CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL FOOD SAFETY CPFS
UPDATED COMPREHENSIVE EXAM QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Correct Order (Top to Bottom) for storage of items in a refrigerator - ✔✔- Ready to
Eat
- Items to cook to 145F
- Items to cook to 155F
- Items to cook to 165F
✔✔Final rinse pressure on a warewash machine - ✔✔Not less than 5 psi or more than
30 psi
✔✔Difference between cleaning and sanitizing - ✔✔- Cleaning removes visible dirt
- Sanitizing decreases bacteria to a safe level (99.999% reduction, or 5 log kill)
✔✔Foods recommended to use pasteurized eggs, especially with high risk populations -
✔✔Caesar salad, hollandaise or bearnaise sauce, mayonnaise, meringue, eggnog, ice
cream, and egg fortified beverages that are not cooked.
✔✔Staphylococcus aureus or staphylococcal food poisoning - ✔✔Pre-cooked, ready-to-
eat foods that have been recontaminated by food employees
,- Foods that require considerable food preparation and handling
- 50 - 70% of people carry this on their skin, in upper respiratory tract, or in cuts/lesions
- Enterotoxin: toxin that damages intestines
- Symptoms: nausea, vomiting and retching, adbominal cramping, prostration, and
diarrhea
- Rapid onset (hours), duration 2-3 days
- Bacterial intoxication
✔✔Foodborne disease or foodborne illness - ✔✔An illness or disease that is carried or
transmitted to people by food.
✔✔"Big Six" foodborne pathogens - ✔✔1. Hepatitus A Virus
2. Escherichia coli o157:H7
3. Salmonella typhi
4. Shigella spp
5. Norovirus
6. Nontyphoidal Salmonella
✔✔Symptoms of an allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock) - ✔✔Swelling of face, eyes,
hands, or feet. Tightening in the throat. Wheezing or shortness of breath. Hives and
itching in and around mouth, face or scalp. Gastrointestinal symptoms. Loss of
consciousness and death.
✔✔PSP symptoms (Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning) - ✔✔tingling, burning, numbness,
drowsiness, incoherent speech, and respiratory paralysis.
✔✔DSP (Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning) - ✔✔Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and
abdominal pain accompanied by chills, headache and fever.
✔✔NSP: Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning - ✔✔Tingling and numbness in lips, tongue and
throat. Muscular aches, dizziness, reversal of the sensations of hot and cold, diarrhea,
and vomiting.
✔✔ASP: Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning - ✔✔Vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and
confusion, memory loss, disorientation, seizure, coma.
✔✔Shellfish toxins - ✔✔PSP - Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
DSP - Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning
NSP - Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning
ASP - Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning
Comes from algae consumed by the shellfish. Rapid onset- as little as 30 minutes.
✔✔Reportable symptoms - ✔✔Diarrhea, vomiting, jaundice, sore throat with fever,
certain lesions and wounds.
, ✔✔Gastroenteritis - ✔✔"Upset Stomach", traditional stomach/intestinal symptoms,
including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Most common foodborne
illness.
✔✔FATTOM - ✔✔Food, Acidity, Temperature, Time, Oxygen, Moisture
✔✔Tapeworms: Taenia solium (Pork) and Taenia saginata (beef) - ✔✔Parasite
✔✔Rotavirus - ✔✔- Virus
- Acute gastroenteritis: vomiting, watery diarrhea, low-grade fever
- Best prevention is good personal hygiene
- Incubation period of 1-3 days.
✔✔Bacillus cereus - ✔✔- Bacterial toxin or TMI
- Commonly associated with rice or other starchy foods
- Vomiting (emetic) illness type
- Improper hot holding allows toxin to form
- Sporeformer
✔✔Campylobacter jejuni - ✔✔- Onset time 2-5 days and illness last 7-10 days
- Leading cause of bacterial diarrhea in the U.S.
- Microaerophilic: 3-5% Oxygen
- Commonly associated with chicken, also associated with raw milk
✔✔Clostridium botulinum - ✔✔- Associated with improperly canned foods- especially
home canned, vacuumed packed refrigerated foods, garlic or onions stored in oil, baked
potatoes.
- Anaerobic, spore forming, intoxication
- Symptoms go "top down", start with blurry vision, then trouble swallowing and
speaking, then difficulty breathing
- Onset in 18-36 hours
✔✔Giardia Lamblia or giardiasis or intestinalis - ✔✔- Parasite
- The most common non-bacterial form of diarrhea in North America
- Contaminated water
- Associated with day care centers - especially where diapering is done
- Last 1-2 weeks
✔✔Entamoeba histolytica or amebiasis - ✔✔- Parasite
- Transmitted by fecal contamination of drinking water and ingestion of cyst or by direct
contact with dirty hands
- Illness ranges from no symptoms to dysentery and may last for years
✔✔Cryptosporidium parvum or cryptosporidiosis - ✔✔- Parasite
- Often associated with water supplies, public swimming pools and play fountains
UPDATED COMPREHENSIVE EXAM QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Correct Order (Top to Bottom) for storage of items in a refrigerator - ✔✔- Ready to
Eat
- Items to cook to 145F
- Items to cook to 155F
- Items to cook to 165F
✔✔Final rinse pressure on a warewash machine - ✔✔Not less than 5 psi or more than
30 psi
✔✔Difference between cleaning and sanitizing - ✔✔- Cleaning removes visible dirt
- Sanitizing decreases bacteria to a safe level (99.999% reduction, or 5 log kill)
✔✔Foods recommended to use pasteurized eggs, especially with high risk populations -
✔✔Caesar salad, hollandaise or bearnaise sauce, mayonnaise, meringue, eggnog, ice
cream, and egg fortified beverages that are not cooked.
✔✔Staphylococcus aureus or staphylococcal food poisoning - ✔✔Pre-cooked, ready-to-
eat foods that have been recontaminated by food employees
,- Foods that require considerable food preparation and handling
- 50 - 70% of people carry this on their skin, in upper respiratory tract, or in cuts/lesions
- Enterotoxin: toxin that damages intestines
- Symptoms: nausea, vomiting and retching, adbominal cramping, prostration, and
diarrhea
- Rapid onset (hours), duration 2-3 days
- Bacterial intoxication
✔✔Foodborne disease or foodborne illness - ✔✔An illness or disease that is carried or
transmitted to people by food.
✔✔"Big Six" foodborne pathogens - ✔✔1. Hepatitus A Virus
2. Escherichia coli o157:H7
3. Salmonella typhi
4. Shigella spp
5. Norovirus
6. Nontyphoidal Salmonella
✔✔Symptoms of an allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock) - ✔✔Swelling of face, eyes,
hands, or feet. Tightening in the throat. Wheezing or shortness of breath. Hives and
itching in and around mouth, face or scalp. Gastrointestinal symptoms. Loss of
consciousness and death.
✔✔PSP symptoms (Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning) - ✔✔tingling, burning, numbness,
drowsiness, incoherent speech, and respiratory paralysis.
✔✔DSP (Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning) - ✔✔Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and
abdominal pain accompanied by chills, headache and fever.
✔✔NSP: Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning - ✔✔Tingling and numbness in lips, tongue and
throat. Muscular aches, dizziness, reversal of the sensations of hot and cold, diarrhea,
and vomiting.
✔✔ASP: Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning - ✔✔Vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and
confusion, memory loss, disorientation, seizure, coma.
✔✔Shellfish toxins - ✔✔PSP - Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
DSP - Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning
NSP - Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning
ASP - Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning
Comes from algae consumed by the shellfish. Rapid onset- as little as 30 minutes.
✔✔Reportable symptoms - ✔✔Diarrhea, vomiting, jaundice, sore throat with fever,
certain lesions and wounds.
, ✔✔Gastroenteritis - ✔✔"Upset Stomach", traditional stomach/intestinal symptoms,
including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Most common foodborne
illness.
✔✔FATTOM - ✔✔Food, Acidity, Temperature, Time, Oxygen, Moisture
✔✔Tapeworms: Taenia solium (Pork) and Taenia saginata (beef) - ✔✔Parasite
✔✔Rotavirus - ✔✔- Virus
- Acute gastroenteritis: vomiting, watery diarrhea, low-grade fever
- Best prevention is good personal hygiene
- Incubation period of 1-3 days.
✔✔Bacillus cereus - ✔✔- Bacterial toxin or TMI
- Commonly associated with rice or other starchy foods
- Vomiting (emetic) illness type
- Improper hot holding allows toxin to form
- Sporeformer
✔✔Campylobacter jejuni - ✔✔- Onset time 2-5 days and illness last 7-10 days
- Leading cause of bacterial diarrhea in the U.S.
- Microaerophilic: 3-5% Oxygen
- Commonly associated with chicken, also associated with raw milk
✔✔Clostridium botulinum - ✔✔- Associated with improperly canned foods- especially
home canned, vacuumed packed refrigerated foods, garlic or onions stored in oil, baked
potatoes.
- Anaerobic, spore forming, intoxication
- Symptoms go "top down", start with blurry vision, then trouble swallowing and
speaking, then difficulty breathing
- Onset in 18-36 hours
✔✔Giardia Lamblia or giardiasis or intestinalis - ✔✔- Parasite
- The most common non-bacterial form of diarrhea in North America
- Contaminated water
- Associated with day care centers - especially where diapering is done
- Last 1-2 weeks
✔✔Entamoeba histolytica or amebiasis - ✔✔- Parasite
- Transmitted by fecal contamination of drinking water and ingestion of cyst or by direct
contact with dirty hands
- Illness ranges from no symptoms to dysentery and may last for years
✔✔Cryptosporidium parvum or cryptosporidiosis - ✔✔- Parasite
- Often associated with water supplies, public swimming pools and play fountains
