Which action could lead to foodborne illness from cross-contamination?

a) thawing meat at room temperature

b) failing to quickly refrigerate cut up fruit

c) eating chicken that is not fully cooked

d) chopping meat and vegetables on the same cutting board

The correct answer is d) chopping meat and vegetables on the same cutting board.

Explanation:

There should be two different cutting boards for chopping meat and vegetable separately to prevent cross-contamination. Raw meat may have lots of pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli, Listeria, etc which can contaminate the board and the vegetable which is cut on the same board.

So if you consume the contaminated food then you can get foodborne illnesses. Therefore separate board should be used for cutting veg and non-veg items and the board should be washed with soapy water after each use to wash the remaining bacteria from board. So the right answer is d.