Hygiene and Sanitation
Hygiene and Sanitation tests personal cleanliness, safe food handling, cleaning and sanitising, and temperature control. The exam asks you to explain what you do and why it prevents illness.
Core rules
- Handwash: wet hands, soap, scrub palms, backs, between fingers, thumbs, nails and wrists for at least 20 seconds, rinse, dry with a clean towel or paper towel.
- Personal: short clean nails, no jewellery, hair tied, clean apron, no coughing or tasting with fingers, report cuts and illness.
- Cross-contamination: separate colour-coded boards for raw meat and ready-to-eat foods; never place cooked food on a plate that held raw chicken.
- Temperature: keep food out of the 5–60°C danger zone. Refrigerator at 5°C or below, freezer at -18°C or below, reheat to at least 74°C, hold hot food at 60°C or above.
- Cleaning removes food and grease; sanitising reduces germs. Use the contact time on the sanitiser label and air-dry.
- Dishwashing: scrape, wash in hot soapy water, rinse, sanitise, air-dry. Cover bins, use FIFO stock rotation, keep pests out.
Worked example
You cut raw chicken, then make a salad. Reasoning: chicken juices carry bacteria such as Salmonella; a quick rinse of the board is not enough. Use a separate salad board, or wash and sanitise the board, then wash hands before touching salad.
Traps
Washing raw chicken, which splashes bacteria; tasting with the cooking spoon and returning it; wiping hands on the apron; storing raw meat above cooked food; refreezing thawed food; using a sanitiser without contact time.