Food Manager Exam Questions & Answers 2026 (11–20)

Question 1

A restaurant serves tableside Caesar dressing made with raw egg yolk. The dish is not identified as containing a raw or undercooked animal product on the menu. Under FDA Food Code, this operation is:

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

Required to include a consumer advisory disclosing the presence of raw or undercooked eggs. FDA Food Code Section 3-603.11 requires a consumer advisory — both a disclosure and a reminder — whenever a menu item contains raw or undercooked animal products (including eggs), because acid ingredients such as lemon juice do not reliably eliminate Salmonella.

Question 2

A guest with a wheat allergy orders gluten-free pasta. The cook uses dedicated gluten-free pasta but boils it in water previously used for regular semolina pasta. This error is an example of:

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

Allergen cross-contact through shared cooking water. Boiling gluten-free pasta in water that previously cooked wheat-containing pasta transfers wheat allergen proteins to the dish; this is allergen cross-contact and requires dedicated separate cooking water to prevent harm to guests with wheat allergy.

Question 3

A food handler who has been vomiting since the previous evening reports to work and claims to feel better. What is the correct action under FDA Food Code?

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

Exclude the employee from the operation until at least 24 hours after symptoms resolve. FDA Food Code requires food handlers with vomiting to be excluded and to remain symptom-free for at least 24 hours before returning, because vomiting can indicate highly contagious viral illness such as norovirus that may still be shed after symptoms appear to improve.

Question 4

A restaurant prepares a 'house-made' canned tomato sauce in large batches and stores it in sealed jars at room temperature. Weeks later, diners develop descending flaccid paralysis. The most likely explanation is:

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

Improper home-style canning created an anaerobic low-acid environment enabling Clostridium botulinum spore germination and toxin production. Improper canning without pressure processing leaves an anaerobic, low-acid environment in which Clostridium botulinum spores can germinate and produce botulinum neurotoxin; descending flaccid paralysis is the hallmark presentation, and pressure canning is the required control to destroy spores in low-acid foods.

Question 5

Which of the following physical contaminants found in prepared food requires a formal corrective action investigation because it represents a process control failure rather than a naturally occurring material?

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

A hard plastic shard from a broken cutting board found in a prepared salad. Hard plastic from broken equipment is an extraneous foreign material of artificial origin posing clear injury risk; unlike naturally occurring bone or plant matter, equipment-derived plastic represents a HACCP process control failure requiring investigation and corrective action under FDA food safety regulations.

Question 6

A food worker pulls a pot of chicken soup off the stove at 4:00 PM. The soup measures 141°F. The worker places it in a shallow pan in the walk-in cooler. At 6:00 PM the soup reads 68°F. By what time must it reach 41°F?

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

10:00 PM. The FDA Food Code requires TCS food to cool from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then from 70°F to 41°F within the next 4 hours — so phase two must complete by 10:00 PM (6:00 PM + 4 hours).

Question 7

A cook is preparing a beef roast stuffed with a bread-and-sausage mixture. Which minimum internal temperature applies to this product?

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

165°F for 15 seconds, because the stuffing turns it into a combination product. FDA Food Code requires stuffed meats and stuffing containing meat to reach 165°F for 15 seconds, because the stuffing can harbor pathogens at the same level of risk as poultry.

Question 8

Which of the following foods is NOT classified as a TCS (Time/Temperature Control for Safety) food?

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

Dry crackers. Dry crackers have low water activity and low moisture content, placing them outside the TCS category; cooked rice, cut melons, and tofu all support pathogen growth and are TCS foods.

Question 9

Leftover cooked chili is removed from the refrigerator and placed on the steam table for lunch service. The chili must be reheated to what minimum temperature before it is placed in hot-holding equipment?

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

165°F. FDA Food Code requires previously cooked and cooled TCS food that is reheated for hot holding to reach an internal temperature of 165°F for 15 seconds within 2 hours.

Question 10

A chef partially cooks chicken breasts to 120°F and immediately places them in the refrigerator to finish cooking later. Under FDA Food Code, this practice is:

TheoryPractice · Accepted Answer

Only acceptable with a written HACCP plan approved by the regulatory authority. FDA Food Code permits a 'cook-cool-reheat' or interrupted cooking process only when the operation has a documented procedure approved by the regulatory authority that ensures the food will not support pathogen growth during the interval.

Food Manager Exam Questions & Answers 2026 (11–20)

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