Food Handlers Card Study Guide: The Danger Zone, Cook Temperatures and Sanitizing

Most foodborne illness is caused by harmful microorganisms (pathogens) such as bacteria and viruses. The food handler's job is to keep these pathogens from growing or spreading. Bacteria need six conditions to grow, remembered by the acronym FAT TOM.[1]

TCS stands for Time/Temperature Control for Safety. TCS foods support rapid bacterial growth and need careful time and temperature control. Examples include milk and dairy, eggs, meat, poultry, fish and shellfish, cooked rice, beans and vegetables, cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes, cut melons, sprouts, and garlic-in-oil mixtures.[1]

• Report these symptoms to your manager before working: vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, a sore throat with fever, and an infected wound that is open or draining.[1]
• A handler with vomiting or diarrhea must be excluded until symptom-free for at least 24 hours, or longer where the local code requires it.[1]
• Poor personal hygiene, especially failing to wash hands, is the most common food handler cause of outbreaks.[1]

Cooking food to its minimum internal temperature for the required time destroys most pathogens. Always check with a clean, calibrated probe thermometer in the thickest part of the food, away from bone. Color and feel are not reliable.[1]

• Reheating for hot holding: heat previously cooked and cooled TCS food to 165 degrees F (74 degrees C) for 15 seconds within 2 hours.[1]
• Safe thawing: in the refrigerator at 41 degrees F or below; under running water at 70 degrees F or below; in the microwave if cooked immediately; or as part of the cooking process. Never thaw at room temperature.[1]
• Discard TCS food after 4 cumulative hours in the danger zone.[1]

Because a food handler can carry pathogens such as Norovirus and Hepatitis A, personal hygiene is the front line of food safety. Handwashing is the single most important habit.[1]

• Wash hands after using the restroom, handling raw meat or poultry, touching your face, hair or body, eating, drinking or smoking, taking out garbage, handling chemicals, and before putting on gloves.[1]
• Do not touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands. Use single-use gloves, tongs, deli paper, or a spatula.[1]
• Wash your hands before putting on gloves, change gloves when they tear or between tasks, and never wash and reuse single-use gloves.[1]
• Cover a wound on the hand or wrist with a clean impermeable bandage plus a single-use glove or finger cot.[1]
• Wear clean clothing, restrain hair, keep fingernails short, clean and unpolished, and remove hand and arm jewelry (a plain ring band may be allowed).[1]

Cross-contamination is the transfer of pathogens or allergens from one food, surface, or person to another. The main controls are separating raw from ready-to-eat food, storing food in the right order, and using cleaned and sanitized equipment for each task.[1]

• After cutting raw meat on a board, wash, rinse and sanitize it before using it for produce, or use a separate (often color-coded) board.[1]
• Removing an allergen from a finished plate does not make it safe, the proteins remain. Prepare allergen orders separately from the start.[1][3]

Cleaning removes visible food, soil and grease from a surface. Sanitizing then reduces the remaining pathogens to safe levels. A surface must be cleaned before it can be sanitized, and food-contact surfaces must be cleaned and sanitized after each use, when you switch tasks, and at least every 4 hours during continuous use.[1]

Store chemicals away from food, utensils and equipment, in clearly labeled containers, and rotate stock using FIFO (First In, First Out): place items with the soonest use-by date in front so the oldest stock is used first.[1]