ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Milk & Meat Hygiene, Food Safety & Public Health: practice questions

1 · Milk-borne zoonoses · medium

A vegetative pathogen has a D-value of 3 s at 72 °C. Milk containing 1,000,000 of these organisms per litre is held at 72 °C for 15 s. How many survivors per litre are expected?

1. 10
2. 0
3. 66,667
4. 20,000

2 · Residues and maximum residue limits · medium

The most sensitive toxicological study of a veterinary drug gives a NOAEL of 5 mg/kg body weight per day. Using an uncertainty factor of 100, what is the ADI and the corresponding daily amount for a 60 kg adult?

1. 50 µg/kg bw per day; 3 mg per day
2. 500 µg/kg bw per day; 30 mg per day
3. 50 µg/kg bw per day; 0.05 mg per day
4. 500 mg/kg bw per day; 30,000 mg per day

3 · Residues and maximum residue limits · hard

Using a model daily diet of 300 g muscle, 100 g liver, 50 g kidney, 50 g fat and 1.5 kg milk, residues are 50, 200, 400, 100 and 20 µg/kg in those foods. The ADI is 2 µg/kg bw per day for a 60 kg person. What share of the ADI does the diet supply?

1. 642%
2. 45%
3. 75%
4. 50%

4 · HACCP · medium

Apply the Codex CCP decision tree. Reception of dry packaging material, hazard: pathogens. Control exists (supplier approval); the step is not designed to eliminate the hazard; contamination is not reasonably likely to reach unacceptable levels. What is the outcome?

1. It is not a critical control point
2. It is a critical control point
3. Modify the step, process or product to introduce a control
4. Stop production until the hazard is removed by final product testing

5 · Milk-borne zoonoses · medium

In an HTST pasteuriser, what happens when the milk temperature at the end of the holding tube falls below the set point?

1. The flow diversion valve sends the milk back to the raw side
2. The regenerator pressure is reversed
3. The holding tube is lengthened automatically to extend the holding time
4. The milk is passed but recorded

6 · Ante-mortem inspection · easy

A bullock is found dead in the lairage with dark unclotted blood oozing from the nostrils and anus. What should be done?

1. Do not open the carcass; notify and arrange safe disposal as suspected anthrax
2. Open the carcass to confirm the diagnosis
3. Slaughter and dress it separately at the end of the day, then send blood for testing
4. Send it for normal post-mortem inspection

7 · Food-borne infections · medium

Why is Taenia solium more dangerous to people than Taenia saginata?

1. T. solium adult worms are much larger
2. T. solium is transmitted by mosquitoes
3. People who swallow T. solium eggs develop cysticercosis, including neurocysticercosis
4. T. solium cysts cannot be killed by cooking or freezing, so all infected pork remains a risk

8 · HACCP · medium

Why must good hygiene practices (prerequisite programmes) be in place before HACCP is applied?

1. HACCP replaces them once implemented
2. Without them HACCP tries to control at a few points what must be controlled everywhere
3. They are only needed for export plants
4. They are the same thing as critical control points, simply described under a different name

9 · Food safety standards and legislation: Codex and national regulators · medium

Which WTO agreement names Codex as the reference for food safety standards?

1. The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
2. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, which covers all food standards
3. The Agreement on Agriculture
4. The TRIPS Agreement

10 · Residues and maximum residue limits · medium

Which method is normally used to confirm a positive residue screening result?

1. A second microbial inhibitor test
2. The California Mastitis Test
3. The alkaline phosphatase test
4. Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry