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 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 Food Safety Officer recruitment spread across the units of Microbiological Quality Assurance & Rapid Methods. Difficulty: 17 easy, 5 medium, 1 hard.
| Indicator organisms: coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli | 4 | |
| Biosafety levels and good microbiological practice | 4 | |
| Microbiological criteria and how they are set | 3 | |
| Standard plate count and other enumeration methods | 3 | |
| Laboratory accreditation: ISO/IEC 17025 | 3 | |
| Detection and isolation of pathogens | 2 | |
| Rapid methods: ATP bioluminescence, PCR, real-time PCR, immunoassays | 2 | |
| Environmental monitoring programmes | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Coliforms are defined as Gram-negative non-spore-forming rods that:
A. Ferment lactose with acid and gas within 48 h at 30–37 °C
Lactose fermentation with acid and gas is the defining trait; Enterobacteriaceae are defined by glucose fermentation.
Further reading: ICMSF, Microorganisms in Foods 7, 2nd ed.
Which indicator is most specific for faecal contamination?
B. Escherichia coli
E. coli lives mainly in the intestine of warm-blooded animals; many coliforms are environmental.
Further reading: Wehr and Frank (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 17th 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.
Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus are handled at:
B. BSL-2
They are risk group 2 agents: disease is possible but treatable and spread is limited.
Further reading: Wehr and Frank (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 17th ed.
A Class II biological safety cabinet protects:
D. The worker, the sample and the environment
Inward airflow and HEPA-filtered downflow protect all three; Class I does not protect the sample.
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.
Ten here, 23 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to Food Safety Officer recruitment in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
Free for ten days, then one subscription of US$10 a month. We would rather say so here than have you find it later.
An AI operating system for agriculture: free guides, manuals and tools written for every country.