ASRB NET — Farm Machinery & Power / Land & Water Management Engineering / Agricultural Structures & Process Engineering · India · Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ICAR)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersMeasuring and assuring food quality, the food-safety systems regulators expect, and laying out a processing plant.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 41 Units 8 and 10; ICAR AIEEA-PG Unit VI (plant layout, feasibility reports); NCEES PE food safety
ASRB NET — Agricultural Structures & Process Engineering
Conceptual MCQs across the subject: food laws and agencies, HACCP versus GMP, hygienic design materials, layout and plant economics, BOD and COD.
How our questions for ASRB NET spread across the units of Food Quality, Safety & Process Plant Design. Difficulty: 34 easy, 25 medium, 5 hard.
| HACCP | 9 | |
| Food law: FSSAI, FDA and Codex | 9 | |
| Quality attributes and their measurement | 8 | |
| Waste and by-product utilisation | 8 | |
| GMP and hygiene | 7 | |
| Hygienic design of equipment | 6 | |
| Feasibility reports | 5 | |
| Plant location and layout | 4 | |
| Process flow sheets | 4 | |
| FSMA and HARPC concepts | 2 | |
| Equipment sizing | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which preliminary HACCP step is completed by walking the line during operation, at all hours it runs?
D. On-site confirmation of the flow diagram
Codex requires the flow diagram to be confirmed on site during all stages and hours of operation. Validation and verification belong to principle 6, after the plan exists.
Further reading: Codex CXC 1-1969 (rev. 2020), General Principles of Food Hygiene
Why must a food-contact surface be cleaned before it is sanitised?
B. Soil shields microbes and inactivates many sanitisers
Organic soil protects microorganisms and reacts with sanitisers such as chlorine, so sanitising a dirty surface achieves little. The other reasons are false.
Further reading: Codex CXC 1-1969; Marriott, Principles of Food Sanitation
Which feature allows ISO 22000:2018 to be integrated with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in one management system?
D. Its use of the common high-level structure of ISO management-system standards
ISO 22000:2018 follows the high-level structure shared by ISO management-system standards. It keeps HACCP principles and has no link to a single country's licence.
Further reading: ISO 22000:2018
Which earlier Indian law was repealed and replaced by the Food Safety and Standards Act?
B. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
The FSS Act consolidated the PFA Act 1954 and product orders such as the Fruit Products Order. The Essential Commodities Act, the grading (AGMARK) Act and the Legal Metrology Act remain separate laws.
Further reading: Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
The EU General Food Law, Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, requires food business operators to keep traceability
D. One step back and one step forward in the chain
The General Food Law requires each operator to identify its immediate supplier and immediate business customer. It also created EFSA.
Further reading: Regulation (EC) No 178/2002
A processor plans to sell one sauce in India, the United States and the European Union. The engineer's correct regulatory approach is to
A. Check the current additive, labelling and hygiene rules of each market separately
Permitted additives, limits and label formats differ, so each market's current law must be checked. Codex is a reference, not binding on importing countries; the strictest rule in one area may not cover a different requirement elsewhere, such as a specific label element.
Further reading: Codex; FSSAI; 21 CFR; EU regulations
Which expert body provides risk assessments of food additives and contaminants to Codex?
D. JECFA
JECFA (Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives) covers additives, contaminants and veterinary drug residues; JMPR covers pesticide residues; EFSA is the EU agency; IPPC is the plant-protection convention.
Further reading: Codex Procedural Manual
A tomato paste plant is best located near the growing area mainly because
C. Raw tomatoes are perishable and lose much weight in processing
Perishable, weight-losing raw materials pull plants towards the source. Paste is shelf-stable and lighter than the fruit, so it is cheaper to ship the product.
Further reading: Lopez-Gomez and Barbosa-Cánovas, Food Plant Design
A food project's net profit after tax is 30, depreciation 10, interest 15, and the year's principal repayment 25 (all in lakh). The debt service coverage ratio is
C. 1.38
DSCR = (PAT + depreciation + interest)/(principal + interest) = (30 + 10 + 15)/(25 + 15) = 55/40 = 1.375. Using PAT alone over principal + interest gives 0.75; the reciprocal of the correct ratio is 0.73; 1.00 omits interest from the numerator.
Further reading: Project appraisal practice
Dissolved-air flotation is used in food effluent treatment chiefly to remove
A. Fat, oil, grease and fine suspended solids
Fine air bubbles float fat, oil and grease and light suspended solids to the surface for skimming. Dissolved organics need biological treatment; pathogens need disinfection.
Further reading: Metcalf & Eddy, Wastewater Engineering
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