This Participant Handbook is designed to enable training for the specific Qualification Pack (QP). Each National Occupational (NOS) is covered across Unit/s. Key Learning Objectives for the specific NOS mark the beginning of the Unit/s for that NOS. The symbols used in this book are described below. This reference book has been developed for use by participants of the skill development course for a Food Microbiologist being implemented by FICSI through its affiliated training service providers. The contents of this book are completely aligned to the Qualification Pack for the role of a Food Microbiologist NSQF level 6 and have been divided into Units corresponding to each NOS (National Occupational Standard). The contents of the book have been developed by NIFTEM (National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Kundli with support of MOFPI, Government of India).  
Food microbiologist have a major role in execution the food safety systems like Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Hygienic Practices (GHP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), a comprehensive and science-based alternative for controlling food safety hazards.  The microbiologists in R&D units are responsible for screening the cultures for better yields, manipulating the cultures using state-of-art molecular biological techniques, working on product economics, formulation of new products etc.