FAO eLearning Academy Quality Management & Food Standards: practice questions

Question 1 · medium

'Who checks the checkers?' In conformity assessment, this role is performed by:

1. Certification bodies, which audit farms and factories and then periodically review one another's certificates
2. Codex committees, which set food standards
3. Accreditation bodies, which assess the competence of certification and inspection bodies and laboratories
4. Retailers, through supplier audits

Question 2 · hard

A GAP certificate is issued to a grape exporter by a certification body. For an importing buyer to accept it, the certification body should normally be accredited against which standard?

1. ISO/IEC 17065, for bodies certifying products, processes and services
2. ISO/IEC 17025, for testing laboratories
3. ISO 9001, for quality management systems
4. ISO 19011, for auditing management systems

Question 3 · easy

Under the Codex HACCP system, which is the FIRST of the seven principles?

1. Determine the critical control points
2. Assemble the HACCP team
3. Conduct a hazard analysis and identify control measures
4. Establish critical limits

Question 4 · medium

In the Codex 12-step logic sequence for applying HACCP, step 5 is:

1. Conduct a hazard analysis
2. Construct a flow diagram
3. On-site confirmation of the flow diagram
4. Describe the product

Question 5 · medium

In pasteurisation of milk, which is an example of a critical limit?

1. The number of staff on the pasteuriser shift, as set by the plant's staffing plan
2. The milk's retail price
3. The total count of suppliers delivering milk
4. A minimum time-temperature combination specified by national regulation

Question 6 · hard

A dairy's pasteuriser drops below its critical temperature and a flow-diversion valve automatically returns the under-heated milk for reprocessing. In HACCP terms, the valve operation is:

1. Verification of the HACCP plan
2. Validation of the critical limit
3. A prerequisite hygiene programme
4. A corrective action at a CCP

Question 7 · medium

Food allergens undeclared on a label are classified in HACCP as which type of hazard?

1. Biological
2. Physical
3. Nutritional
4. Chemical

Question 8 · medium

Which Codex text contains the HACCP system and the good hygiene practices on which it rests?

1. General Principles of Food Hygiene
2. General Standard for Food Additives
3. General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods
4. General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed

Question 9 · hard

A three-class plan uses n = 5, c = 2 and limits m and M. In a lot, 80% of units are at or below m, 15% are between m and M, and 5% exceed M. What is the probability of acceptance?

1. 0.774
2. 0.750
3. 0.328
4. 0.942

Question 10 · hard

An exporter faces a 4% chance that a container is rejected at the border, costing US$6,000. Pre-shipment testing at US$150 per container would cut the rejection chance to 0.5%. On expected cost alone, what should the exporter do?

1. Test: expected cost falls from US$240 to US$180 per container
2. Not test: testing adds US$150 to a US$240 risk
3. Test: expected cost falls from US$6,000 to US$150
4. Not test: expected cost rises from US$180 to US$240