ICAR AIEEA-PG / PGS — Code 18 Food Science Technology · India · ICAR through the National Testing Agency
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
22written to this exam in this subject
12syllabus units
What this subject covers
The Codex risk-analysis framework that underlies modern food standards: hazard identification and characterisation, exposure assessment, quantitative microbial and chemical risk assessment, food safety objectives and performance objectives, and risk communication.
In the exams: ICAR AICE 35.b Unit 2 (concept of risk analysis); PG and regulatory-science roles
The Codex risk-analysis framework
Hazard identification and hazard characterisation
Dose-response models
Exposure assessment and dietary intake estimation
Risk characterisation
Quantitative microbial risk assessment
Chemical risk assessment and margin of exposure
Food safety objectives, performance objectives and performance criteria
Risk ranking and risk profiles
Risk management options
Risk communication
Food safety surveillance and the role of FAO/WHO expert bodies (JECFA, JMPR, JEMRA)
Short items within national and international food standards: the meaning of risk analysis, hazard versus risk, ADI and MRL, and the Codex expert bodies.
Where the 22 questions fall
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG / PGS spread across the units of Food Risk Analysis: Risk Assessment, Management & Communication. Difficulty: 17 easy, 2 medium, 3 hard.
The Codex risk-analysis framework
3
Hazard identification and hazard characterisation
3
Dose-response models
2
Exposure assessment and dietary intake estimation
2
Risk characterisation
2
Food safety objectives, performance objectives and performance criteria
2
Risk management options
2
Risk communication
2
Quantitative microbial risk assessment
1
Chemical risk assessment and margin of exposure
1
Risk ranking and risk profiles
1
Food safety surveillance and the role of FAO/WHO expert bodies (JECFA, JMPR, JEMRA)
1
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.
1 · The Codex risk-analysis framework · easy
The three components of risk analysis in the Codex framework are:
Monitoring, verification and validation
Assessment, management and communication
Inspection, licensing and prosecution
Hazard identification, sampling and recall
Answer and working
B. Assessment, management and communication
Codex defines risk analysis as assessment, management and communication; monitoring and verification belong to HACCP.
Further reading: Codex Procedural Manual, Working Principles for Risk Analysis
2 · The Codex risk-analysis framework · easy
What is the difference between a hazard and a risk?
A hazard is measured in laboratories; a risk is measured only in factories
A hazard is always chemical; a risk is always microbiological
Hazard is potential harm; risk is likely harm given exposure
There is no difference; the terms are interchangeable in Codex
Answer and working
C. Hazard is potential harm; risk is likely harm given exposure
Hazard is a property of an agent; risk depends on exposure.
Further reading: Codex Procedural Manual, Working Principles for Risk Analysis
3 · Hazard identification and hazard characterisation · easy
Hazard identification answers which question?
How many cases of illness occur each year?
How much of the agent do people eat each day?
What legal limit should be set for the agent?
Is the agent harmful and linked to this food?
Answer and working
D. Is the agent harmful and linked to this food?
Hazard identification is qualitative; exposure, risk estimates and limits come later.
Further reading: FAO/WHO Food Safety Risk Analysis guide (FNP 87); WHO EHC 240
4 · Hazard identification and hazard characterisation · hard
Why can a fatty food such as chocolate cause Salmonella illness at a low dose?
Fat converts Salmonella into a toxin in the gut
Fat lowers the water activity required for infection
Fat shields organisms from stomach acid
Fat makes Salmonella multiply rapidly at room temperature
Answer and working
C. Fat shields organisms from stomach acid
The matrix effect lets more organisms survive gastric acid.
Further reading: FAO/WHO Food Safety Risk Analysis guide (FNP 87); WHO EHC 240
5 · Dose-response models · medium
Microbial dose-response models usually assume that a single surviving organism:
Produces toxin only after cooking
Is enough to start an infection
Must combine with others before causing harm
Is harmless unless at least 10^6 are eaten
Answer and working
B. Is enough to start an infection
The single-hit assumption gives no-threshold models such as the exponential.
Further reading: Haas, Rose and Gerba, Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment; EFSA benchmark dose guidance
6 · Exposure assessment and dietary intake estimation · easy
Dietary exposure to a contaminant is calculated as:
Σ(C × consumption) / body weight
Consumption divided by concentration
Body weight multiplied by the MRL
Concentration divided by the ADI
Answer and working
A. Σ(C × consumption) / body weight
Exposure (mg/kg bw/day) = Σ(C × F) / bw.
Further reading: WHO EHC 240, chapter 6
7 · Quantitative microbial risk assessment · easy
Quantitative microbial risk assessment usually follows a pathogen through:
The laboratory only
The marketing chain of advertisements
The food chain to the point of consumption
The legal process of prosecution
Answer and working
C. The food chain to the point of consumption
QMRA models changes from farm or process to consumption, then applies dose-response.
Further reading: FAO/WHO Microbiological Risk Assessment Series; Codex CXG 30-1999
Further reading: FAO/WHO; WHO GEMS/Food and INFOSAN
Ten here, 22 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to ICAR AIEEA-PG / PGS 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.