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 papersControlling quality in the plant and in the laboratory: quality systems and TQM, control charts and process capability, acceptance sampling and two- and three-class sampling plans, laboratory quality management and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, method validation and proficiency testing.
In the exams: ICAR AICE 35.a Unit 4 (quality systems, control charts, acceptance sampling) and 35.b Units 1 and 3 (ISO 17025, NABL accreditation, 2- and 3-class sampling plans); food analyst examinations
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG / PGS spread across the units of Food Quality Assurance, Statistical Process Control & Laboratory Accreditation. Difficulty: 8 easy, 18 medium, 1 hard.
| Raw-material, in-process and finished-product quality control | 6 | |
| Non-destructive quality evaluation and online inspection | 6 | |
| Concepts of quality and quality systems | 4 | |
| Total quality management tools | 4 | |
| Statistical process control: control charts for variables and attributes | 3 | |
| Process capability indices | 2 | |
| ISO 9001 quality management system | 1 | |
| Acceptance sampling and operating characteristic curves | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which definition of quality is associated with Joseph Juran?
C. Fitness for use
Juran defined quality as fitness for use. Conformance to requirements and zero defects are Crosby's ideas; price is not a definition of quality.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
Who introduced control charts and the distinction between common-cause and special-cause variation?
A. Walter Shewhart
Shewhart developed control charts at Bell Laboratories in the 1920s. Juran described the quality trilogy, Taguchi robust design and the loss function, and Crosby zero defects.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
What does Juran's quality trilogy consist of?
D. Quality planning, quality control and quality improvement
Juran's trilogy is planning, control and improvement. Prevention-appraisal-failure is the cost model; plan-do-check(-act) is the PDCA cycle; inspection, testing and audit are activities, not the trilogy.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
Which quality tool ranks defect causes in descending order of frequency to show the vital few?
A. Pareto chart
A Pareto chart orders categories by size with a cumulative line, showing which few account for most of the problem. Scatter diagrams show relationships, histograms distributions and check sheets collect counts.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
What does a scatter diagram of oven temperature against biscuit moisture show?
D. Whether the two variables appear related
A scatter diagram plots pairs of values to reveal a possible relationship; it does not prove cause. Distribution needs a histogram, ranking a Pareto chart and control a control chart.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
Which clause of ISO 9001:2015 contains internal audit and management review?
B. Clause 9, performance evaluation
Clause 9 covers monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation, internal audit and management review. Clause 10 covers nonconformity, corrective action and continual improvement.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
An X̄-R chart for fill weight uses subgroups of 5, with grand mean 500.0 g and mean range 4.0 g (A₂ = 0.577). What are the X̄ chart control limits?
D. 497.7 to 502.3 g
Limits = X̄̄ ± A₂R̄ = 500.0 ± 0.577 × 4.0 = 500.0 ± 2.31, i.e. 497.7 to 502.3 g. 488 to 512 uses ±3R̄; 496 to 504 uses ±R̄; 498.8 to 501.2 uses ±0.3R̄.
Further reading: Montgomery, Introduction to Statistical Quality Control; ISO 2859-1
A filler must keep the mean at least 3σ above a 500 g minimum. If σ falls from 2.0 g to 1.0 g, by how much can the target be lowered?
B. 3 g
Target = 500 + 3σ: 506 g at σ = 2.0, 503 g at σ = 1.0, a saving of 3 g per pack. 1 g is the change in σ; 6 g is the old safety margin; 2 g is the old σ.
Further reading: Montgomery, Introduction to Statistical Quality Control; ISO 2859-1
What does a certificate of analysis from a supplier provide?
D. The supplier's test results for a specific lot
A CoA reports results for a lot against the specification; receiving plants verify CoAs periodically by their own testing. It is not a guarantee, an accreditation or a standard.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
How is NIR spectroscopy used for online measurement of moisture and fat?
B. Through chemometric calibrations
NIR absorbance at many wavelengths is related to composition through calibrations (for example partial least squares) built against reference analyses; calibrations must be validated and maintained. It is not a drying or microscopy method.
Further reading: Juran's Quality Handbook; ISO 9001:2015
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