UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam 2014 Syllabus, Pattern, Papers & Books

In this blog post you would get the entire study materials for UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam - From Syllabus to Exam Pattern, Papers & Books

This article is made on the eve of UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam 2014 and with a focus to provide you the prep/study materials for this exam. It at first discusses about the pattern and than goes on to provide you the Syllabus, Sample Papers and Prep Books for  UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam. You should know that such kind of exam is held not only for Food Safety And Drug Administration Dept.. of U.P., but also many other organisations/state governments like Chatisgarh, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India etc.

Hence if you prepare for once for this exam, you can appear in other such Food Safety Officer Exams too. But before going further, let me tell you that prep materials available on the net is rare - almost non-existent and hence I would point out to similar level competitive exams (which requires same age & qualification) for instance General Studies paper for Civil Services Aptitude Test.

This blog post follows an earlier article titled: UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam 2014 Notification, Form & Eligibility, which introduces you to the exam and tells you how to apply for it. If you have not applied, that article should help you.

Before going on to prepare for the same, I would point you to this booklet by P. Karthikeyan, which tells you what are the Functions, Duties And Responsibility Of Food Safety Officers i.e. the job role, with which you can understand what may be expected of you, if you are selected in this exam. May be many questions of Interview in UPPSC Food Safety Officer exam would be based on it.

UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam Pattern/Format:

The selection process for  the Food Safety Officers consists if a 400 mark written test, followed by Interview of 50 marks. The written test consists of two papers - General Studies (150 marks) & Main Subject (250 marks) . With this, the plan of exam/format with question/mark distribution and duration is as below:

As given in the notification, the Interview questions would be centred on general interest keeping in view of general awareness, intelligence, character, personality, expression power and general suitability for the service.

UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam 2014 Syllabus:
The Syllabus for the FSO Exam, as given in the notification is reproduced below:

Syllabus for Paper-I General Studies : 

The paper of General Studies will include questions on the following topics:- 

1. General Science  

2. Current Events of National and International Importance 

3. History of India

4. Indian National Movement

5. Indian Polity and Economy

6. World Geography and Population.

Question on General Science will cover general appreciation and understanding of Science, including matters of everyday observation and experience, as may be expected of a well educated person who has not made a special study of any scientific discipline. 

In History of India emphasis should be on broad understanding of economic, Social, Cultural and Political aspects of Indian History. 

In Indian National Movement, the candidates are expected to have a synoptic view of the nature and character of the Indian freedom movement, growth of nationalism and attainment of Independence. 

In Indian Polity and Economy questions will test knowledge of the candidate pertaining to Indian Polity including the Indian Constitution, Panchayati Raj and community Development, broad features of Indian economy and planning. 

In World geography and population, only General  understanding of the subject will be expected with emphasis on physical/ecological, economic and socio-demographic aspects of Geography of India. 

Candidates are expected to have general awareness about the above topics with special reference to Uttar Pradesh.

Syllabus for Paper-II Main Subject:
The paper of main subject will include questions on the following topics:-

Chemical constituents of foods: Desirable and Potentially undesirable food constituents and their importance. Water, Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, Vitamins, Minerals: Classes, Nomenclature, structure and their chemistry.

Enzymes: Nomenclature, Classification and specificity of enzymes, enzyme Kinetics, enzymes and their role in modification of foods. Single cell protein (SCP). Metabolic Pathways: Carbohydrates, proteins and fats, catabolism and anabolism, Digestion and absorption, Assimilation and Transport of nutrients in human beings.

General characteristics of microorganism: Classification, morphology, physiology, growth, nutrition and reproduction; Pure culture techniques and maintenance of cultures, control of microorganism. Sources of contamination. Microbiological standards of foods. Food poisoning and food borne infections, Food toxins, food plant sanitation, inspection and control, personnel hygiene, beneficial microorganisms and their utilization in food fermentation.

Balance diet, Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), Dietary utilization and disturbances, Functions and energy values of foods, Basal energy metabolism: BV, NPU, BMR, PER calculations, Protein quality as reference protein. Dietary allowances and standards for different age groups, Techniques for assessment of human nutritional status, Causes and preventions of malnutrition. Biochemical, clinical manifestation & preventive measures due to vitamins deficiency. Diseases caused due to food adulteration.

Basic knowledge of major Indian crops, their total production, losses in storage, storage of perishable and non-perishable foods, Storage requirements: Storage environment and its interaction with stored product; temperature and moisture migration. Storage practices (including fumigation and aeration of stored product). Storage structures for Perishable and non perishables: bulk storage structures (bins and silos) Modified and Controlled atmosphere storage systems. Technology of fruits and vegetable products: Juices, pulp, Puree, Paste, Ketchup, Sauce, soup, concentrates and powders, Squashes and cordials. Beverage: Still and carbonated. James, Jellies and Marmalades. Preserves, candies and crystallized fruits. Processing of oilseeds Pretreatments of oilseeds, oil milling, solvent extraction, impurities present in oils and fats. Vegetable oil refining, hydrogenation, enter esterification, processing of de-oiled cake into protein products, textured protein. Peanut butter, Margarine and Spread. Different quality parameters: Peroxide value, Saponification value, Iodine value, acid value, RM value, Polanski value, Adulteration and its detection in oils and fats. Rancidity, auto oxidation and anti-oxidants

Fluid Milk: Physico-chemical properties, Production and collection, cooling and transportation of milk. Clarification and filtration of milk, pasteurized and homogenized milk.: Whole, Standardized, Toned, Double toned, skim and special milks, Test for milk quality and detection of dairy adulterant. Milk products: cream, butter, Butter oil/Ghee, Cheeses, Curd and Yoghurt, Sweet meat, Ice cream. Evaporated and Condensed milk, milk powders. Indian Dairy Products, Manufacture of casein, and Lactose. Causes and prevention of defects in dairy products.

Scientific slaughtering, Tendering and curing of meat, Beef Mutton, Pork Sausages and other meat products. Fish and poultry processing. Physical, Chemical Nutritional and Functional characteristics of Egg. Processing of Egg and egg products.

Principle underlying spoilage and preservation of foods: Low and high temperature, drying and dehydration, chemical, salt and sugar, Radiation, HHP, hurdle technology, Parboiling and Milling of paddy, Quality characteristics, Curing and aging of rice, Processed rice products. Wheat milling into flour and semolina, Flour grades and their suitability for baking purposes, Flour quality, Macaroni products, Baked products: Bread, Biscuits and cakes, Breakfast cereals. Dry and Wet milling of corn, Starches and its conversion products, Malting of barely, beer, wine, cider, vinegar, Milling of legume-pulses. Spices: Composition, Structure and characteristics. Preservation and processing of spices, Processing of Tea and coffee, cocoa processing, chocolate and confectionary products. Concept of food packaging, polymeric, glass, metal packaging materials, Aseptic Packaging. Newer trends, Package printing, Packaging Laws and Regulations, Evaluation of food packaging materials and package performance.

Quality Control/Quality Assurance, Legislation for food safety: National and International criteria, sampling, records, risk analysis and management. Microbial contamination, Nutritional imbalance. Pesticide residues, permitted food additives. Relevant Foods laws: PFA, FPO, SWMA, MPO, AgMark, and BIS Standards. Food Safety and Standard Act (FSSA). Testing food for its safety. The HACCP system and food Safety management systems used in Controlling microbiological hazards. Food standards and Specifications, NABL and ISO certification requirements.

UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam Papers:

I had searched on the net for previous years exam papers of UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam but as I aid in the beginning of the article, the exam papers are non-existent. I could not locate any paper. However, as said, you can refer to Paper-I of CSAT General Studies, which has the same syllabus as UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam, as given below:

- History of India

- Indian National Movement

- Indian and World Geography

- Indian Polity and Governance

- Economic and Social Development

- Environmental Ecology, Bio-Diversity and Climate Change

- General Science

- General Knowledge

- Current Events

The bold test sections are identical in these two exams. Therefore, you can use the following paper as a starting point to study for UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam:
CSAT 2013 General Studies Paper-I.
There are scores of such free downloadable papers in UPSC website.

Prep Books for UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam:

I had searched on the net for books exclusive to UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam. But although I could not find such book, I feel following two books should be enough to prepare for this exam. 

While the first book should help you prepare for Paper-I, the second book on Food Science and Nutrition should be a guiding book for Paper-II (Main Subject) of Food Safety Officer Exam, as it contains the sections on Food Microbiology and Food Laws and Standards.

General Studies for Civil Services Preliminary Examination Paper - 1 (2014) by MHE, Publisher: TMH.

Cover Price: Rs. 1295;  Offer Price: Rs. 917; Discount: Rs. 378( 29%)

Food Science and Nutrition; Author: Sunetra Roday; Publisher: Oxford University Press
Cover Price: Rs. 375;  Offer Price: Rs. 281; Discount: Rs. 94 (25%)

Flipkart offers these books with a heavy discount (more than 25%) and that too with free home delivery. You can buy these books with Net banking/Credit Card as well as in Cash-On-Delivery mode.

Thats it for now. I would be on the look out for more sample papers and books for the UPPSC Food Safety Officer Exam and post the same here as and when I can find them. So keep visiting! Best Wishes!