.
Answer: True
True, and many farms do both.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
4. Which animals are kept on farms for food? Pick all that apply.
- Cowcorrect
- Chickencorrect
- Sheepcorrect
- Tiger
Cows, chickens and sheep are all farm animals.
- Fact or fibLevel 2
5. All the food in a supermarket was grown in that same town.
Answer: False
False. Most food travels from many different places.
- Sort into groupsLevel 2
6. Sort each farm type by what it mainly produces.
Answer: Wheat farm = Crops; Orchard = Crops; Dairy farm = Animals; Sheep farm = Animals
Farms specialise by what the land and climate suit.
Food Waste
- Multiple choiceLevel 1
7. What is food waste?
- Food thrown away instead of eatencorrect
- Food that is cooked
- Food that is shared
- Food that is frozen
Food waste is food that is thrown away instead of eaten.
- Sort into groupsLevel 1
8. Sort each action by whether it saves or wastes food.
Answer: Freezing extra portions = Saves food; Making a shopping list = Saves food; Buying more than you can eat = Wastes food; Leaving food out to spoil = Wastes food
Small habits add up over a year.
- True or falseLevel 1
9. Vegetable peelings can be composted instead of binned.
Answer: True
True. Compost turns scraps into food for soil.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
10. Which reduce food waste? Pick all that apply.
- Making a shopping listcorrect
- Storing food properlycorrect
- Eating leftoverscorrect
- Buying far more than you can eat
Planning, storing well and using leftovers all cut waste.
- Fact or fibLevel 2
11. Food past its best-before date is automatically unsafe.
Answer: False
False. Best-before is about quality, and much food is fine afterwards.
- Put in orderLevel 3
12. Put the food waste hierarchy in order from best to worst.
Answer: Prevent the surplus -> Redistribute to people -> Use as animal feed -> Anaerobic digestion -> Landfill or disposal
Prevent, redistribute, feed animals, digest, dispose.
Getting Food to Shops
- Build the sentenceLevel 1
13. Build a sentence about food journeys.
Answer: Food travels from the farm to your plate
Food travels from the farm to your plate.
- Choose all that applyLevel 1
14. Which carry food long distances? Pick all that apply.
- Lorriescorrect
- Shipscorrect
- Planescorrect
- Bicycles across oceans
Lorries, ships and planes all move food around.
- Type the answerLevel 1
15. What is a big building where food is stored before going to shops called?
Answer: warehouse
A warehouse holds stock before delivery.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
16. How does food usually get from a farm to a shop?
- By lorry or vancorrect
- By post only
- It grows in the shop
- It walks
Lorries and vans carry food from farms to warehouses and shops.
- Put in orderLevel 2
17. Put the journey of an apple in order.
Answer: Grown in an orchard -> Picked from the tree -> Packed into crates -> Delivered to a shop -> Sold to a customer
Grown, picked, packed, delivered, sold.
- True or falseLevel 2
18. Some foods travel from other countries by ship or plane.
Answer: True
True. Bananas and coffee often travel a very long way.
Labels and Dates
- Choose all that applyLevel 1
19. What can you find on a food label? Pick all that apply.
- The ingredientscorrect
- The weightcorrect
- A datecorrect
- Your name
Ingredients, weight and dates are all on the label.
- Type the answerLevel 1
20. What is the printed list on a packet that shows what the food contains?
Answer: ingredients list
The ingredients list runs from most to least by weight.
- Fill the blankLevel 2
21. The last day food is safe to eat is shown by the ____ date.
- use-bycorrect
- birthday
- delivery
- opening
Use-by dates are about safety, not quality.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
22. Why should you check the date on food before eating it?
- Old food may not be safe to eatcorrect
- Dates set the price
- Dates tell you the recipe
- There is no reason
Old food may not be safe or may not taste good any more.
- True or falseLevel 2
23. Food labels tell you how much the food weighs.
Answer: True
True. The weight or volume is printed on the pack.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
24. Which appear on most packaged food labels? Pick all that apply.
- Ingredients in weight ordercorrect
- Allergen informationcorrect
- Nutrition per 100 gramscorrect
- The chef's opinion
Ingredients, allergens, nutrition and storage advice are all included.
Markets and Shops
- Match the pairsLevel 1
25. Match each shop to what it sells.
Answer: Bakery = Bread; Butcher = Meat; Fishmonger = Fish; Greengrocer = Vegetables
Different shops specialise in different foods.
- True or falseLevel 1
26. A greengrocer is a shop that sells fruit and vegetables.
Answer: True
True. Greengrocers specialise in fresh produce.
- Build the sentenceLevel 2
27. Build a sentence about supply chains.
Answer: A supply chain links farmers shops and shoppers
A supply chain links farmers shops and shoppers.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
28. Which shops sell food? Pick all that apply.
- Bakerycorrect
- Butchercorrect
- Greengrocercorrect
- Shoe shop
Bakeries, butchers and greengrocers all sell food.
- Fact or fibLevel 2
29. A long supply chain is always less efficient than a short one.
Answer: False
False. Bulk transport can be highly efficient, and short chains are not automatically better.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
30. Why do shops keep milk and meat in fridges?
- Cold keeps them fresh for longercorrect
- They look nicer cold
- To make them cheaper
- There is no reason
Cold slows the growth of the microbes that spoil food.
Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.
How you practise
This unit mixes 11 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.
- Build the sentence
- Choose all that apply
- Fact or fib
- Fill the blank
- Match the pairs
- Multiple choice
- Picture question
- Put in order
- Sort into groups
- True or false
- Type the answer
Practise From Farm to Plate
111 questions across 19 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.
Play this unitMore units in Food & Cooking
- What We EatFood groups, meals and where our food comes from
- Fruit and VegetablesGrowing, picking and eating plants
- In the KitchenTools, hygiene and staying safe while you cook
- Grains and BreadThe crops that feed the world and the loaves they become
- Dairy and EggsMilk, cheese, butter and the remarkable egg
- Meat, Fish and ProteinProtein foods, how they cook and how they are caught or raised
- Herbs and SpicesFlavour, aroma and the trade that moved the world
- Cooking MethodsBoiling, roasting, frying and everything in between