ServSafe Certification Food Handling 3

Question 1

A manager discovers that chicken salad has been sitting at room temperature (68°F) for 5 hours. What should they do?

Accepted Answer

Discard it

Answer

TCS food left in the danger zone for more than 4 hours must be discarded because it is no longer safe.

Question 2

Which of the following is an example of physical contamination of food?

Accepted Answer

A staple from a food bag falling into soup

Answer

Physical contamination occurs when a foreign object, such as a metal staple, enters food.

Question 3

What is the correct order for washing dishes manually in a three-compartment sink?

Accepted Answer

Wash → Rinse → Sanitize → Air-dry

Answer

The correct sequence is wash in detergent, rinse away detergent, sanitize, then air-dry — never towel-dry.

Question 4

A food handler uses bare hands to plate ready-to-eat sandwiches because they have no cuts or sores. This practice is:

Accepted Answer

Unacceptable — ready-to-eat food must not be touched with bare hands

Answer

ServSafe prohibits bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods to prevent pathogen transfer, regardless of hand condition.

Question 5

Cooked rice must be cooled from 135°F to 70°F within how many hours?

Accepted Answer

2 hours

Answer

ServSafe requires hot TCS food to pass through 135°F→70°F within 2 hours as the first stage of the two-stage cooling process.

ServSafe Practice Test