ServSafe Food Handler Practice Test 6: Cooking Temperatures & HACCP

Questions, answers (marked ✓) and explanations are below. For the interactive version, enable JavaScript.

1. What is the minimum internal cooking temperature for a stuffed pork chop?

   • 135°F (57°C)
   • 145°F (63°C)
   • 155°F (68°C)
   • 165°F (74°C)

   Stuffed meats, stuffed poultry, stuffing and dishes that combine raw and cooked TCS ingredients all cook to 165°F (74°C), the stuffing insulates the center, so the whole dish needs the highest temp.

2. What is the minimum internal cooking temperature for a fresh salmon fillet cooked to order?

   • 135°F (57°C)
   • 145°F (63°C)
   • 155°F (68°C)
   • 165°F (74°C)

   Seafood, whole cuts of beef/pork, and shell eggs for immediate service cook to 145°F (63°C). Fish is done, and safe, well below poultry's 165°F.

3. A pan of scrambled eggs will be held on a hot buffet line. It must be cooked to at least:

   • 135°F (57°C)
   • 145°F (63°C)
   • 155°F (68°C)
   • 165°F (74°C)

   Eggs cooked for immediate service go to 145°F, but eggs that will be held for service, like buffet scrambled eggs, must reach 155°F (68°C).

4. When checking food temperature with a probe thermometer, where do you insert the stem?

   • Just under the surface
   • Into the thickest part or center of the food
   • Near the edge of the pan
   • Touching the bottom of the pan

   Read the thickest part, usually the center, and keep the stem off the pan, whose metal reads hotter or colder than the food and gives a false number.

5. To calibrate a thermometer using the boiling-point method (at sea level), it should read:

   • 180°F (82°C)
   • 200°F (93°C)
   • 212°F (100°C)
   • 220°F (104°C)

   Water boils at 212°F (100°C) at sea level, so a correctly calibrated thermometer reads 212°F in boiling water. (The ice-point method should read 32°F.)

6. In HACCP, a 'critical control point' is:

   • Any step where food is handled
   • A step where a hazard can be prevented, eliminated or reduced to a safe level
   • The busiest station in the kitchen
   • The point where food is plated

   A critical control point (CCP) is a step, like cooking or cooling, where you can actually control a hazard. Cooking chicken to 165°F is a classic CCP.

7. Setting chicken's minimum cooking temperature at 165°F is an example of a HACCP:

   • Corrective action
   • Critical limit
   • Record
   • Monitoring device

   A critical limit is the measurable boundary that must be met at a control point, here, 165°F. Checking it is 'monitoring'; fixing an out-of-limit result is 'corrective action'.

8. What is the best way to prevent contaminated water from flowing back into the drinking-water supply?

   • A garbage disposal
   • An air gap
   • A grease trap
   • A floor drain

   An air gap, a physical space between a faucet or drain line and the flood rim of a sink, is the most reliable backflow prevention, because there's no connection for dirty water to travel back through.

9. Handwashing sinks may be used for:

   • Handwashing only
   • Rinsing produce
   • Filling mop buckets
   • Thawing food

   A designated handwashing sink is for washing hands and nothing else, using it to rinse food or fill buckets defeats its purpose and contaminates it.

10. Which TWO practices help control pests in an operation?

    • Keep exterior doors closed and screens in good repair
    • Store garbage in clean, covered containers away from the building
    • Leave a little food out to keep pests in one area
    • Spray pesticide over the prep tables yourself

    Deny pests entry, food and shelter: tight doors and screens, and sealed garbage kept away from the building. Pesticides are applied only by a licensed pest control operator, never over prep areas.