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Food Safety Officer recruitment Market Milk Processing: practice questions

Food Safety Officer recruitment (state PSCs and FSSAI) · India · State public service commissions; FSSAI for central posts

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
17written to this exam in this subject
6syllabus units

About Food Safety Officer recruitment

Food Safety Officer recruitment (state PSCs and FSSAI) is a government recruitment exam run by State public service commissions; FSSAI for central posts, for candidates in India. Each commission sets its own written test.

Official site: fssai.gov.in.

We have not been able to confirm these details against the exam body's own specification, so fees, dates and pass marks are left out on purpose. Check the current format, eligibility, fees and dates on the official site.

Market Milk Processing in Food Safety Officer recruitment

From reception to the consumer pack: clarification, separation, standardisation, homogenisation, pasteurisation, ESL and UHT, and special milks.

Our 17 Food Safety Officer recruitment questions in this subject: 8 easy, 8 medium, 1 hard, across 6 units.

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.

These 10 were written to Food Safety Officer recruitment and are not shown on any other exam's page.

Question 1 · medium

Using Richmond's formula, SNF % = CLR ÷ 4 + 0.2 × fat % + 0.14, estimate the SNF of milk with a corrected lactometer reading of 30 and 4.0% fat.

  1. 8.30%
  2. 12.44%
  3. 8.44%
  4. 11.64%
Answer and working

C. 8.44%

30 ÷ 4 = 7.5; 0.2 × 4.0 = 0.8; 7.5 + 0.8 + 0.14 = 8.44%. 8.30% omits the constant; 11.64% adds the whole fat percentage; 12.44% uses the 1.2 coefficient from the total-solids version of the formula.

Question 2 · easy

Using the Pearson square, how much milk of 6.0% fat is needed (with skim milk of 0.1% fat) to make 1,000 kg of milk with 3.0% fat?

  1. 491.5 kg
  2. 501.0 kg
  3. 500.0 kg
  4. 508.5 kg
Answer and working

A. 491.5 kg

Parts of 6% milk = 3.0 − 0.1 = 2.9; parts of skim = 6.0 − 3.0 = 3.0; 6% milk = 2.9 ÷ 5.9 × 1000 = 491.5 kg. 508.5 kg is the skim quantity; 500.0 kg ignores the fat in skim; 501.0 kg adds an arbitrary correction.

Question 3 · medium

Why is a cryoscope used at milk reception?

  1. To detect added water by measuring freezing-point depression
  2. To count bacteria by measuring heat released on freezing
  3. To detect antibiotics by their effect on freezing time
  4. To measure fat content by freezing and weighing the fat layer
Answer and working

A. To detect added water by measuring freezing-point depression

Added water raises the freezing point towards 0 °C; the cryoscope is the reference check for watering. It does not measure fat, bacteria or residues.

Question 4 · medium

In the methylene blue reduction test, a short decolourisation time indicates:

  1. A high fat content of the milk
  2. A high bacterial activity in the milk
  3. A low bacterial activity in the milk
  4. The presence of added water
Answer and working

B. A high bacterial activity in the milk

Bacteria consume oxygen and reduce the dye; the faster it fades, the more active bacteria there are. The test says nothing directly about fat or added water.

Question 5 · easy

Why can the Pearson square not be used alone to meet both fat and SNF targets?

  1. It balances only one component, so two targets need simultaneous equations
  2. It works only for fat and cannot be applied to SNF or sugar calculations
  3. It gives the answer in litres, which must be converted for each component
  4. It assumes all ingredients have the same density and so it fails for powder
Answer and working

A. It balances only one component, so two targets need simultaneous equations

The square solves single-component mixing. It works for any one component, not only fat; two targets need algebra.

Question 6 · easy

Which time-temperature combination is the standard HTST pasteurisation of milk?

  1. 72 °C for 30 minutes
  2. 72 °C for 15 seconds
  3. 135 °C for 2 seconds
  4. 63 °C for 15 seconds
Answer and working

B. 72 °C for 15 seconds

HTST is 72 °C/15 s (U.S. 71.7 °C). 63 °C/30 min is LTLT; 135 °C for seconds is UHT.

Question 7 · medium

The pasteurisation standards for milk were set to destroy which organism, the most heat-resistant non-spore-forming pathogen commonly found in milk?

  1. Listeria monocytogenes
  2. Bacillus cereus
  3. Coxiella burnetii
  4. Clostridium botulinum
Answer and working

C. Coxiella burnetii

C. burnetii (Q fever) set the 62.8 °C/30 min and 71.7 °C/15 s standards. C. botulinum and B. cereus form spores that survive pasteurisation; Listeria is killed with a margin.

Question 8 · easy

A positive alkaline phosphatase test on pasteurised milk indicates:

  1. Post-pasteurisation contamination with bacteria only
  2. Over-pasteurisation at UHT temperatures
  3. Correct pasteurisation
  4. Under-pasteurisation or contamination with raw milk
Answer and working

D. Under-pasteurisation or contamination with raw milk

Phosphatase is inactivated by correct pasteurisation; activity means inadequate heat or raw-milk admixture. Bacterial contamination after heating does not restore phosphatase.

Question 9 · medium

Which is the first of the seven HACCP principles?

  1. Establish record keeping
  2. Establish verification procedures
  3. Conduct a hazard analysis
  4. Establish corrective actions
Answer and working

C. Conduct a hazard analysis

The principles begin with hazard analysis, then CCPs, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification and records.

Question 10 · hard

Listeria is found in pasteurised milk although pasteurisation records are correct. The most likely source is:

  1. Growth of Listeria in the raw milk silo after pasteurisation
  2. Post-pasteurisation contamination in the filling area or downstream equipment
  3. Survival of Listeria at 72 °C for 15 s, since it is more heat-resistant than Coxiella
  4. Formation of Listeria spores in raw milk that survive pasteurisation
Answer and working

B. Post-pasteurisation contamination in the filling area or downstream equipment

Listeria is killed by correct pasteurisation and does not form spores; recontamination after heating is the usual cause, controlled by hygienic design and environmental monitoring.

A study plan for Market Milk Processing in Food Safety Officer recruitment

This plan follows where our questions actually fall, so the time goes where the marks are likely to be. It is our reading of the syllabus, not the exam body's weighting.

  1. First, the heavy units (53% of the 17 questions): Milk reception, testing and payment (6, 35%); HACCP in fluid milk processing (3, 18%).

    Read the manual chapters for these first and do every worked question you can find on them.

  2. Then the middle band: Pasteurisation: LTLT, HTST, holding time and flow diversion (3, 18%); Standardisation calculations: Pearson square and algebraic methods (3, 18%).

    Aim for one sitting per unit, then mixed questions across them.

  3. Then the lighter units: Lactose-free and other special milks (1, 6%); Toned, double-toned, recombined, reconstituted, flavoured and fortified milks (1, 6%).

    Learn the definitions, classifications and standard numbers; these units are more often recalled than worked.

  4. Leave time for the hard ones: HACCP in fluid milk processing (1 hard of 3).

    Come back to these after a first pass, untimed, and read every explanation, including for the options you rejected.

  5. Bank the easy marks: Toned, double-toned, recombined, reconstituted, flavoured and fortified milks (1 easy of 1); Pasteurisation: LTLT, HTST, holding time and flow diversion (2 easy of 3).

    Do these early in revision so they are fast on the day.

  6. Finish timed. Sit the subject as a timed set without notes, mark it, and send each wrong answer back to its unit above.

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