1. List 5 characteristics of a food product that affect the cooking rate and how each characteristic changes the rate (e. g., longer or shorter)

Kindly check the explanation section.

Explanation:

Cooking rate is the time it takes a a food product to be well cooked and safe for eating.

The characteristics of a food product can be determined based on the size of the food product, the weight of the food product, the quality of the food product, the color of the food product and also the shape of the food product.

=> Obviously the SIZE determines the cooking rate. Big sizes causes longer cooking rate while small sizes causes shorter cooking rate. The bigger the size the longer the cooking rate and vice versa.

=> Also, the WEIGHT of the product determines the the cooking rate. The higher the weight of the food product, the longer the cooking rate and vice versa.

=> The COLOR of the food product does not affect the cooking rate.

=> Provided equal distribution of heat, the SHAPE does not affect the cooking rate.

=> The Quality of the food product such as the sizes(as stated above) affects the cooking rate. But quality of food such as the nutritional quality does not affect the cooking rate.

Food products can also be group bases on their properties;

=> dry foods or wet foods:have faster cooking rates.

=> Foods with microbiological quality have faster cooking rate.