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Food Handler · Crisis Management and Recalls

What is the appropriate response to an imminent health hazard such as a sewage backup, water supply interruption, or fire in the kitchen?

Reviewed by Jordan Morley, Editorial Lead at 247SimpleTests. Written by the 247SimpleTests Editorial Team from the official source material cited on every question.

Correct answer

Cease operations as needed, notify the regulatory authority, and not resume until the hazard is corrected and approval is given

  1. A Continue cooking with bottled water indefinitely without reporting
  2. B Keep operating normally
  3. C Only address it the next day
  4. D Cease operations as needed, notify the regulatory authority, and not resume until the hazard is corrected and approval is given

Why this is the answer

An imminent health hazard — such as a sewage backup, loss of safe water or electrical power, flooding, fire, or similar emergency — requires the establishment to cease affected operations as needed to protect public health, notify the regulatory authority, and not resume until the hazard is corrected and (where required) approval to reopen is obtained. Continuing to operate during such a hazard risks serving contaminated or unsafe food. The manager must know the operation's emergency procedures and act decisively. Recognizing imminent health hazards and responding by stopping operations and notifying authorities is an essential crisis-management duty.
Source: FDA Food Code — Imminent Health Hazards

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About this topic: Crisis Management and Recalls

Crisis management covers power failures, water outages, sewage backups, fires and product recalls — when operations must stop, how to protect or discard food, and how to handle a recalled product on the premises. This is one of 8 Food Manager questions on crisis management and recalls, each with a full explanation on a single study page.

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