SAFETY REQUIREMENTS: Students must wear the following or they will not be allowed to participate: close-toed shoes, OSHA approved chemical splash goggles with indirect vents, pants or skirts that cover the legs to the ankles and a lab coat or apron that reaches below the knees. Gloves are optional. Students who unsafely remove their safety clothing/glasses or are observed handling any of the material or equipment in a hazardous/unsafe manner (e.g., tasting or touching chemicals or flushing solids down a drain and not rinsing them into a designated waste container provided by the supervisor) would be disqualified from the event.

EVENT PARAMETERS: The students must supply a calculator and pencil. The event supervisors will supply all other necessary materials, equipment, and reagents. Students should be able to accurately measure the mass and volume of materials, perform simple chemical/physical tests such as density and percent composition. Simple tests for proteins, lipids, and various carbohydrates are needed. Absolutely no reference materials, scientific instruments, or other resource materials will be admitted.

A TEAM OF: up to 2 APPROXIMATE TIME: 50 minutes

THE COMPETITION: Foods are made up of at least three major food groups or classes of compounds:

carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. At each station, students will be asked to perform a laboratory task and/or answer written questions about food chemistry. At the regional level, it is recommended that students work together to complete all tasks. At the state and national levels students may need to work somewhat independently to complete all task within the recommended time limit.

SAMPLE TASKS AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS:

• When given several food samples, students will be expected to distinguish between lipids, carbohydrates and proteins.

• When given generic structural formulas for each major food group, students will properly distinguish between the three food groups.

• When given samples of sugars, students will properly characterize as reducing or non-reducing sugars.

• When given a food sample, students will be able to determine the caloric value of the foodstuff.

• When provided with a food sample such as popping corn, students will determine the amount of moisture in a known sample.

Determine the density of a food sample.

Determine the percentage of carbohydrate in a sample of skim milk.

• Answer questions concerning food labels/labeling, e.g. number of calories per serving, amount of lipids (fats) in the total package.

SCORING: The laboratory part of the activity will count at least 75% of the total points. Points will be awarded for correct answers and/or proper techniques. The remaining 25% will be based on the questions, which will be at some of the stations. Cleanup must occur after all laboratories are completed and failure to do this will result in a penalty. All measurements and calculations must be recorded in the correct significant figures and units. All ties will be broken by selected questions chosen by the supervisors. These questions will not be identified to the students.