Cross-Contamination Quiz for the ServSafe Food Handler Exam

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

1. Cross-contamination is best described as:

   • Allergen protein transferring from one food to another
   • Pathogens transferring from one surface or food to another
   • Food being cooked below its minimum temperature
   • Chemicals spilling onto the floor

   Cross-contamination is the transfer of pathogens (bacteria, viruses) between foods and surfaces. When it's allergen proteins moving instead, that's the related term 'cross-contact'.

2. What is the best way to keep raw chicken from contaminating salad greens?

   • Prep them side by side quickly
   • Use separate, dedicated cutting boards and equipment for each
   • Rinse the shared knife with water between them
   • Prep the greens on the same board first

   Dedicated (often color-coded) boards and equipment for raw meat versus ready-to-eat food is the cleanest defense, nothing shared means nothing to transfer.

3. You just cut raw chicken on a cutting board and now need to slice lettuce. You should:

   • Wipe the board with a dry towel and continue
   • Wash, rinse and sanitize the board (or use a different one)
   • Flip the board over and use the other side
   • Rinse the board with cold water only

   Between raw meat and ready-to-eat food, the board must be washed, rinsed and sanitized, or swapped for a clean, sanitized one. Wiping or a quick rinse leaves pathogens behind.

4. Which TWO practices prevent cross-contamination?

   • Clean and sanitize prep surfaces between different tasks
   • Assign specific equipment to raw meat
   • Rinse knives with water only between foods
   • Store cooked food underneath raw food

   Sanitizing between tasks and dedicating equipment to raw meat both break the transfer chain. A water-only rinse doesn't sanitize, and cooked food must sit above raw, never below.

5. A cook uses the same tongs to handle raw chicken and then the cooked, plated chicken. This is:

   • Fine, because it's the same type of food
   • Cross-contamination and unsafe
   • Fine, if the tongs look clean
   • Fine, if the chicken is fully cooked

   Reusing utensils from raw to cooked food carries pathogens straight onto food that won't be cooked again, a textbook cause of illness. Use clean utensils for cooked food.

6. To reduce risk when prepping raw meat and ready-to-eat food in the same kitchen, you should:

   • Prepare them at the same time to save time
   • Prepare them at different times or in separate areas
   • Prepare ready-to-eat food on the raw-meat board
   • Skip cleaning if you work quickly

   Separating them in time or space, and cleaning and sanitizing in between, keeps raw-meat pathogens away from food that won't get a final cook.

7. Color-coded cutting boards are used to:

   • Match the kitchen's decor
   • Prevent using the same board for different food types
   • Show which board is newest
   • Indicate board size

   Color coding (for example, one color for raw poultry, another for produce) makes it obvious at a glance that raw and ready-to-eat foods never share a board.

8. Between uses, a wiping cloth for food-contact surfaces should be:

   • Kept in an apron pocket
   • Left on the counter
   • Stored submerged in sanitizer solution
   • Rinsed in the mop sink

   Store in-use wiping cloths in a bucket of sanitizer at the correct concentration. A cloth left on the counter or in a pocket just spreads bacteria from surface to surface.