A prep cook finishes cutting raw chicken and is about to start chopping lettuce for salads. What must the cook do first?
a.Change to a clean apron, since a fresh apron blocks any transfer from the raw chicken
b.Spray the hands with a chlorine sanitizer solution, which kills Salmonella without a wash
c.Wash hands, because hands must be washed after handling raw meat and before working with other food
d.Rinse the hands under warm running water alone, since no soil is visible on them
Explanation
Hands must be washed after handling raw meat, poultry, or fish and before switching to ready-to-eat foods, to prevent cross-contamination with pathogens like Salmonella. Changing to a clean apron is good practice but does nothing about the hands that touched the chicken. A chlorine sanitizer spray is not approved in place of a wash and cannot cut through the soil that shields pathogens, and warm water alone removes neither: hands that carry Salmonella often show no visible soil. Only soap, warm water, and 20 seconds of scrubbing do the job.
Law Reference: FDA Food Code §2-301.14Practice all 500 questions free — no signup required.
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