UPHESC Assistant Professor Home Science 2025 PYQs

Concept: Fast-food outlets use counter (self) service: the customer orders and collects food at the counter, so no waiter is involved.

1. High-end (fine dining) restaurants use full table service by trained waiters.
2. Casual dining restaurants also have waiters taking orders at the table.
3. Cafe service usually has a server bringing orders; fast food is the classic counter/self-service system.

Short trick: Fast food = fast because there is no waiter: order - pay - pick up.

Concept: Lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus, Streptococcus/Lactococcus) convert lactose to lactic acid - the basis of curd/yogurt and cheese.

1. Yogurt: L. bulgaricus + S. thermophilus produce lactic acid that sets the milk.
2. Cheese: lactic starter cultures acidify milk before/with rennet coagulation.
3. Beer is alcoholic fermentation by yeast; vinegar is acetic acid fermentation by Acetobacter.

Short trick: Milk products = Lactic; Beer = yeast (alcohol); Vinegar = Acetic.

Concept: Spice tables in food-science texts list cumin chiefly as a carminative, coriander for flatulence, garlic for digestive complaints and mustard (isothiocyanates) as protective against aflatoxin.

1. Cumin (jeera) - the classic carminative (expels gas, stomachic) → 4.
2. Coriander seed - used in flatulence/colic → 3.
3. Garlic - digestive disorders; mustard - protection against aflatoxin effect → c-1, d-2.
4. Only option (A) gives a-4, b-3, c-1, d-2.

Short trick: Jeera = carminative (jeera water for gas); Dhaniya = pet phoolna.

Concept: Each vegetable colour comes from a characteristic pigment group.

1. Beetroot red-violet = betalains (betanin) → ii.
2. Carrot orange = carotenoids (β-carotene) → iv.
3. Onion (white/cream) = flavones (anthoxanthins) → i.
4. Spinach green = chlorophyll → iii.

Short trick: Beet-Betalain (both 'Bet'), Carrot-Carotene (both 'Car').

Concept: Combination cooking uses both dry heat and moist heat on the same food.

1. Braising: food is first seared/browned in fat (dry heat) and then slowly simmered covered in a little liquid (moist heat).
2. Sauteing and grilling are dry-heat methods only.
3. Poaching is a moist-heat method only.

Short trick: Braise = Brown + simmer (stewing is the other combination method).

Concept: Celiac disease is an immune reaction to gluten (gliadin) of wheat, barley and rye; the diet must be strictly gluten-free.

1. Wheat flour contains gluten - forbidden.
2. Rice flour, gram (Bengal gram/besan) flour and corn (maize) flour are naturally gluten-free.
3. So b, c and d are allowed.

Short trick: Avoid 'BROW' - Barley, Rye, Oats (contaminated), Wheat.

Concept: Blanching is a brief heat treatment (boiling water/steam) given before freezing, canning or drying.

1. It inactivates enzymes (peroxidase, catalase) that cause off-colour/flavour.
2. It brightens the green colour (expels air from tissues) and lowers the surface microbial load.
3. It does not 'preserve healthy bacteria' and it shrinks (wilts) rather than increases volume - so b and c are wrong.

Short trick: Blanching = Enzymes off + Green bright + Germs down.

Concept: Sources of common sugars.

1. Sucrose (table sugar) is extracted from cane and beet → beet sugar (ii).
2. Glucose is 'grape sugar' → grapes (iv).
3. Lactose is milk sugar → milk (iii).
4. Fructose is left with potatoes (i); only option (A) fits a-ii, c-iv, d-iii.

Short trick: Lactose = Lac (milk); Glucose = grape sugar; Sucrose = cane/beet.

Concept: All four are recognised factors that influence (raise or lower) non-haem iron absorption.

1. Phytates and oxalates bind iron into insoluble complexes - decrease absorption.
2. Increased gastric motility shortens contact time - decreases absorption.
3. Gastric acidity keeps iron in the soluble ferrous form - increases absorption.
4. Animal tissue protein ('meat-fish-poultry factor') enhances absorption.

Short trick: Enhancers: Acid, Vitamin C, MFP factor; Inhibitors: Phytate, Oxalate, Tannin, rapid transit.

Concept: Calcium is absorbed in the small intestine - actively (vitamin D/calbindin) in the duodenum and passively in the jejunum and ileum.

1. Statement I is true: almost all absorption is in the small intestine.
2. Statement II is true: calcium salts dissolve better at acid pH, so absorption is best in the upper duodenum where pH is low; alkalinity reduces it.

Short trick: Calcium likes Acid, Vitamin D and Lactose; hates Phytate, Oxalate and alkali.

Concept: Respiratory (oxidative) burst is the rapid O₂ consumption by phagocytes (NADPH oxidase) producing superoxide, H₂O₂ and other free radicals.

1. (A) is true: these reactive oxygen species kill ingested bacteria.
2. (R) says 'it' (the respiratory burst) is the process of engulfing foreign matter - that is phagocytosis, a different process.
3. The burst follows engulfment; it is not engulfment itself, so (R) is false.

Short trick: Phagocytosis = eating; respiratory burst = the poison spray after eating.

Concept: At birth head circumference exceeds chest; they become equal around 6–12 months and thereafter chest exceeds head in a well-nourished child.

1. In malnutrition the chest (muscle and fat) grows poorly, so head circumference stays more than chest circumference after the first year.
2. A chest/head ratio below 1 (after 6–12 months) is used as an index of PEM.
3. Hence only statement b is true.

Short trick: Big head, small chest after age 1 = malnourished child.

Concept: Meat colour depends on the state of myoglobin: purple-red myoglobin → bright red oxymyoglobin (fresh O₂) → brown metmyoglobin (iron oxidised to Fe³⁺).

1. On prolonged exposure to air the haem iron gets oxidised and brown metmyoglobin accumulates - (A) is true.
2. (R) gives exactly this cause, so it correctly explains (A).

Short trick: Oxy = bright red (bloom); Met = brown (old meat).

Concept: Dietary Reference Intakes are a set of four values.

1. EAR (Estimated Average Requirement) meets the need of 50% of a group → average requirement (ii).
2. RDA = EAR + 2 SD, meets the need of 97–98% (most) individuals → (i).
3. AI (Adequate Intake) is set from observed intakes of apparently healthy people when no EAR exists → (iv).
4. TUL (Tolerable Upper Intake Level) is the highest intake unlikely to cause adverse effects → (iii).

Short trick: EAR = 50%, RDA = 97.5%, AI = observed, UL = upper safe limit.

Concept: Each management function has a distinct role.

1. Planning - a continuous exercise of setting and resetting goals and the means → iv.
2. Organizing - linking people, tasks and resources into a structure → iii.
3. Directing - guiding staff to actually start performing tasks → ii.
4. Coordinating - synchronising all units so work flows smoothly → i.

Short trick: Plan sets goals → Organise links → Direct starts → Coordinate smooths.

Concept: A cyclic menu is a series of menus planned in advance for a set period (e.g. 2–4 weeks) and then repeated.

1. Statement I is true: it is planned ahead for a definite period.
2. Statement II is true: at the end of the cycle the same menus are rotated again at fixed intervals.
3. Used widely in hospitals, hostels and industrial canteens.

Short trick: Cyclic = planned once, repeated like a wheel.

Concept: The management process always begins with planning and ends with evaluation.

1. Planning (iii) → Organizing (i) → Directing (ii) → Coordinating (v) → Controlling (iv) → Evaluating (vi).
2. Only option (A) starts with planning and keeps organizing before directing and evaluation last.

Short trick: P-O-D-Co-C-E: Plan, Organise, Direct, Coordinate, Control, Evaluate.

Concept: Food-service texts classify table (waiter) service and banquet service among the formal styles.

1. Waiter service: the waiter presents the menu, waits while the guest decides, takes the order and serves at the table - Statement I is correct.
2. Banquet service: pre-planned formal service for a large number of guests at one time; state banquets for heads of states/governments are its most elaborate form - Statement II is correct.

Short trick: Waiter = guest decides at table; Banquet = grand, pre-set, VIP.

Concept: Menus differ in how items are priced and offered.

1. A la carte - each dish priced separately; guest chooses → choice menu (ii).
2. Table d'hote - fixed set of courses at one set price → (i).
3. Combination menu - a mix of the two, typically with the day's special set meal → special for the day (iv).
4. Cyclic menu - rotated/repeated after a set period → (iii).

Short trick: A la carte = 'by the card' (choice); Table d'hote = 'host's table' (fixed price).

Concept: Food service establishments are commercial (profit-making) or non-commercial/institutional (welfare, cost-covering).

1. Hospital dietary departments, school meal (mid-day meal) schemes, hostels and industrial canteens aim at service/nutrition, not profit - so 'every' establishment aiming at profit is wrong; (A) is false.
2. (R) is true: any goal is reached only when money is invested to obtain the other resources - manpower, materials, equipment, time.

Short trick: 'Every' in an assertion is a red flag: institutional catering is non-profit.