Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Cooking Safely?

Cooking is fun and it’s a life skill that allows you to create great meals and make your family and friends happy with the food you cook. But cooking safely is very important.

Are you a food safety whizz? Do you know how long you should wash your hands for? Or why you should wash your hands?

Find out how good your safe cooking IQ really is with our simple quiz, once you have had a go get your friends to take a look and see who gets the most points. Good Luck!

1. When thawing frozen meat to cook later in the day should you put it:

a)In the refrigerator overnight
b)In the oven on low
c)On a kitchen table in the sunshine
d)In the microwave on ‘defrost’

2. You should wash your hands after touching raw meat because...

a) Your hands feel sticky
b) You will make a mess if you don't
c) Your hands are smelly
d) You could transfer harmful bacteria onto other things

3. How long should you wash your hands for after touching raw meat or before cooking?

a)10 seconds
b)15 seconds
c)20 seconds
d)30 seconds

4. Before you eat or cook fruit or vegetables you should....

a) Wash them thoroughly
b) Wipe them with a tea towel
c) Nothing
d) Wipe them with some kitchen towel

5. Which of the following can transfer bacteria to food?

a) Cutting boards
b) Tea towels
c) Kitchen sponges
d) All of the above

6. What’s the longest time you can have leftovers sitting at room temperature before you put them in the fridge?

a) 30 minutes
b) 2 hours
c) 6 hours
d) 8 hours

7. After you have finished cooking you must clean everything up because....

a) Mum told you to and if you don't your in trouble!
b) Harmful bacteria can grow on dirty pans and worktops
c) You can't watch telly if you don't
d) Because it look messy

8. Which of the following needs to be kept in the refrigerator?

a) Bread, rice, sugar and flour
b) Cheese, milk, sausages and yoghurt
c) Bananas and apples
d) Cereal, salt and pepper, and tea bags

9. Why should you never put cooked meat on a plate that has had raw meat on?

a) Because it won't taste nice
b) Because harmful bacteria can be transferred to the cooked meat
c) Because it will smell funny
d) Because it will make the cooked meat go a funny colour

10. Why do you need to make sure eggs are cooked properly?

a)Because raw eggs don't taste nice
b)Because cooking the eggs properly kills the bad bacteria salmonella
c)If they are not cooked properly they will smell bad
d)You don't know

Answers

1. The correct answer is A. It’s best to thaw meat in the refrigerator, but if you’ve forgotten to take it out of the freezer in time, you could use answer D – defrosting it in the microwave, as long as your microwave has a proper defrosting system and you don’t leave the meat sitting around at room temperature after it’s been defrosted.

2. Answer D is the right one. You must make sure you wash your hands properly after touching raw meat because if you don't you could transfer harmful bacteria on to cooked foods, worktops, pans or anything that you touch.

3. The right answer is C. Although D would be fine too! Twenty seconds is always longer than people realise and a quick splash under a running tap can do more harm than good, because it gives bacteria a warm, moist environment and that’s what they love best.

4. The right answer is A. Before you eat or cook any fruit or vegetable you must wash them first to remove any bacteria or dirt on them.

5. The correct answer is D – all these tools can spread bacteria to or between foods.

6. The right answer is B. Putting food that’s still warm in the fridge can raise the temperature of the refrigerator, putting other foods at risk, but leaving cooked food at room temperature for more than two hours can cause bacteria to grow, making it unsafe to eat.

7. The right answer is B. That's right, harmful bacteria can grow and multiply on dirty pots and pans and also so worktops. So every time you finish cooking make sure you make everything sparkling clean again. Why not adopt a clean as you go routine while cooking then you don't have to do it at the end.

8. The correct answer is B. Cheese, milk, sausages and yoghurt all need to be kept in the fridge, if they were not in the fridge the bad bacteria could multiply. What other things can you think of that need to be kept in the fridge?

9. The right answer is B. You must never put cooked meat onto a plate that has had raw meat on it. This is because there will harmful bacteria left behind from the raw meat which will then go on to the cooked meat you are about to eat. You must always use separate plates for raw meat and cooked meat.

10. The correct answer is C. Raw eggs contain a harmful bacteria called salmonella, if eggs are not properly cooked it will not kill the salmonella bacteria.

Results

Six or less Perhaps you could get a book on food safety from the library or school and ask a parent to help you work through it? Cooking is fun but it needs to be safe too.

Seven to nine You’re well on your way to being a cooking safely wizard

Ten If you scored full marks then you’re a safe cooking genius!