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FSSAI Food Analyst and Junior Analyst Examinations Quality Assurance, Statistical Quality Control & Laboratory Management: practice questions

FSSAI Food Analyst and Junior Analyst Examinations · India · Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
30written to this exam in this subject
3syllabus units

What this subject covers

Quality systems, statistical process control, sampling inspection and running an accredited dairy laboratory.

In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 34 Unit 9, subject 35b Unit 1 and subject 36 Unit 6

Where the 30 questions fall

How our questions for FSSAI Food Analyst and Junior Analyst Examinations spread across the units of Quality Assurance, Statistical Quality Control & Laboratory Management. Difficulty: 6 easy, 17 medium, 7 hard.

ISO/IEC 17025 and laboratory accreditation11
Laboratory set-up, safety and chemical management10
Laboratory audits and proficiency testing9

10 practice questions, worked

Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.

1 · Laboratory set-up, safety and chemical management · easy

How many standard sections does a GHS safety data sheet contain?

  1. 16
  2. 20
  3. 8
  4. 12
Answer and working

A. 16

The GHS safety data sheet has sixteen sections, from identification and hazard identification through handling, exposure controls and disposal to regulatory and other information.

Further reading: UN Globally Harmonized System (GHS)

2 · Laboratory set-up, safety and chemical management · medium

When preparing a dilute acid in the laboratory, the safe practice is to:

  1. Add the acid slowly to the water with stirring
  2. Mix equal volumes of acid and water at once
  3. Heat the acid before adding any water
  4. Add the water quickly to the acid to dissolve it
Answer and working

A. Add the acid slowly to the water with stirring

Adding acid to water lets the large volume of water absorb the heat of dilution. Adding water to concentrated sulphuric acid can boil locally and spatter acid.

Further reading: Standard laboratory safety practice

3 · Laboratory set-up, safety and chemical management · hard

A plant laboratory is asked to culture and confirm Brucella from raw milk samples. What is the most appropriate response?

  1. Run it only after adding potassium dichromate to the samples
  2. Run it on the open bench beside routine total plate counts
  3. Send the work to a laboratory with the higher containment it requires
  4. Run it in the chemistry laboratory, where fume cupboards are already fitted
Answer and working

C. Send the work to a laboratory with the higher containment it requires

Brucella is a well-known cause of laboratory-acquired infection, and work with its cultures needs higher biosafety containment than routine indicator counts. Fume cupboards protect against chemical vapours, not aerosols of pathogens; preservatives do not make culture safe.

Further reading: WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual

4 · ISO/IEC 17025 and laboratory accreditation · easy

In ISO/IEC 17025:2017, impartiality and confidentiality are addressed in which clause?

  1. Clause 7, process requirements
  2. Clause 6, resource requirements
  3. Clause 4, general requirements
  4. Clause 8, management system
Answer and working

C. Clause 4, general requirements

Clause 4 (general requirements) covers impartiality and confidentiality. Clause 6 covers personnel, facilities and equipment; clause 7 the testing process; clause 8 the management system.

Further reading: ISO/IEC 17025:2017

5 · ISO/IEC 17025 and laboratory accreditation · medium

Under ISO/IEC 17025:2017, what is 'option B' for the management system?

  1. Having the management system audited by ISO itself in Geneva
  2. Using only the technical clauses and omitting internal audit and management review
  3. Seeking accreditation for calibration rather than for testing
  4. Operating an ISO 9001 system that also supports the laboratory requirements
Answer and working

D. Operating an ISO 9001 system that also supports the laboratory requirements

Clause 8 lets a laboratory meet the management-system requirements either directly (option A) or through a system run to ISO 9001 that supports the technical requirements (option B). Internal audit is required either way, and ISO does not audit laboratories.

Further reading: ISO/IEC 17025:2017

6 · ISO/IEC 17025 and laboratory accreditation · medium

In measurement uncertainty, what is a Type B evaluation?

  1. Evaluation by a second laboratory in an interlaboratory study
  2. Evaluation of uncertainty only for biological tests
  3. Evaluation by means other than statistics of repeated measurements
  4. Evaluation from the standard deviation of repeated measurements
Answer and working

C. Evaluation by means other than statistics of repeated measurements

Type A components are evaluated statistically from repeated observations; Type B components come from other information such as calibration certificates, tolerances and published data. The labels say nothing about the type of test.

Further reading: JCGM 100:2008 (GUM)

7 · ISO/IEC 17025 and laboratory accreditation · hard

Using the convention LOD = 3 × s(blank) and LOQ = 10 × s(blank), what are the LOD and LOQ when the standard deviation of blank results is 0.4 µg/kg?

  1. LOD 0.8, LOQ 1.2 µg/kg
  2. LOD 1.2, LOQ 4.0 µg/kg
  3. LOD 4.0, LOQ 1.2 µg/kg
  4. LOD 0.4, LOQ 1.2 µg/kg
Answer and working

B. LOD 1.2, LOQ 4.0 µg/kg

LOD = 3 × 0.4 = 1.2 µg/kg; LOQ = 10 × 0.4 = 4.0 µg/kg. Other conventions exist, which is why the stem states this one. Swapping them or using 1× and 3× gives the wrong pairs.

Further reading: Eurachem, The Fitness for Purpose of Analytical Methods

8 · Laboratory audits and proficiency testing · medium

Organisations that run proficiency-testing schemes are accredited against which standard?

  1. ISO/IEC 17043
  2. ISO/IEC 17025
  3. ISO 9001
  4. ISO 19011
Answer and working

A. ISO/IEC 17043

PT providers are accredited to ISO/IEC 17043. ISO/IEC 17025 is for testing and calibration laboratories, ISO 9001 for quality management systems and ISO 19011 gives guidance on auditing.

Further reading: ISO 13528 and ISO/IEC 17043

9 · Laboratory audits and proficiency testing · medium

What is the difference between a correction and a corrective action?

  1. They are the same thing under ISO/IEC 17025
  2. A correction fixes the instance; corrective action removes the cause
  3. A correction is done by auditors; corrective action by customers
  4. Corrective action is optional unless the customer complains
Answer and working

B. A correction fixes the instance; corrective action removes the cause

Correction deals with the immediate nonconformity (for example repeating a test); corrective action finds and eliminates the root cause so it does not recur, and its effectiveness is checked.

Further reading: ISO 9000:2015 and ISO 9001:2015

10 · Laboratory audits and proficiency testing · hard

Routine mid-infrared milk analysers used for payment are kept accurate mainly by:

  1. Annual replacement of the infrared source lamp only
  2. Comparing results only with those of the previous day
  3. Adjusting results until they match the farmers' expectations
  4. Regular calibration against reference-method values on calibration milks
Answer and working

D. Regular calibration against reference-method values on calibration milks

MIR instruments are indirect methods calibrated against reference methods (such as Röse-Gottlieb for fat and Kjeldahl for protein) using calibration milks, with slope and intercept checks (see ISO 9622 | IDF 141 and ISO 8196 | IDF 128). Lamp replacement or day-to-day comparison alone does not ensure accuracy.

Further reading: ISO 9622 | IDF 141; ISO 8196 | IDF 128

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Read the subject

Quality Assurance, Statistical Quality Control & Laboratory ManagementThe full study manual, free FSSAI Food Analyst and Junior Analyst ExaminationsFormat, sections and how it has changed

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