Preventing Cross-Contamination Flashcards
7 cards from real SERVSAFE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Preventing Cross-Contamination flashcards as text
A food handler finishes slicing raw chicken and immediately begins chopping lettuce on the same cutting board without washing it. This is an example of:
Answer: Cross-contamination
Using the same cutting board for raw poultry and ready-to-eat produce without cleaning and sanitizing in between is a classic example of cross-contamination.
Which of the following is the correct order for washing, rinsing, and sanitizing a cutting board?
Answer: Wash, rinse, sanitize
The correct three-compartment sink procedure is wash, rinse, then sanitize to ensure all pathogens are eliminated.
Raw ground beef is stored on a shelf directly above sliced deli meats in a walk-in cooler. What is the primary food safety concern?
Answer: Juices from the beef can drip onto and contaminate the deli meats
Raw meat stored above ready-to-eat foods creates a risk that raw juices will drip down and contaminate the ready-to-eat items.
A sushi chef uses color-coded cutting boards — red for raw meat and yellow for raw poultry. What additional board color should be used for ready-to-eat foods like vegetables?
Answer: Green
In the standard ServSafe color-coding system, green cutting boards are designated for produce and ready-to-eat foods.
Which practice BEST prevents cross-contamination when handling allergen-containing foods?
Answer: Using dedicated equipment and utensils that are not shared with allergen-containing foods
Dedicated, separate equipment prevents allergen proteins from transferring to allergen-free dishes.
A server carries a stack of clean plates but places their thumb inside one plate while handling them. This action could cause:
Answer: Biological cross-contamination from the server's hand to the plate surface
Touching food-contact surfaces (inside of plates) with bare hands can transfer bacteria from the handler's skin to the plate.
During a busy dinner service, a cook tastes soup with a spoon and places it back on the pot handle for later use. What food safety rule is being violated?
Answer: Prevention of cross-contamination via utensils
Reusing a tasting spoon without washing and sanitizing it introduces mouth bacteria back into the food, causing cross-contamination.