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USMLE STEP2 Exam
Step2 (Page 27 )

Updated On: 26-Jan-2026
Page 27 of 149
PDF with 738 Questions

Which of the following institutions is involved in mounting international control programs for the eradication of communicable disease?

  1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  2. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
  3. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  4. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
  5. World Health Organization (WHO)

Answer(s): E

Explanation:

In the United States, the organization of food and water control is complex. Among the federal control agencies, the EPA is the most recent, and in many ways the most active and powerful. This agency has now set up an elaborate system of regulation and control of the use of pesticides (which until 1970 was the responsibility of the USDA) and has banned the marketing of chlorphenothane (DDT) for use in the home.
The FDA has authority to remove food from the market if it contains pesticides (e.g., PCBs in fish) in excess of the action levels set by the EPA. The FDA also retains the authority to remove from the market any food with inappropriate additives, that contains substances harmful to human health, that is stored in unsanitary conditions, that has decomposed, or that is not fit for consumption.
The USDAenforces wholesomeness standards that it sets for the production and sale of meat. International control is assisted by the WHO. This agency has mounted control programs for the eradication of communicable disease with conspicuous success in the case of smallpox. It also publishes the International Statistical Classification of Disease (ICD-9).



For each organism causing food-related illness, choose the corresponding average incubation period.

What is the average incubation period of Clostridium perfringens?

  1. under 4 hours
  2. 824 hours
  3. 1236 hours
  4. 12 hours to 6 days
  5. 13 weeks

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

Knowing the incubation period (average and range) of a pathogen can be important in determining the source of infection in food-borne disease. Knowing what food was eaten on the day of an attack of food poisoning may not help in establishing C. botulinum as the cause of illness, since certain strains of S.
aureus cause food-borne disease by the production of enterotoxin. As no time is required after ingestion for the growth of colonies in the infected host, and the toxin affects the vagus nerve in the stomach, the incubation period is under 4 hours. C. perfringens, formerly known as Clostridium welchii, causes food- borne disease, after 824 hours when enterotoxin is released when C. perfringens passes from stomach to intestine. Meat prepared in bulk for consumption at a banquet or in an institution is a possible source.
Spores that survive incomplete cooking may start reproducing during cooling and may persist if subsequent rewarming is not completed to a temperature above 60°C (140°F) required to kill the organisms.
Salmonella has an incubation time of 1236 hours. It may also survive in meat and other products if cooking is inadequate and heat does not penetrate below the surface of the food. The organisms multiply in the gut of the infected host, and low infective doses may therefore have longer incubation periods



For each organism causing food-related illness, choose the corresponding average incubation period.
What is the average incubation period of C. botulinum?

  1. under 4 hours
  2. 824 hours
  3. 1236 hours
  4. 12 hours to 6 days
  5. 13 weeks

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

Knowing the incubation period (average and range) of a pathogen can be important in determining the source of infection in food-borne disease. Knowing what food was eaten on the day of an attack of food poisoning may not help in establishing C. botulinum as the cause of illness, since certain strains of S.
aureus cause food-borne disease by the production of enterotoxin. As no time is required after ingestion for the growth of colonies in the infected host, and the toxin affects the vagus nerve in the stomach, the incubation period is under 4 hours. C. perfringens, formerly known as Clostridium welchii, causes food- borne disease, after 824 hours when enterotoxin is released when C. perfringens passes from stomach to intestine. Meat prepared in bulk for consumption at a banquet or in an institution is a possible source.
Spores that survive incomplete cooking may start reproducing during cooling and may persist if subsequent rewarming is not completed to a temperature above 60°C (140°F) required to kill the organisms.
Salmonella has an incubation time of 1236 hours. It may also survive in meat and other products if cooking is inadequate and heat does not penetrate below the surface of the food. The organisms multiply in the gut of the infected host, and low infective doses may therefore have longer incubation periods



For each organism causing food-related illness, choose the corresponding average incubation period.

What is the average incubation period of Staphylococcus aureus:

  1. under 4 hours
  2. 824 hours
  3. 1236 hours
  4. 12 hours to 6 days
  5. 13 weeks

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

Knowing the incubation period (average and range) of a pathogen can be important in determining the source of infection in food-borne disease. Knowing what food was eaten on the day of an attack of food poisoning may not help in establishing C. botulinum as the cause of illness, since certain strains of S.
aureus cause food-borne disease by the production of enterotoxin. As no time is required after ingestion for the growth of colonies in the infected host, and the toxin affects the vagus nerve in the stomach, the incubation period is under 4 hours. C. perfringens, formerly known as Clostridium welchii, causes food- borne disease, after 824 hours when enterotoxin is released when C. perfringens passes from stomach to intestine. Meat prepared in bulk for consumption at a banquet or in an institution is a possible source.
Spores that survive incomplete cooking may start reproducing during cooling and may persist if subsequent rewarming is not completed to a temperature above 60°C (140°F) required to kill the organisms.
Salmonella has an incubation time of 1236 hours. It may also survive in meat and other products if cooking is inadequate and heat does not penetrate below the surface of the food. The organisms multiply in the gut of the infected host, and low infective doses may therefore have longer incubation periods



For each organism causing food-related illness, choose the corresponding average incubation period.
What is the average incubation period of Salmonella?

  1. under 4 hours
  2. 824 hours
  3. 1236 hours
  4. 12 hours to 6 days
  5. 13 weeks

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

Knowing the incubation period (average and range) of a pathogen can be important in determining the source of infection in food-borne disease. Knowing what food was eaten on the day of an attack of food poisoning may not help in establishing C. botulinum as the cause of illness, since certain strains of S.
aureus cause food-borne disease by the production of enterotoxin. As no time is required after ingestion for the growth of colonies in the infected host, and the toxin affects the vagus nerve in the stomach, the incubation period is under 4 hours. C. perfringens, formerly known as Clostridium welchii, causes food- borne disease, after 824 hours when enterotoxin is released when C. perfringens passes from stomach to intestine. Meat prepared in bulk for consumption at a banquet or in an institution is a possible source.
Spores that survive incomplete cooking may start reproducing during cooling and may persist if subsequent rewarming is not completed to a temperature above 60°C (140°F) required to kill the organisms.
Salmonella has an incubation time of 1236 hours. It may also survive in meat and other products if cooking is inadequate and heat does not penetrate below the surface of the food. The organisms multiply in the gut of the infected host, and low infective doses may therefore have longer incubation periods



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