š„ Wanna Pass the Food Safety Exam? Read This First.
Letās cut through the noise:
Most people donāt fail food safety exams because theyāre lazy.
They fail because they studied the wrong material, or they memorized answers without understanding the underlying concepts.
So hereās your no-BS guide to whatās shown up on recent exams. The things that matter. The things that could be the difference between passing and having to retake this thing on your next day off.
Letās go š
𧤠PPE for Bodily Fluids
Cleaning up vomit, blood, or any other bodily fluids? Thatās a glove-up moment.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is required, not suggested. Think gloves, apron, face shield if needed. Itās a public health risk, and the exam wants you to treat it that way.
ā±ļø Time as a Public Health Control
Hereās what they love asking:
Hot or cold food can be held without temperature control for up to 4 hours.
Cold food can only go up to 6 hours, but only if it never exceeds 70°F.
If it goes over that temp? Toss it. No āit felt cold to meā logic allowed.
š„ Bread & Linen Reuse
Serving bread in a basket? Once the guest leaves, that bread is trash.
And so is the linen.
No flipping it over, no brushing off crumbsānew bread = new linen. This is about preventing cross-contamination.
š§¼ Mop Storage 101
Where do mops go? Hanging to air dry.
Why? Because if you leave it sitting in the bucket, it becomes a swampy bacteria sponge. Gross.
š± Cross-Connection = Contamination
This is how dirty water sneaks into your clean water lines. You need backflow prevention devices to keep potable water safe. Easy to miss, but critical to understand.
š§ Staff Training (Do It Often)
A one-time training isnāt enough.
You need scheduled sessions to reinforce the basicsācleaning procedures, sanitizer use, temp checks, and food allergy handling.
Repetition = retention. Especially in busy kitchens.
š Retail Labels
If you're selling packaged food, your labels must list all ingredients in descending order by weight. That means the thing there's most of goes first. Not by guess. Not in alphabetical order.
š¤ Allergy ā Fever
Fever is not an allergic reaction symptom.
Hives, swelling, breathing issues? Yes.
Fever? Nope. Thatās more of an infection thing.
š Ciguatera Toxin = Barracuda
Exotic-sounding fish like barracuda are associated with ciguatera toxin, especially in warm waters.
Donāt serve it. Donāt guess.
š Coving
Itās the curved edge where the floor meets the wall. It makes cleaning easier and prevents grime from building up in hard corners.
š§½ Sanitizer Contact Time
All sanitizersāiodine, chlorine, quatsāneed 30 seconds of contact time to be effective. Wiping it off too soon means youāre just spreading germs around.
š„ Heat Sanitizing
If youāre using a 3-compartment sink, the final rinse for heat sanitizing must hit 180°F minimum. No shortcuts.
āļø Equipment Setup
Equipment thatās hard to move (like a big slicer or heavy mixer)? It needs to sit at least 4 inches above the tabletop so you can clean under and around it.
š Model Food Code = FDA
The FDA writes the Model Food Codeāthe gold standard for food safety regulations. Local agencies adopt it and adapt it, but the source is federal.
š Food Defense
Not food safetyāfood defense.
This means protecting the food supply chain from intentional harm: tampering, sabotage, threats. Itās about systems, not just sanitizer.
šÆ Final Thoughts
This list isnāt fluff. Itās whatās actually been showing up. Study it. Review it with your team. Tape it to the walk-in if you have to.
Because passing the exam means youāre not just certifiedāyouāre confident.
And that matters way more than a score.
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