ServSafe Food Handler Practice Test 3: Holding, Cooling & Cleaning

Questions, answers (marked ✓) and explanations are below. For the interactive version, enable JavaScript.

1. A pot of soup just came off the stove at 135°F. Under the two-stage cooling rule, it must cool to 70°F (21°C) within:

   • 1 hour
   • 2 hours
   • 4 hours
   • 6 hours

   Stage one: 135°F down to 70°F within 2 hours. Stage two: from 70°F down to 41°F or below, for a total cooling time of no more than 6 hours. Miss stage one and the food must be reheated to 165°F or thrown out.

2. What is the single most effective way for food handlers to stop the spread of norovirus?

   • Wiping counters with sanitizer more often
   • Washing hands thoroughly, especially after using the restroom
   • Cooking all food to 135°F
   • Wearing a hair restraint

   Norovirus spreads mainly from unwashed hands after restroom use, and just a few viral particles can infect someone. Hand sanitizer alone doesn't kill it well, soap, scrubbing and running water do.

3. What is the minimum internal cooking temperature for a whole-muscle beef steak served seared?

   • 135°F (57°C)
   • 145°F (63°C)
   • 155°F (68°C)
   • 165°F (74°C)

   Whole cuts of beef, pork, veal and lamb, and seafood and shell eggs for immediate service, cook to 145°F (63°C). Bacteria live on the surface of whole cuts, so searing the outside makes them safer at a lower internal temp than ground meat.

4. A catering line is holding hot pasta without any temperature control, using time as a public health control. The pasta must be served or discarded within:

   • 2 hours
   • 4 hours
   • 6 hours
   • 8 hours

   Hot TCS food held without temperature control has a hard 4-hour window, then everything left must be thrown out. (Cold food gets up to 6 hours, as long as it never goes above 70°F.)

5. What is the typical correct concentration for a chlorine sanitizer solution used on food-contact surfaces?

   • 5-10 ppm
   • 50-100 ppm
   • 500 ppm
   • 1,000 ppm

   Chlorine sanitizer generally works at 50-100 ppm with the right water temperature and contact time, verified with a test strip, not by eye. Too weak doesn't sanitize; too strong contaminates food and isn't safer.

6. Which TWO of these situations require a hand wash before continuing to work with food?

   • You just checked messages on your phone
   • You just took a garbage bag out to the dumpster
   • You just put on a fresh pair of gloves
   • You just refilled a guest's water glass by the handle

   Phones and garbage are heavily contaminated, both require a hand wash before touching food again. (Hands are washed before putting gloves on, not after; carrying a glass by the handle isn't a contamination event.)

7. Using the ice-point method to check a probe thermometer, the thermometer should read:

   • 0°F (−18°C)
   • 32°F (0°C)
   • 41°F (5°C)
   • 50°F (10°C)

   A probe in a mix of crushed ice and water should read 32°F (0°C), the freezing point. If it doesn't, recalibrate or replace it; every temperature decision in the kitchen depends on that thermometer being right.

8. A guest with a peanut allergy orders fries. The fries are cooked in the same fryer oil used for a peanut-breaded appetizer. The fries are:

   • Safe, because the oil gets very hot
   • A cross-contact risk and should not be served to that guest
   • Safe if no breading is visible in the oil
   • Safe if scooped from the top of the basket

   Heat does not destroy allergen proteins. Shared fryer oil transfers allergens directly into other food, classic cross-contact. The guest needs food cooked in dedicated oil with clean equipment.

9. A food handler has been diagnosed with norovirus. What must happen?

   • They can work if they wear gloves at all times
   • They must be excluded from working in the operation
   • They can work, but only washing dishes
   • They can work front-of-house seating guests

   A diagnosis with norovirus (or hepatitis A, Shigella, Salmonella Typhi or E. coli infection) means exclusion from the entire operation, not reassignment, until cleared under local regulatory requirements.

10. Before sanitizing a prep counter, what must you do first?

    • Spray extra sanitizer to compensate
    • Scrape, wash and rinse the surface
    • Dry the surface with a cloth towel
    • Nothing, sanitizing and cleaning are the same step

    Cleaning comes before sanitizing: scrape debris, wash with detergent, rinse, then sanitize and air-dry. Sanitizer can't do its job on a dirty surface, it gets used up by the grime instead of the germs.