ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD): Dairy Chemistry, Dairy Microbiology, Dairy Technology, Dairy Engineering · India · NTA for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe standards and laws that define dairy products and govern their production and trade in major jurisdictions.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 34 Unit 9 and subject 35b Unit 3; ICAR AIEEA-PG group 16 (PFA, BIS, Codex standards) and group 17; Indian state PSC Food Safety Officer and FSSAI posts
ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) — Dairy Chemistry (34) and Dairy Technology (37)
Subject 34 Unit 9 and subject 37 Unit 9: quality and legal aspects — ISO, IDF, Codex, BIS and FSSAI standards, residues and traceability. Expect questions on the structure of microbiological criteria, sampling plans, MRL and ADI logic, SPS versus TBT measures and international harmonisation.
How our questions for ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF spread across the units of Dairy Standards & Law Worldwide. Difficulty: 12 easy, 28 medium, 18 hard.
| Microbiological criteria in law | 10 | |
| European Union: hygiene package and dairy rules | 9 | |
| China and other major importing markets | 9 | |
| Residue limits: veterinary drugs, pesticides and contaminants | 9 | |
| Export certification and the WTO SPS and TBT agreements | 9 | |
| Codex Alimentarius dairy standards and the General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms | 7 | |
| Labelling law and the protection of dairy names | 5 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Under the Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms, milk is defined as the normal mammary secretion of milking animals obtained:
A. From one or more milkings without addition or extraction
CXS 206-1999 defines milk as normal mammary secretion obtained from one or more milkings without either addition to it or extraction from it. It is not limited to cows, does not require standardisation and is defined before any heat treatment.
Why do Codex dairy standards, although voluntary, carry weight in international trade?
B. The WTO SPS Agreement presumes that measures conforming to Codex standards are justified
Codex texts become trade-relevant because the SPS Agreement names Codex as the food safety reference: conforming measures are presumed to meet the agreement, and stricter ones need a risk assessment. Codex has no power to compel adoption or fine anyone, and IDF is not an enforcement body.
An overseas plant wants to sell infant formula in China. Beyond plant registration, which additional requirement is specific to infant formula?
D. Recipe registration with the market regulator SAMR
Infant formula recipes sold in China must be registered with SAMR. Halal is required in other markets, the IMS List is a US domestic system, and FAO does not issue product certificates.
An exporter's regulatory team reviews a new market. Which three levers do importing countries typically use to control dairy imports?
C. Country and establishment listing, product standards, and certification or border checks
Regulatory control rests on who may export (listing), what the product must meet (standards) and how compliance is shown (certificates, registration, inspection). Tariffs, quotas and taxes are trade and fiscal tools, not food safety controls.
Why did the 2008 melamine crisis lead to a full revision of China's dairy standards rather than only adding a melamine test?
D. It exposed failures across collection, testing and supervision
The scandal revealed failures in collection, testing based on nitrogen, and supervision, so China revised the Food Safety Law and issued new national dairy standards. Melamine can be detected; Codex cannot require adoption; imports were not permanently banned.
Which element must a complete microbiological criterion include, alongside the micro-organism and the limit?
C. The sampling plan and analytical method
CXG 21-1997 lists the food, point of application, micro-organism, method, sampling plan, limits and action. A limit without a sampling plan and method cannot be applied consistently.
A three-class plan has n = 5, c = 2, m = 10 and M = 100 cfu/g. Results are 5, 20, 40, 8 and 9 cfu/g. What is the decision?
A. Accept
Two results (20 and 40) lie between m and M, which equals c = 2, and none exceeds M, so the lot is accepted. Marginal results are allowed up to c; the mean is not the rule.
Which of these is a food safety criterion rather than a process hygiene criterion under EU Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005?
A. Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat dairy foods
Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods is a food safety criterion: failure makes the product unsafe. Enterobacteriaceae in pasteurised milk, E. coli and coagulase-positive staphylococci during manufacture are process hygiene criteria.
An export health certificate for a dairy consignment is signed by:
B. An official veterinarian of the exporting authority
Export health certificates are official attestations by the exporting authority. A company manager cannot certify on behalf of the state; the importing officer checks the certificate; private scheme certification is not an official guarantee.
A label for a cheese spread shows a cow and the word creamy, but the product contains no milkfat. Even if its main name is lawful, a regulator may object because:
C. Pictures and words suggesting a dairy product can mislead the consumer
Dairy-term rules and general labelling law cover the overall impression, including images and descriptors that suggest dairy. There is no general ban on pictures, and creamy is not reserved to butter by name.
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