✓ TradeExamPro

TradeExamPro › Safety › Food safety manager and handler

Pathogens allergens practice questions

33 questions from the food safety manager and handler practice test.

Pathogens allergens practice test

10 questions, graded as you go, with the reason for every answer. No sign-up.

What this covers

Sample questions

Which of the following is one of the six highly infectious pathogens (the 'Big 6') that the FDA Food Code singles out for employee health reporting?

  1. Listeria monocytogenes
  2. Clostridium botulinum
  3. Bacillus cereus
  4. Norovirus
Show the answer

D. Norovirus

The Big 6 are Norovirus, hepatitis A virus, Shigella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Salmonella Typhi and nontyphoidal Salmonella. Listeria is a serious pathogen, but it is controlled mainly through date marking and cold holding rather than through the employee illness rules.

Reference: FDA Food Code 2022, 2-201.11

Which statement about foodborne viruses such as Norovirus is correct?

  1. They multiply quickly in food held at room temperature
  2. They do not grow in food but can be carried on it
  3. They are destroyed whenever food is frozen solid
  4. They are spread mainly by rodents and cockroaches
Show the answer

B. They do not grow in food but can be carried on it

Viruses need a living host to reproduce, so they do not grow in food; food and surfaces simply carry them from one person to another, usually from unwashed hands. Because they do not grow, temperature control alone will not stop them, which is why hygiene and excluding sick workers matter most.

Reference: FDA Food Code 2022, Annex 3, 2-201 (employee health)

Several guests become ill with vomiting and diarrhea about a day and a half after eating salads assembled by a worker who had been sick at home the night before. Which pathogen is the most likely cause?

  1. Clostridium botulinum
  2. Anisakis simplex
  3. Bacillus cereus
  4. Norovirus
Show the answer

D. Norovirus

Norovirus is very contagious, is shed by ill food workers, and is typically linked to ready-to-eat food touched by an infected person, with symptoms starting roughly 12 to 48 hours later. Bacillus cereus is tied to cooked rice and other starchy foods held at the wrong temperature, not to an ill worker handling salad.

Reference: FDA Food Code 2022, Annex 3, 2-201; CDC Norovirus guidance

Other topics