Pathogens
What are the four main groups of pathogens that can contaminate food?
Bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi.
What does the F in FAT TOM stand for?
Food
What is the temperature danger zone?
41°F–135°F.
A cook cuts raw chicken and then uses the same cutting board to chop lettuce without cleaning and sanitizing it. What happened?
Cross-contamination.
What is a toxin?
A poisonous substance produced by an organism or found naturally in certain foods.
Name three of the Big Six pathogens.
Any three: Norovirus; Hepatitis A; Shigella spp.; Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC); Salmonella Typhi;
Nontyphoidal Salmonella.
What does A stand for?
Acidity
Why is the temperature danger zone dangerous?
Bacteria can grow rapidly in this temperature range.
A food handler uses the restroom and does not wash their hands before preparing food. What type of contamination is possible?
Fecal-oral contamination/transmission.
Why can some bacterial toxins remain dangerous even after cooking?
Some toxins are heat-stable, meaning normal cooking may not destroy them.
Which type of pathogen needs a living host to multiply?
Viruses.
Name all six parts of FAT TOM.
Food, Acidity, Temperature, Time, Oxygen, Moisture.
A pot of soup is left at room temperature for several hours. What two FAT TOM factors are helping bacteria grow?
Time and Temperature.
Several customers become sick after eating food prepared by a worker who did not wash their hands after using the restroom. What is one likely route of transmission?
The fecal-oral route.
Name one virus that can cause foodborne illness.
Norovirus or Hepatitis A.
What is a parasite?
An organism that lives in or on another organism and gets nutrients from it.
Which two FAT TOM factors are especially important when food is left sitting out for several hours?
Time and Temperature
True or False: Putting food in the refrigerator stops all bacteria from growing.
False. Refrigeration slows bacterial growth but does not necessarily stop it completely.
A chef stores raw chicken above ready-to-eat vegetables in the refrigerator. What is the problem?
Raw chicken could drip onto and contaminate the ready-to-eat food.
Name one parasite that can cause foodborne illness.
Examples include Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, or Trichinella.
— A customer eats contaminated food and becomes sick. The illness is caused by an organism that can multiply in food under the right conditions. What type of pathogen is most likely responsible?
Bacteria.
A restaurant wants to slow bacterial growth by keeping food properly refrigerated. Which FAT TOM factor are they controlling?
Temperature
You discover potentially hazardous food has been sitting in the temperature danger zone for too long. What is the safest action?
Discard the unsafe food according to food-safety procedures.
You are the food-safety inspector. A worker handles raw meat, touches a refrigerator handle, and then prepares a sandwich without washing their hands. Name two food-safety problems.
Possible answers: failure to wash hands; cross-contamination; contaminating equipment/surfaces; potential contamination of ready-to-eat food.
A person becomes sick after eating an unsafe wild mushroom. What should be done with mushrooms that cannot be confidently identified as safe?
Do not eat them. Discard them.