3.5 (6)
Master's degree in Food Safety & Quality Assurance / Food Safety & Quality Management / Dairy Microbiology / Dairy Chemistry / Food Science & Technology / Food Technology.
The examination consisting of 120 questions to be attempted in a duration of 2 hrs (120 minutes) will have three parts:
Part A-20 items pertaining to general knowledge in agriculture and allied sciences / reasoning ability + Part B-50 items from core group containing the specialized subject for Ph.D. + Part C-50 items from the specialized subject for Ph.D.
37 FOOD SAFETY & QUALITY ASSURANCE
Unit 1: Basic Concepts of Food Safety and Quality Assurance
Definition and Terminology; Current changes in global food safety standards and their harmonization; HACCP concept, principle and application in food industry; General Principles, Fundamentals and Standards requirements of QMS (ISO: 9000:2000); TQM tools and techniques; Biosafety concept, principles and safety levels; EMS/Laboratory Management System-ISO: 17025; NABL Accreditation of Food Laboratory; Statistical Quality Control.
Unit 2: Concept of Risk Analysis
Microbiological risk profile of pathogen/toxins, ICMSF Risk Ranking of Dairy Products; Risk Management Issues and Control Strategies for dairy products; Food infection, intoxication and toxi-infection; Growth /survival of pathogens, their pathology of illness, mode of transmission, virulence and infectivity.
Unit 3: General Principles of Food Law
Integrated Food Law and its harmonization; Standards, Specifications and guidelines; 2 and 3 class sampling plan; FSSAI Microbiological criteria for different foods including dairy products; Conventional / rapid detection methods/commercial kits for hygiene and safety indicators; Bio-sensors and their current application in food safety evaluation.
Unit 4: Food Microbiology
Classification of food related microorganisms, Sources of contamination, Types of food spoilages of raw and processed fruits, vegetables, meat and fish and milk products, preservative principle, microbial defects and their control measures, Role of different Bacteria in food fermentation; Clean milk production and antimicrobial systems in raw milk; Microbiological aspects of bactofugation, thermization, pasteurization, sterilization, boiling, UHT, non-thermal processes and membrane filtration techniques; Microbiological quality of cream and butter, ice cream, evaporated and condensed milk, dried milks, infant dairy foods, heat desiccated, acid coagulated, fermented and frozen products.
Unit 5: Chemistry of Milk and Milk Products
Definition, composition and level of various constituents of milk; Physical properties of milk; Chemistry of major milk constituents- carbohydrates; proteins, enzymes, lipids, vitamins and salts; Effect of various processing variables on the constituents of milk; Chemistry of milk products; Composition and legal standards of milk and milk products; Reaction kinetics; Role of enzymes as a biological catalysts; Water activity and its role on shelf-life of milk products; Chemistry of oxygen in relation to auto-oxidation of milk fat, thermal oxidation; Emulsions, foams, gels- their formation, structure and stability; Functional properties of major food ingredients- starch, proteins and lipids; Hydrocolloids and interactions with proteins; legal requirements for food colorants.
Unit 6: Research Techniques
Principles, theory and applications of spectroscopy - visible, infrared and ultraviolet; Chromatography - thin layer, gas liquid, high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), gel filtration, ion exchange and affinity; Electrophoresis (PAGE, SDS-PAGE); iso-electric focusing, ultra-centrifugation, potentiometry - pH meter and ion selective electrodes.
