Food safety quiz for restaurant employees: 20 questions with an answer key
Training a new hire on food safety usually means walking them through the kitchen and saying the important parts out loud. A week later, ask them the hot-holding temperature and you'll find out what stuck. A short written quiz turns "I told them" into "they know it," and the questions they miss tell you what to re-teach.
This quiz has 20 questions on what every food employee needs on day one, an answer key with the FDA Food Code 2026 section behind every answer, and a plan for running it.
This quiz checks your own training. It isn't a food handler course or a food manager certification, and it doesn't replace what your state requires; see food manager and food handler training in Florida for one state's rules, and check your health department's. Your state may enforce an older edition of the Food Code, so check any number your inspector reads differently.
Why a quiz, and what it should cover
The Food Code puts training on the person in charge: they make sure "EMPLOYEES are properly trained in FOOD safety, including FOOD allergy awareness, as it relates to their assigned duties" (§2-103.11(O)). It also asks that food employees are told, "in a verifiable manner", about their duty to report illness (§2-103.11(P)). A signed quiz is a simple way to show both.
The questions below stick to rules that apply in almost every café and restaurant. Add two or three of your own at the end: your sanitizer's pass range, where the handwashing sink is at each station, who the person in charge is on each shift.
The quiz
Print it, or copy it into your training system. Circle one answer for each question.
[Café / restaurant name] — Food safety quiz
Name: ………………………… Position: ………………… Date: ……………
Handwashing and hands
1. How long should the whole handwashing process take, at least?
a) 5 seconds · b) 10 seconds · c) 20 seconds · d) 1 minute
2. Where may you wash your hands?
a) The three-compartment sink · b) The prep sink · c) The mop sink · d) Only a handwashing sink
3. Which of these is not a time you must wash your hands?
a) After using the restroom · b) Before putting on gloves to work with food · c) Between switching from raw chicken to slicing tomatoes · d) Before you sit down for your break
4. You're making a sandwich that won't be cooked. What do you use to handle the bread, meat and lettuce?
a) Clean bare hands · b) Gloves, tongs, deli tissue or another utensil · c) Bare hands, as long as you washed them · d) A wiping cloth
5. When do you change single-use gloves?
a) Once a shift · b) When they're torn or dirty, when you switch tasks, and after an interruption · c) Only when they rip · d) Every hour
Being sick at work
6. Which of these symptoms do you report to the person in charge before you work?
a) Vomiting · b) Diarrhea · c) Yellow skin or eyes (jaundice) · d) All of these
7. True or false: if a doctor tells you that you have norovirus, hepatitis A, Shigella, Salmonella, shiga toxin-producing E. coli or typhoid fever, you report it to the person in charge, even if you feel fine.
True · False
8. Where may you eat or drink during your shift?
a) Anywhere in the kitchen · b) Only in the designated area, or from a closed drink container handled so it doesn't contaminate hands or food · c) At the prep table if you're careful · d) Nowhere
Temperatures
9. Cold food like sliced deli meat, cut tomatoes and cooked rice must be kept at:
a) 45°F or colder · b) 41°F or colder · c) 50°F or colder · d) 32°F or colder
10. Hot food on the line or in a hot-holding cabinet must be kept at:
a) 120°F or hotter · b) 130°F or hotter · c) 135°F or hotter · d) 165°F or hotter
11. Raw chicken must be cooked until all of it reaches:
a) 145°F · b) 155°F · c) 160°F · d) 165°F
12. A burger made from ground beef must be cooked until all of it reaches at least:
a) 135°F for 15 seconds · b) 145°F for 15 seconds · c) 155°F for 17 seconds · d) 165°F
13. Leftover soup that was cooked, cooled and is now being reheated to hold hot must reach:
a) 135°F · b) 145°F · c) 155°F · d) 165°F for 15 seconds
14. Cooling cooked food: from 135°F it must get down to 70°F within ……, and to 41°F within a total of …….
a) 1 hour / 4 hours · b) 2 hours / 6 hours · c) 4 hours / 8 hours · d) 6 hours / 12 hours
15. Which is not a safe way to cool a big pot of chili?
a) Splitting it into shallow pans · b) Stirring it in an ice-water bath · c) Leaving the full stockpot covered on the counter overnight · d) Using a blast chiller
16. Which is a safe way to thaw frozen chicken?
a) On the counter at room temperature · b) In the walk-in cooler · c) In a sink of warm, still water · d) Next to the oven
Labels, allergens and chemicals
17. You prepare chicken salad on Monday and keep it at 41°F or colder. Counting Monday as Day 1, what's the last day it can be used?
a) Wednesday · b) Friday · c) Sunday · d) The next Monday
18. Which of these is not one of the nine major food allergens?
a) Sesame · b) Soy · c) Corn · d) Shellfish
19. Between uses, a wet wiping cloth for counters is kept:
a) Over your shoulder · b) On the counter · c) In a bucket of sanitizer solution at the right strength · d) In your apron pocket
20. Where do you store a spray bottle of cleaner?
a) On the shelf above the prep table · b) Next to the flour · c) Away from food, and never above food, equipment or single-use items · d) Anywhere, as long as it's labeled
Our own rules (add yours)
21. Our sanitizer's pass range is: ………………………… 22. The person in charge on this shift is: …………………………
Score: …… / 20 · Passed: Y / N · Reviewed with: ………………………… Date: ……………
The answer key
# | Answer | Why | Food Code 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | c | Hands and exposed arms are cleaned "for at least 20 seconds", with 10 to 15 seconds of scrubbing in the middle. | §2-301.12(A), (B)(3) |
2 | d | Hands are washed in a handwashing sink, not in a sink used for food prep or warewashing, or the mop sink. | §2-301.15 |
3 | d | The others are on the list: after the toilet room (B), before donning gloves for a food task (H), and when switching between raw food and ready-to-eat food (G). Going on a break isn't, but coming back is: wash after eating or drinking (D) and before you touch food again. | §2-301.14 |
4 | b | Food employees "may not contact exposed, READY-TO-EAT FOOD with their bare hands" and use utensils such as deli tissue, spatulas, tongs, single-use gloves or dispensing equipment. | §3-301.11(B) |
5 | b | Single-use gloves are used for one task and discarded when damaged or soiled, or when interruptions occur. | §3-304.15(A), (C) |
6 | d | Vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever and an infected, draining wound are the reportable symptoms. | §2-201.11(A)(1) |
7 | True | A diagnosis of any of those six illnesses is reported. | §2-201.11(A)(2) |
8 | b | Eating and drinking only in designated areas; a closed beverage container is allowed if it's handled to prevent contamination. | §2-401.11 |
9 | b | Cold holding at 41°F or less. | §3-501.16(A)(2) |
10 | c | Hot holding at 135°F or above (some roasts may be held at 130°F). | §3-501.16(A)(1) |
11 | d | Poultry to 165°F (instantaneous). | §3-401.11(A)(3) |
12 | c | Ground (comminuted) meat to 155°F for 17 seconds, or one of the time and temperature options in that section. | §3-401.11(A)(2) |
13 | d | Cooked, cooled food reheated for hot holding reaches at least 165°F for 15 seconds. | §3-403.11(A) |
14 | b | "Within two hours from 57ºC (135ºF) to 21ºC (70ºF)" and "Within a total of six hours" to 41°F or less. | §3-501.14(A) |
15 | c | Approved methods include shallow pans, smaller portions, rapid cooling equipment and an ice-water bath, among others. | §3-501.15(A) |
16 | b | Thawing under refrigeration that keeps food at 41°F or less is one of the approved methods; running water at 70°F or below, or as part of cooking, are others. | §3-501.13 |
17 | c | Ready-to-eat food held at 41°F or less is used within seven days, "The day of preparation shall be counted as Day 1." Monday to Sunday is seven days. | §3-501.17(A) |
18 | c | The major food allergens are milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame. | Chapter 1, "Major food allergen" |
19 | c | Wet wiping cloths are held between uses in a sanitizer solution at the right concentration. | §3-304.14(B) |
20 | c | Chemicals are separated from food, equipment and single-use items, and not stored above them. | §7-201.11 |
Running it
- Teach first. Run the quiz at the end of a new hire's first or second shift, after the orientation checklist and the station walk-through.
- Set a pass mark. Pick one, for example [16] out of 20, and always require the handwashing, illness and temperature questions to be right.
- Go over every wrong answer the same day, at the station where it matters: the thermometer at the hot-holding well, the date label on the chicken salad.
- Retake the questions they missed after a shift or two, until they pass.
- Keep the sheet with their training records, signed by the trainer.
- Repeat it for everyone every [6 months], and when you change a recipe, a sanitizer or a procedure.
If the whole team misses the same question, the problem is the training, not the team. Our handwashing procedure, thawing guide, illness reporting form and sanitizer bucket procedure are good places to start re-teaching.
Your quiz checklist
- [ ] Quiz printed or entered in your training system
- [ ] Your own house questions added
- [ ] Pass mark set, with must-pass questions
- [ ] Run for every new hire within their first shifts
- [ ] Wrong answers reviewed the same day, at the station
- [ ] Signed sheets kept with training records
- [ ] Repeated for the team on a schedule
Where Mays fits
- The quiz in the app. In Learning → Modules on the web, create a module and use Add question to type each question as Multiple choice or True / False, choose the correct answer and add an Explanation (shown to learner after answer) — the "Why" column above works well. Set the Passing score (%) (80 to start with). See Creating training modules.
- Or draft it from your own text. Put your food safety SOPs in the Knowledge Base and click Generate from docs: the AI writes questions only from your text and shows the sentence each one came from, and you review them before publishing.
- A certificate when they pass. Tick Compliance-critical (issues a PDF certificate on pass) when you create the module. See Training certificates.
- Everyone who should take it. Assign the module to a location, role or department, with an optional due date, and new hires in that role get it too. Who's taken it shows each person's attempts, best score and every answer. See Assigning training.
- Reminders on shift. Pop quizzes send at most one question a day from an unfinished module to people on a published shift. See Snap quizzes.
Learning is part of the Pro plan and is switched on by the Mays team, and only admins create and assign modules. Mays doesn't send reminders before a due date or flag a late module, so check Who's taken it yourself. A Mays module is your own training, not a state-approved food handler course; keep outside certificates on the person's Certificates tab (see Food safety certificates).
Twenty questions, then the station
A quiz doesn't make anyone safe on its own. What it does is show you, in ten minutes, whether the new barista knows the cold-holding number and where to wash their hands. Ask the questions, fix the wrong answers at the station, and ask again.
Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up your first training module with you.