Final answer:
Food handlers' duties to ensure food safety include practices like handwashing, proper storage, and ensuring cooking temperatures reach a safe level, but do not include ignoring governmental safety protocols.
Step-by-step explanation:
A food handler’s duties regarding food safety include several practices that aim to prevent the spread of foodborne diseases and ensure food safety through proper handling, preparation, and storage of food. The three main ways that food can become contaminated are through poor hygiene, cross-contamination, and failure of temperature control. To help prevent the transmission of foodborne diseases, food handlers should practice regular handwashing, use food rotation in storage to ensure older items are used first and that foods have not expired, and ensure perishable items are stored at proper temperatures. Additionally, they should rinse fresh produce before consumption, and use thermometers to verify that food has reached a safe internal temperature of at least 74 degrees C (165 degrees F) to kill any harmful bacteria. Food safety practices do not include ignoring the protocols and regulations set by government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration to manage preventing foodborne disease.