U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Can Your Kitchen
Pass the Food Safety Test?


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What comes to mind when you think of a clean kitchen? Shiny waxed floors? Gleaming stainless steel sinks? Spotless counters and neatly arranged cupboards? They can help, but a truly "clean" kitchen--that is, one that ensures safe food--relies on more than just looks: It also depends on safe food practices. In the home, food safety concerns revolve around three main functions: food storage, food handling, and cooking. To see how well you're doing in each, take this quiz, and then read on to learn how you can make the meals and snacks from your kitchen the safest possible.

 

Take Our Food Safety Quiz

Choose the answer that best describes the practice in your household, whether or not you are the primary food handler.

1. The temperature of the refrigerator in my home is:

a. 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius)

b. 41 F (5 C)

c. I don't know; I've never measured it.

2. The last time we had leftover cooked stew or other food with meat, chicken or fish, the food was:

a. cooled to room temperature, then put in the refrigerator

b. put in the refrigerator immediately after the food was served

c. left at room temperature overnight or longer

3. The last time the kitchen sink drain, disposal and connecting pipe in my home were sanitized was:

a. last night

b. several weeks ago

c. can't remember

4. If a cutting board is used in my home to cut raw meat, poultry or fish and it is going to be used to chop another food, the board is:

a. reused as is

b. wiped with a damp cloth

c. washed with soap and hot water and sanitized with a mild chlorine bleach solution

5. The last time we had hamburgers in my home, I ate mine:

a. rare

b. medium

c. well-done

6. The last time there was cookie dough in my home, the dough was:

a. made with raw eggs, and I sampled some of it

b. store-bought, and I sampled some of it

c. not sampled until baked

7. I clean my kitchen counters and other surfaces that come in contact with food with:

a. water

b. hot water and soap

c. hot water and soap, then bleach solution

d. hot water and soap, then commercial sanitizing product

8. When dishes are washed in my home, they are:

a. cleaned by an automatic dishwasher and then air-dried

b. left to soak in the sink for several hours and then washed with soap in the same water

c. washed right away with hot water and soap in the sink and then air-dried

d. washed right away with hot water and soap in the sink and immediately towel-dried

9. The last time I handled raw meat, poultry or fish, I cleaned my hands afterwards by:

a. wiping them on a towel

b. rinsing them under hot, cold or warm tap water

c. washing with soap and warm water

10. Meat, poultry and fish products are defrosted in my home:

a. on the counter

b. in the refrigerator

c. in the microwaving

Your Score is:

Rating Your Home's Food Practices

20 points: Feel confident about the safety of foods served in your home.

12 to 19 points: Reexamine food safety practices in your home. Some key rules are being violated.

11 points or below: Take steps immediately to correct food handling, storage and cooking techniques used in your home. Current practices are putting you and other members of your household in danger of food-borne illness.

Go to the Answers Page


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Web page created by zwr 2001-JUNE-11.