ACBN Quality Control & Assurance 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal agency is primarily responsible for inspecting meat, poultry, and egg products in the United States?
- FDA
- CDC
- USDA-FSIS (Correct answer)
- EPA
Correct answer: USDA-FSIS
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for ensuring that meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, and properly labeled.
Question 2: A Prerequisite Program (PRP) that addresses the maintenance of equipment, utensils, and other food contact surfaces is known as:
- Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)
- Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
- Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures (SSOP) (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures (SSOP)
Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures (SSOPs) specifically address cleaning and sanitizing of food contact surfaces and equipment.
Question 3: The concept of 'active managerial control' in food safety refers to:
- Managers personally performing all food handling tasks
- A deliberate system of monitoring and oversight to reduce foodborne illness risk factors (Correct answer)
- Hiring certified food safety managers for every shift
- Outsourcing quality control to third-party auditors
Correct answer: A deliberate system of monitoring and oversight to reduce foodborne illness risk factors
Active managerial control involves implementing systems to proactively identify, prevent, and eliminate food safety risk factors within the operation.
Question 4: During a root cause analysis after a foodborne illness outbreak, investigators discover that employees had been cross-contaminating ready-to-eat foods. The MOST appropriate preventive control is:
- Increasing the frequency of health inspections
- Implementing strict color-coded cutting board protocols (Correct answer)
- Raising minimum wage to improve employee morale
- Changing the menu to eliminate high-risk foods
Correct answer: Implementing strict color-coded cutting board protocols
Color-coded cutting boards and utensils are a proven preventive control that physically separates raw and ready-to-eat food preparation to prevent cross-contamination.
Question 5: In quality assurance, the term 'validation' means:
- Checking whether a control measure is working as intended on a daily basis
- Obtaining evidence that a control measure is capable of effectively controlling the hazard (Correct answer)
- Reviewing completed temperature logs at the end of each week
- Ensuring all employees have read the food safety manual
Correct answer: Obtaining evidence that a control measure is capable of effectively controlling the hazard
Validation is the science-based process of confirming that a control measure, if properly implemented, is capable of controlling the identified hazard to an acceptable level.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes a 'biological hazard' in food safety?
- Presence of pesticide residues exceeding legal limits
- Contamination by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi (Correct answer)
- Accidental introduction of glass fragments into food
- Naturally occurring allergens in food ingredients
Correct answer: Contamination by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi
Biological hazards include pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and molds that can cause foodborne illness.
Question 7: A nutritionist reviewing a school lunch program finds that chicken is cooked to 160°F rather than the required 165°F. This represents:
- A deviation from a critical limit requiring immediate corrective action (Correct answer)
- An acceptable practice since 160°F kills most pathogens
- A minor variance that can be documented and ignored
- A preference difference that does not affect food safety
Correct answer: A deviation from a critical limit requiring immediate corrective action
Poultry must reach an internal temperature of 165°F; failing to meet this critical limit is a CCP deviation requiring immediate corrective action such as continued cooking.
ACBN Quality Control & Assurance 3
Which federal agency is primarily responsible for inspecting meat, poultry, and egg products in the United States?