RN Nursing · Nutrition · Practice question
When eating out, what is a way to protect yourself from foodborne illness?
-
Eat chicken salad at room temperature.
-
Order bacon and eggs for breakfast.
-
Order a hamburger medium rare.
-
✓
Use antibacterial hand sanitizer before eating.
Answer & explanation
Correct: Use antibacterial hand sanitizer before eating.
Using antibacterial hand sanitizer before eating is a practical, evidence-based step to reduce the transfer of pathogens from hands to food and mouth, lowering the risk of foodborne illness when dining out. Hand hygiene interrupts the fecal-oral transmission route that underlies many common foodborne infections such as norovirus, Salmonella, and E. coli. The other options each increase risk rather than reduce it. Eating chicken salad at room temperature allows bacterial proliferation in the danger zone (40–140°F / 4–60°C); chicken is a high-risk protein that must be kept properly cold or hot. Ordering bacon and eggs may seem safe, but eggs must be fully cooked to eliminate Salmonella risk, and unless specified, preparation standards vary. Ordering a hamburger medium rare is specifically discouraged by public health authorities because ground beef can harbor E. coli O157:H7 throughout the meat, not just on the surface; the internal temperature must reach 160°F (71°C) to be considered safe. Medium rare does not achieve this temperature. While hand sanitizer is not a substitute for thorough soap-and-water handwashing, it remains the most protective choice among the options given when eating at a restaurant where sink access may be limited.
Practise Nutrition questions
Work through full question sets with instant rationales, timed exams, and progress tracking.
Start practising freeRelated practice questions
- An overweight male client tells the nurse that he plans to monitor the glycemic index of the foods he eats to ensure that he receives an adequate intake of vitamins and nutrients while he is trying to lose weight. Which action should the nurse implement?
- A medication that causes extreme photosensitivity was recently prescribed for a client. In providing discharge instructions, the nurse should teach this client to increase intake of which foods?
- The nurse is admitting an older adult client with possible malnutrition. Which parameters are most indicative of the client's nutritional status?
- A client with celiac disease selects a slice of rye bread toast with fresh fruit and skim milk, grapefruit juice, and coffee from the breakfast menu. Which action is most important for the nurse to implement?