GATE XE official syllabus guide

GATE XE syllabus 2027

In GATE 2027 the Engineering Sciences paper pairs a compulsory Engineering Mathematics section with any two optional sections, and Food Technology is one of those options as XE6. A food technologist sitting XE therefore prepares mathematics alongside food science, rather than the chemistry required in XL.

Exam pattern and marking

• General Aptitude — 15 marks, compulsory
• XE0 Engineering Mathematics — 15 marks, compulsory
• Any two optional sections (XE1 to XE9), chosen during the exam — 35 marks each
• 100 marks over 65 questions (10 GA + 55 subject), 180 minutes, computer-based
• MCQ: 1/3 mark deducted on a 1-mark question, 2/3 on a 2-mark question; no negative marking for MSQ or NAT, and no partial marks in MSQ

Food Technology syllabus

XE6.1 Food Chemistry and Nutrition

• Carbohydrates — mono-, oligo- and polysaccharides, starch, cellulose, pectic substances, dietary fibre, starch gelatinisation and retrogradation
• Proteins — classification, structure, denaturation and functional properties; lipids — classification, rancidity, polymerisation, polymorphism
• Pigments — carotenoids, chlorophylls, anthocyanins, tannins, myoglobin, curcumin, betalains; flavour compounds
• Enzymes — specificity, kinetics and inhibition, coenzymes, enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning, food enzymology
• Nutrition — balanced diet, essential amino and fatty acids, PER, vitamins, minerals, anti-nutrients, nutraceuticals, deficiency diseases, food supplements, nutrigenomics
• Food adulterants and their detection; chemical and biochemical changes in food biopolymers during processing

XE6.2 Food Microbiology

• Bacteria, yeast, mould and actinomycetes — morphology, spores, Gram staining, resistant bacteria
• Growth and death kinetics, D-, Z- and F-values, serial dilution
• Spoilage of milk, fish, meat, egg and cereal products
• Pathogens and toxins — Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia, Bacillus, Clostridium, Aspergillus; foodborne disease
• Fermented foods and beverages (curd, yoghurt, cheese, sauerkraut, idli, soy sauce, vinegar, alcoholic beverages, sausage); probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics

XE6.3 Food Products Technology

• Processing principles — blanching, pasteurisation, sterilisation, chilling, freezing, dehydration, additives, microwave, radio-frequency and infrared heating, irradiation, fermentation, hurdle technology, IMF
• Non-thermal technologies — ultrasonication, HPP, pulsed electric field, cold plasma
• Packaging and storage — materials, aseptic, active and intelligent packaging, CA/MA storage, microplastics in food
• Cereals and pulses — rice, wheat and maize milling, parboiling, bread, biscuits, extruded and breakfast cereals; meat analogues and plant-based milks
• Oil expelling, solvent extraction, refining, hydrogenation; fruit and vegetable products (juices, jam, jelly, squash, ketchup, chips, pickles)
• Tea, coffee, cocoa, spices, essential oils and oleoresins; milk products; fish, meat and poultry processing, curing and smoking
• Waste utilisation (pectin, rice-milling by-products, edible films); FPO, PFA, AGMARK, HACCP, CIP, FSSAI, BIS, Codex, ISO, FSMS

XE6.4 Food Engineering

• Mass and energy balance
• Momentum transfer — flow rate and pressure drop for Newtonian fluids in pipes, Reynolds number
• Heat transfer — conduction, convection, radiation, heat exchangers
• Mass transfer — Fick's law, convective mass transfer, permeability of single and multilayer films
• Mechanical operations — size reduction, high-pressure homogenisation, filtration, centrifugation, settling, sieving, mixing
• Thermal operations — blanching, pasteurisation, sterilisation, evaporation, hot-air, spray and freeze drying, freezing, crystallisation; psychrometry, humidification and dehumidification

XE0 Engineering Mathematics (compulsory)

• Linear algebra — matrices, rank, linear systems, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, Cayley-Hamilton theorem
• Calculus — single and two-variable functions, maxima and minima, Lagrange multipliers, integrals, sequences and series
• Vector calculus — gradient, divergence, curl, line integrals, Green's theorem; complex variables — analytic functions, Cauchy-Riemann equations
• Ordinary and partial differential equations — first- and second-order ODEs, Cauchy-Euler, variation of parameters, heat, wave and Laplace equations, separation of variables
• Probability and statistics — Bayes' theorem, binomial, Poisson and normal distributions, correlation and regression
• Numerical methods — LU and Gauss elimination, interpolation, bisection and Newton-Raphson, trapezoidal and Simpson's rules, Euler's method

Source: GATE 2027 XE6 Food Technology syllabus (IIT Madras) ↗. Source: GATE 2027 XE combined syllabus (incl. XE0) ↗. Source: GATE 2027 question paper pattern ↗. Checked 2026-09-26. The examining authority's current document remains definitive and should be verified before planning examination preparation.

Section weight by year

Section marks are calculated from each available GATE XE paper. The table records how marks were distributed in each year represented on this site.

Counted from the question banks on this server. Where our reproduction of a paper is short of the official total — figure-dependent questions we cannot carry — the exam page says so against that paper.

Changes in examination pattern

These changes are derived from comparisons of consecutive papers for the same post and do not represent an official announcement.

See every GATE XE mock test on the site — full papers, sectional tests, cut-offs and eligibility.