Cambridge IELTS 7 · Academic · Test 2 · Passage 2
The True Cost Of Food — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for The True Cost Of Food, Cambridge IELTS 7 Academic Reading Test 2 Passage 2, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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The True Cost Of Food answer key at a glance
Questions 14–26. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with Matching Information (Q14–17), Yes / No / Not Given (Q18–21), Summary Completion (Q22–26). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 14–17: Matching Information
Strategy: Scan for the idea, not the exact words. The answer is a paragraph letter, and one paragraph may be used more than once unless the instructions say otherwise.
a cost involved in purifying domestic water
“£23m for the removal of the bug cryptosporidium from drinking water by water companies”
Paragraph E lists '£23m for the removal of the bug cryptosporidium from drinking water', a purification cost, so E answers this.
the stages in the development of the farming industry
“First mechanisation, then mass use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, then monocultures, then battery rearing of livestock, and now genetic engineering - the onward march of intensive farming has seemed unstoppable in the last half-century, as the yields of produce have soared”
Paragraph B lists the sequence 'first mechanisation, then... monocultures, then battery rearing... and now genetic engineering' — the industry's stages.
the term used to describe hidden costs
“That is mainly because the costs of all this damage are what economists refer to as externalities: they are outside the main transaction, which is for example producing and selling a field of wheat, and are borne directly by neither producers nor consumers”
Paragraph C names hidden costs 'externalities', explaining they lie 'outside the main transaction' and are borne by neither producers nor consumers.
one effect of chemicals on water sources
“the growth of algae is increasing in lakes because of the fertiliser run-off”
Paragraph B attributes rising algae in lakes to 'fertiliser run-off', a chemical effect on water sources.
Questions 18–21: Yes / No / Not Given
Strategy: These test the writer's opinions, not facts. Look for evaluative language, and treat 'may' or 'could' as weaker than the question's claim.
Several species of wildlife in the British countryside are declining.
“In Britain, for example, many of our best-loved farmland birds, such as the skylark, the grey partridge, the lapwing and the corn bunting, have vanished from huge stretches of countryside, as have even more wild flowers and insects”
Birds, wild flowers and insects have 'vanished from huge stretches of countryside', confirming several species are declining. YES.
The taste of food has deteriorated in recent years.
“The cost is in the collateral damage of the very methods of food production that have made the food cheaper: in the pollution of water, the enervation of soil, the destruction of wildlife, the harm to animal welfare and the threat to human health caused by modern industrial agriculture”
The passage lists pollution, soil depletion, wildlife loss and health threats as costs, but never mentions how food tastes, so taste is not addressed.
The financial costs of environmental damage are widely recognised.
“Put it all together and it looks like a battlefield, but consumers rarely make the connection at the dinner table. That is mainly because the costs of all this damage are what economists refer to as externalities: they are outside the main transaction, which is for example producing and selling a field of wheat,”
Consumers 'rarely make the connection' and the costs 'may not even appear to be financial', so they are not widely recognised. NO.
One of the costs calculated by Professor Pretty was illness caused by food.
“The costs included: £120m for removal of pesticides; £16m for removal of nitrates; £55m for removal of phosphates and soil; £23m for the removal of the bug cryptosporidium from drinking water by water companies; £125m for damage to wildlife habitats, hedgerows and dry stone walls;”
'£169m from food poisoning' is a cost from illness caused by food, so the statement is YES.
Questions 22–26: Summary Completion
Strategy: Read the summary as a paragraph first to establish the logic, then locate the missing idea in the passage. With a lettered list, confirm the grammar fits.
“Professor Pretty draws a simple but memorable conclusion from all this: our food bills are actually threefold”
The summary needs the noun Pretty says is 'actually threefold' — 'our food bills' — meaning the real cost triples the price paid.
“Breaking away from industrial agriculture as the solution to hunger may be very hard for some countries, but in Britain, where the immediate need to supply food is less urgent, and the costs and the damage of intensive farming have been clearly seen, it may be more feasible”
The gap needs the system Britain might break away from: 'the costs and the damage of intensive farming', also called industrial agriculture.
“Professor Pretty feels that organic farming would be too big a jump in thinking and in practices for many farmers”
Pretty thinks 'organic farming would be too big a jump' for many farmers, so that is the alternative the summary names.
“He is recommending the immediate introduction of a 'Greener Food Standard', which would push the market towards more sustainable environmental practices than the current norm, while not requiring the full commitment to organic production”
The recommendation is 'the immediate introduction of a Greener Food Standard', the proper name the summary gap requires.
“It could go a long way, he says, to shifting consumers as well as farmers towards a more sustainable system of agriculture”
The standard would shift 'consumers as well as farmers' towards sustainability, so both groups fill the gap.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the The True Cost Of Food passage come from?
It is Passage 2 of Cambridge IELTS 7 Academic Reading Test 2, and it covers Questions 14–26.
What question types appear in The True Cost Of Food?
The passage is tested with Matching Information, Yes / No / Not Given, Summary Completion. Each type is explained on this page, alongside the answers.
Are these reading answers reliable?
Every answer is paired with the sentence that proves it, so you can check each one against the passage yourself. Use the page after a timed attempt, not instead of one.
Cambridge IELTS is published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Band9Prep is not affiliated with Cambridge. This page is an independent study aid: it gives the answer key, the passage evidence and an explanation so you can review an attempt you have already made.