Cambridge IGCSE Food and Nutrition (0648) Past Papers

The Cambridge IGCSE Food & Nutrition (0648/12) June 2026 paper presents a well-balanced assessment across core nutritional science, food preparation principles, food safety, and kitchen technology. Section A thoroughly tests nutrient functions, deficiency symptoms (pellagra, bone disorders), and digestive physiology. Section B focuses heavily on practical food science—featuring an in-depth 19-mark question on shortcrust pastry, along with modern preservation techniques like irradiation and cook-chill systems, bakeware material science, and kitchen hygiene. Section C offers a classic choice between kitchen health and safety guidelines (preventing falls, burns, and scalds) and the nutritional composition and multi-functional culinary versatility of eggs.

A balanced and highly syllabus-compliant paper. It effectively tests core nutritional physiology alongside practical kitchen science, showing a slight shift towards deeper biochemical explanations of diet-related health issues.

The October/November 2025 Paper 12 (Theory) balances fundamental dietary and nutritional recall with technical kitchen operations and deep physiological insights. High-scoring areas include food composition, basic bread-making proportions, and meal planning for specific cohorts, whilst candidate challenges lie in detailed food science processes like radiation heat transfer and connective tissue behavior.

A comprehensive analysis of the 2024 theory and practical components of Cambridge IGCSE Food and Nutrition (0648), highlighting key nutrient functions, food chemistry (coagulation, dextrinisation, caramelisation), kitchen safety, convective heat transfer, food labels, and freezing science.

A highly standard, accessible paper requiring precise technical vocabulary in macro-nutrient functions, cupcake chemistry, and consumer-focused diet planning.

The May/June 2023 Food and Nutrition examination consists of Paper 1 (Theory), which tests fundamental nutritional science, baking principles, and family meal modifications, alongside Paper 2 (Practical), requiring candidates to demonstrate precise menu planning, food preparation methods, and active culinary execution.

The November 2023 Paper 12 of IGCSE Food and Nutrition represented a balanced yet demanding assessment. While candidates demonstrated solid factual recall on basic dietary questions, many struggled with technical accuracy in food science processes (specifically starch gelatinisation in roux sauces) and chemical definitions like coeliac disease.