Lesson 3: Contaminants

Toxins from seafood, mushrooms, and molds present the greatest potential for:

• Physical Contamination

• Biological Contamination

• Chemical Contamination

• Cross-contamination

The contamination that results from the spread of bacteria from meat to vegetables is called:

• Cross

• Transfer

• Chemical

• Physical

Perhaps the most common vehicle of contamination in the food industry is:

• Jewelry, and so should be sterilized weekly.

• Clothing, and so should be dry cleaned often.

• Hands, and so should be washed often.

• Hair, and so should be kept cut short and clean.

Contamination of food items by other living organisms is known as:

• Physical Contamination

• Biological Contamination

• Chemical Contamination

• All of the above

You notice a food handler trim excess fat from a T-bone steak and then move towards a bowl of potatoes to begin peeling them with the same knife. What action should you take?

• Caution the food handler that she must was the potatoes before peeling.

• Direct the food handler to give the steak to the cook immediately.

• Caution the food handler that she must clean and sanitize her knife.

• Direct the food handler to wipe off the preparations surface before continuing.

Because they are living organisms, which one of the following methods would be both effective and safe to help reduce pathogenic contaminants in food?

• Herbicides

• Antibiotics

• Heat

• Pesticides

Checking the dining areas of an eating establishment for evidence of flaking paint, broken light bulbs, and wood damage will reduce the chances of:

• Chemical contamination

• Physical contamination

• Cross-contaminations

• Biological contamination

An employee brings you a bag of oatmeal that he had found black specks. What is the MOST LIKELY cause of those specks?

• The supplier’s bulk bins have not been cleaned, and rust has built up in them.

• Pest have gotten into the bag and left waste secretions in the oatmeal.

• Oatmeal usually has black spots on the flakes, so the cause is natural.

• The bag was left open and dirt and/or dust has settled on the oatmeal.

Although all of the following methods will promote the prevention of food contamination, which one has the most continuous effect?

• Educating employees about clean, responsible, and legal food handling.

• Keeping foods separate.

• Forbidding unauthorized persons from handling food.

• Encouraging the reporting of contamination.

Which one of the following contaminants is a physical contaminant?

• Hair

• Salmonella

• Botulism

• Insecticide