GATE — Engineering Sciences (XE), Section G Food Technology · India · IITs and IISc on rotation (2026: IIT Guwahati)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersProcessed meat, poultry and egg products: meat as a raw material, curing and smoking chemistry, emulsion and restructured products, canned and dried meats, poultry further processing, and egg quality and egg products. Slaughter, inspection and abattoir design are in the Veterinary track (meat-science-abattoir, milk-meat-hygiene-food-safety).
In the exams: GATE XE-G Section 1 (post-mortem changes) and Section 3 (canning, drying and freezing of meat; egg powder); ICAR AIEEA-PG Code 18 Unit III; ICAR AICE 35.a Unit 3
GATE — Engineering Sciences (XE), Section G Food Technology
Section 1 names post-mortem changes in meat; Section 3 names canning, drying and freezing of meat and egg powder. Expect conceptual items on glycolysis and pH fall, rigor and cold shortening, myoglobin states, PSE and DFD, nitrite and cured colour, and numerical-answer mass balances: dried meat yield, salt from brine injection, egg powder yield, drip loss and the Haugh unit.
GATE — Life Sciences (XL), Section U Food Technology
Same Sections 1 and 3 content as XE-G, often framed through biochemistry: ATP depletion and actomyosin, calpains and calpastatin, myoglobin redox chemistry, nitrosylmyoglobin and nitrosyl haemochrome, Maillard browning of dried egg white, and yolk gelation on freezing.
How our questions for GATE spread across the units of Meat, Poultry & Egg Products Technology. Difficulty: 5 easy, 18 medium, 7 hard.
| Conversion of muscle to meat: rigor mortis, pH fall and ageing | 7 | |
| Meat quality: colour, water-holding capacity, PSE and DFD | 7 | |
| Canning, drying and freezing of meat | 6 | |
| Egg preservation and egg products: liquid, frozen and dried egg | 5 | |
| Egg structure, composition and quality measurement | 3 | |
| Curing chemistry: nitrite, colour and safety | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
After slaughter the pH of muscle falls mainly because
D. Glycogen turns into lactic acid
Anaerobic glycolysis converts glycogen to lactic acid, which accumulates without blood circulation and lowers pH. Proteolysis, CO2 and lipolysis are not the main cause.
Further reading: Aberle et al., Principles of Meat Science
The ultimate pH of normal beef or pork muscle is commonly around
D. 5.5
Normal post-mortem glycolysis brings pH from about 7.0–7.2 to an ultimate value near 5.4–5.8, often about 5.5. 7.2 is living muscle, 4.0 is far too acid for meat, and 6.8 would indicate very little glycolysis.
Further reading: Aberle et al., Principles of Meat Science
Water-holding capacity of meat is lowest near pH
C. 5.0–5.2
The main myofibrillar proteins have their isoelectric point near pH 5.0–5.2, where net charge is minimal, filaments pack closely and water is lost. Moving pH away in either direction increases water holding.
Further reading: Lawrie and Ledward, Lawrie's Meat Science
Beef from cattle exhausted by long transport and mixing before slaughter is likely to be
B. Dark, firm and dry
Pre-slaughter stress depletes glycogen, so little lactic acid forms and the ultimate pH stays high, giving dark cutting (DFD) beef. PSE needs rapid pH fall; the other descriptions are unrelated.
Further reading: Lawrie and Ledward, Lawrie's Meat Science
100 kg of pork is injected to 110 kg with a brine containing 20% salt. The salt content of the injected meat, before cooking, is
B. 1.82%
Brine taken up = 10 kg, carrying 10 × 0.20 = 2 kg salt; salt % = 2 ÷ 110 × 100 = 1.82%. 2.00% divides by the raw 100 kg; 20% is the brine strength; 2.20% uses 110 × 0.02.
Further reading: Feiner, Meat Products Handbook
Some large canned hams carry a 'keep refrigerated' label because
D. Their mild heat process relies on cold storage
To protect quality in large containers, these hams receive a pasteurisation-level process and are not commercially sterile, so refrigeration is part of their safety. They are cooked, and corrosion or nitrite loss is not the reason.
Further reading: Aberle et al., Principles of Meat Science
Frozen pork turns rancid sooner than frozen beef mainly because pork fat
C. Is more unsaturated
Pig fat contains more unsaturated fatty acids than ruminant fat, which is hydrogenated in the rumen, so it oxidises faster. Water, collagen and pH are not the main reason.
Further reading: Aberle et al., Principles of Meat Science
An egg weighs 60 g and its thick albumen height is 7.0 mm. Using HU = 100 log10(H − 1.7 W^0.37 + 7.57), its Haugh unit value is about
A. 83
W^0.37 = 60^0.37 = 4.55; 1.7 × 4.55 = 7.73; 7.0 − 7.73 + 7.57 = 6.84; 100 × log10(6.84) = 83.5. 58 corresponds to an albumen height of 4.0 mm; 116 ignores the weight term (log10 14.57); 70 has no consistent basis.
Further reading: Stadelman and Cotterill (eds.), Egg Science and Technology
As a shell egg ages at room temperature, the pH of its albumen
A. Rises as carbon dioxide escapes
Carbon dioxide diffuses out through the pores, so albumen pH rises from about 7.6 to above 9, and the thick white thins. No lactic acid forms, and CO2 leaves rather than enters.
Further reading: Stadelman and Cotterill (eds.), Egg Science and Technology
1000 kg of liquid whole egg with 24% solids is spray dried to a powder with 4% moisture. The powder output is
A. 250 kg
Solids = 240 kg; powder = 240 ÷ 0.96 = 250 kg. 240 kg is bone-dry solids; 230 kg multiplies 240 by 0.96; 960 kg is the liquid mass times 0.96.
Further reading: Stadelman and Cotterill (eds.), Egg Science and Technology
Ten here, 30 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to GATE 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.