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Practice and exam technique

Practice questions: employee health and hygiene

Compiled by the Sitonce editorial team from the FDA Food Code and the accredited providers listed belowUpdated 3 min readFacts verified 1 September 2026
The short answer

Employee health is fourteen of the eighty questions and the area candidates revise least. These five cover exclusion versus restriction, the reporting chain, and the highly susceptible population variation.

This is the highest-return practice set on the site, because the rules are closed, the questions are predictable, and almost nobody arrives knowing them.

Question 1

A server at a family restaurant reports a sore throat with fever. What should the person in charge do?

  1. Exclude them from the establishment
  2. Restrict them from food and food-contact surfaces
  3. Allow them to continue with a face covering
  4. Report the case to the regulatory authority
Answer: B. Sore throat with fever results in restriction in a general establishment - the employee may work away from food, clean equipment, utensils and single-use articles. Exclusion would apply if the establishment served a highly susceptible population. Reporting is required for jaundice and Big 6 diagnoses, not for this.
Question 2

The same symptom is reported by a cook at a nursing home. What changes?

  1. Nothing - restriction still applies
  2. The employee is excluded from the establishment
  3. The employee may work only in the dining room
  4. A medical release is required before restriction
Answer: B. Where a highly susceptible population is served, sore throat with fever results in exclusion rather than restriction. This pair of questions is the most reliable way the exam tests whether you read the setting before the symptom.
Question 3

A dishwasher tells the manager that their partner has been diagnosed with Hepatitis A. The dishwasher has no symptoms. What applies?

  1. Nothing, because the employee is not ill
  2. The employee must be excluded and the case reported
  3. The employee may work but not handle clean dishes
  4. The employee should be tested before the next shift
Answer: B. Household exposure to a Big 6 pathogen is reportable even with no symptoms. Hepatitis A has a long incubation period, so an asymptomatic exposed worker can still be infectious. This is the bullet most candidates have not read.
Question 4

An employee finishes a shift preparing raw chicken and moves to plating salads. What must happen first?

  1. Change gloves
  2. Wash hands, then put on clean gloves
  3. Apply hand sanitizer and change gloves
  4. Rinse hands at the prep sink and change gloves
Answer: B. Gloves are a barrier, not a substitute for handwashing, and removing a glove contaminates the hand it came off. Option C fails because sanitizer does not replace washing. Option D fails because the prep sink is not a handwashing sink.
Question 5

An employee who was excluded for vomiting says they have felt fine since yesterday afternoon. It is now the following morning. What does the manager need?

  1. Nothing - they may return
  2. Confirmation that they have been symptom-free for 24 hours, or a written medical release
  3. A negative test result
  4. Approval from the regulatory authority
Answer: B. Return after vomiting or diarrhoea requires 24 hours symptom-free or a written medical release. Regulatory authority involvement applies to jaundice and Big 6 diagnoses, which is what option D is testing.

The pattern

Read the establishment type first. Then the symptom. Then whether a diagnosis is involved.

Those three checks, in that order, resolve almost every employee health question on the paper.

Common questions

What is the difference between exclusion and restriction?

Excluded means the employee may not be in the establishment. Restricted means they may work but away from food, clean equipment, utensils, linens and single-use articles.

When does a sore throat with fever cause exclusion?

When the establishment serves a highly susceptible population - a hospital, nursing home or preschool. Elsewhere it results in restriction.

Is household exposure reportable?

Yes. Living with or caring for someone diagnosed with a Big 6 pathogen is reportable even when the employee has no symptoms at all.

Do you wash hands when changing gloves?

Yes. Removing a glove contaminates the hand it came off, so handwashing happens before putting on a fresh pair. Sanitizer is not a substitute.

What is needed for an excluded employee to return?

Twenty-four hours symptom-free, or a written medical release. Where the exclusion followed jaundice or a reportable diagnosis, the regulatory authority is involved in the decision.

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