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Every guest at your operation trusts you to keep them safe. A foodborne illness is a disease transmitted to people through food. Your job as a food handler is to understand the hazards and avoid the four unsafe practices that cause most foodborne illness outbreaks.
Bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, and toxins from plants/seafood. The #1 threat to food safety.
Cleaners, sanitizers, pesticides, lubricants, and toxic metals that leach from cookware when used incorrectly.
Foreign objects â hair, glass, staples, bandages â or natural items like fish bones in fillets.
Poor hygiene, cross-contamination, time-temperature abuse, and poor cleaning/sanitizing.
During the lunch rush, a cook cuts raw chicken on a cutting board, then immediately uses the same board â without washing or sanitizing it â to slice cooked sandwiches for the buffet line. By the end of the shift, six guests report symptoms of food poisoning.
Which unsafe practice caused this? Cross-contamination. Raw chicken contains pathogens (like Salmonella) that were transferred to the ready-to-eat sandwiches via the unwashed cutting board. The fix: clean and sanitize all food-contact surfaces between each type of food.
Tell your manager if you have: vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice (yellowing of skin/eyes), or a sore throat with a fever. You could spread pathogens to food and coworkers while sick.
5 steps: Hot water â Soap â Scrub 10â15 sec â Rinse â Dry with paper towel. Use towel to turn off faucet.
Never touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands. Use gloves, tongs, or deli tissue. Single-use only â never rewash or reuse.
Vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, or sore throat with fever â always tell your manager before handling food.
Clean hair covering (hat/hairnet), clean clothes daily, no jewelry except plain band, no nail polish or false nails.
Jasmine has been feeling ill since last night with stomach cramps and diarrhea. She comes in to her morning shift anyway because she doesn't want to miss hours. Her manager doesn't ask about her health. During the shift she makes sandwiches for the lunch rush.
What went wrong â and what should have happened? Jasmine should have reported her symptoms to her manager before starting. Diarrhea is an illness exclusion symptom â she should not be handling food at all. The manager should ask food handlers about their health at the start of each shift, and Jasmine should have stayed home or been sent home immediately.
TCS food (Temperature Control for Safety) allows bacteria to grow if not kept at safe temperatures. Common examples: milk & dairy, poultry, meat (beef, pork, lamb), fish, shellfish, shell eggs, baked potatoes, cooked rice/beans, sliced melons, cut tomatoes, and tofu.
Pathogens grow rapidly in this range. Keep TCS food OUT of the danger zone. If food is at an incorrect temperature, tell your manager â you may need to cook, reheat, or throw it out.
| Food | Temp | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Poultry (whole, ground, duck) | 165°F | <1 second |
| Ground meat (beef, pork, other) | 155°F | 17 seconds |
| Seafood, steaks/chops of pork/beef/veal/lamb | 145°F | 15 seconds |
| Roasts of pork, beef, veal, lamb | 145°F | 4 minutes |
| Fruit, vegetables, grains, beans (for hot holding) | 135°F | Instant |
Pathogens multiply rapidly in this range. Keep TCS food out. Check temps in the thickest part of the food.
All poultry (whole, ground, duck) must reach 165°F for less than 1 second. Highest cook temp required.
Ground beef, pork, and other ground meats. Note: Food Handler standard uses 17 seconds (not 15).
135â70°F in 2 hrs, then 70â41°F in 4 more hrs. Use ice baths, ice paddles, or blast chiller.
After the dinner rush, Marcus puts a full pot of beef chili (still at 135°F) directly into the walk-in cooler without dividing it. The next morning, the center of the pot is still at 80°F â more than 6 hours later.
What went wrong? The chili was never cooled correctly. A large, deep pot holds heat too long. It should have been divided into shallow pans no deeper than 2 inches, placed in an ice water bath, and stirred with an ice paddle to cool quickly. Since it stayed above 41°F for over 6 hours, it must be thrown out â it cannot be safely reheated.
Cross-contamination is the transfer of pathogens from one surface or food to another. It's one of the leading causes of foodborne illness â and it's almost entirely preventable.
Milk ¡ Eggs ¡ Fish ¡ Shellfish ¡ Tree nuts (pecans, walnuts, coconut) ¡ Peanuts ¡ Wheat ¡ Soy. Even a tiny amount can cause a reaction or death. Cross-contact (allergen transfer) is different from cross-contamination â allergens are not destroyed by cooking or sanitizing.
All food and non-food items must be stored at least 6 inches off the floor, away from walls, in designated areas.
Store ready-to-eat food above raw meat. Lowest shelf = poultry (165°F). Highest shelf = RTE food.
Milk, Eggs, Fish, Shellfish, Tree nuts, Peanuts, Wheat, Soy. Cross-contact â cross-contamination. Not destroyed by heat.
Store chemicals away from food. Keep in original containers. Transfer containers must be labeled with chemical's common name.
A customer tells her server she has a peanut allergy. The server places the order but doesn't mark it as an allergen special order. The cook uses the same unwashed pan that was used for a peanut sauce dish. The customer has a severe allergic reaction.
What should have happened? The server should have clearly identified the allergen order. The cook should have washed hands, changed gloves, and used clean/sanitized equipment. The server should have hand-delivered the dish directly. When in doubt, tell your manager â keeping the guest safe is always the priority.
Cleaning removes dirt. Sanitizing reduces pathogens. You must clean before sanitizing â sanitizing a dirty surface doesn't work.
WASH (110°F+ water + soap) â RINSE (clean water) â SANITIZE (correct concentration) â Air dry upside down.
Food-contact surfaces in constant use must be cleaned and sanitized at least every 4 hours â even if they don't look dirty.
Droppings, nests, damage to packaging, or cockroach signs â tell your manager right away. Never ignore pest signs.
During a busy service, a prep cook uses a cutting board to chop raw onions, then garlic, then moves on to slicing cooked chicken without stopping to clean and sanitize. At the end of the shift, she quickly wipes all the boards with a dry towel and calls it done.
What's wrong here? Two problems: (1) Food-contact surfaces must be cleaned and sanitized between different food types â especially before handling ready-to-eat food like cooked chicken. (2) Wiping with a dry towel is not cleaning or sanitizing. The 5-step process must be followed. Towels used for food spills must be stored in sanitizer solution, not used for general wiping.