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 papersHow dairy laboratories sample, count, detect and certify: criteria, indicator organisms, rapid methods and lab quality systems.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 36 Unit 6 and subject 35b Units 1 and 3; ICAR AIEEA-PG group 16 (enumeration, isolation and identification of pathogens)
How our questions for FSSAI Food Analyst and Junior Analyst Examinations spread across the units of Microbiological Quality Assurance & Rapid Methods. Difficulty: 23 easy, 25 medium, 3 hard.
| Microbiological criteria and how they are set | 9 | |
| Laboratory accreditation: ISO/IEC 17025 | 8 | |
| Indicator organisms: coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli | 7 | |
| Standard plate count and other enumeration methods | 6 | |
| Detection and isolation of pathogens | 6 | |
| Environmental monitoring programmes | 6 | |
| Rapid methods: ATP bioluminescence, PCR, real-time PCR, immunoassays | 4 | |
| Two- and three-class sampling plans | 2 | |
| Biosafety levels and good microbiological practice | 2 | |
| Biosensors in dairy safety | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which document sets out the internationally agreed components of a microbiological criterion for foods?
A. Codex CXG 21-1997, revised in 2013
The Codex Principles and Guidelines for microbiological criteria (CXG 21-1997, rev. 2013) list the components; the others deal with laboratories.
Further reading: ICMSF, Microorganisms in Foods 7, 2nd ed.
Under the EU regulation on microbiological criteria, a process hygiene criterion:
C. Signals whether the process is working acceptably
Process hygiene criteria use indicators such as Enterobacteriaceae; failure triggers process corrective action, not recall.
Further reading: ICMSF, Microorganisms in Foods 7, 2nd ed.
Which organism is typically the subject of a food safety criterion rather than a process hygiene criterion?
D. Listeria monocytogenes
Food safety criteria concern pathogens such as L. monocytogenes, Salmonella and Cronobacter; the others are process hygiene indicators.
Further reading: Wehr and Frank (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 17th ed.
Process hygiene limits are commonly derived from:
C. Data on what well-run processes achieve
They reflect good practice, so exceeding them signals a process problem needing investigation.
Further reading: ICMSF, Microorganisms in Foods 7, 2nd ed.
The usual sequence in cultural detection of a pathogen is:
B. Pre-enrichment, selective enrichment, plating, confirmation
Enrichment resuscitates injured cells and increases target numbers before isolation and confirmation.
Further reading: Wehr and Frank (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 17th ed.
Most routine environmental samples are usually taken from zones 2 and 3 because:
C. They warn early, before zone 1 is contaminated
The aim is to find harbourage before it reaches product contact surfaces.
Further reading: ICMSF, Microorganisms in Foods 7, 2nd ed.
Many dairies send pathogen testing to external laboratories because:
D. Enrichments hold huge numbers of target pathogens
Keeping high-titre cultures away from production reduces the risk of contaminating the plant.
Further reading: Wehr and Frank (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 17th ed.
In India, testing laboratories are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 by:
D. NABL
The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories is India's ILAC signatory.
Further reading: Wehr and Frank (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 17th ed.
Which activity is part of internal quality control in a microbiology laboratory?
C. Temperature records and media batch checks with control strains
QC includes equipment checks, media performance tests, duplicates, controls and control charts.
Further reading: ICMSF, Microorganisms in Foods 7, 2nd ed.
Providers of proficiency testing schemes are accredited to:
D. ISO/IEC 17043
ISO/IEC 17043 sets requirements for proficiency testing providers.
Further reading: Wehr and Frank (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 17th ed.
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