Free Level 2 Food Hygiene Practice Test 2026
200 questions on temperatures, the 14 allergens, hand washing, cleaning, pests and HACCP, written to UK law and FSA guidance. Tuned for mobile. No account needed.
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The Food Hygiene exam at a glance
The Level 2 Award in Food Safety (or Food Safety and Hygiene) for Catering is a short regulated qualification for anyone who prepares or serves food in the UK, usually a one-day course ending in a multiple-choice exam of 20 to 30 questions. Pass marks are set by each awarding body, usually 60 to 70 percent. The law does not require the certificate itself, but food handlers must be supervised and trained in food hygiene to suit their work, and most employers use the Level 2 to show it.
Tigertest has 200 Food Hygiene practice questions with explanations, all free with no account required.
- Exam
- Multiple choice, usually 20 to 30 questions
- Time
- Up to about 1 hour
- Pass mark
- Set by awarding body, about 60 to 70%
- Course length
- About 6 to 9 guided hours
- Legally required?
- Training yes; a certificate no
- Key temperatures
- 8°C chill, 63°C hot hold, 75°C cook
- Allergens to know
- 14, plus Natasha's Law labels
- Regulated by
- Ofqual, Qualifications Wales and CCEA
Updated by the Tigertest team. Practice questions follow the Level 2 Food Safety in Catering unit and Food Standards Agency guidance, checked October 2026. Exam rules change, so confirm current details with Food Standards Agency: Safer food, better business.
How It Works
Train, Then Test
Four training sets, one per mock test: Set 1 holds exactly the 50 questions of Test 1, and so on. Master Set 1, take Test 1, then move on. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
Mock Tests
Four 50-question mock tests covering every part of the course, with a 70 percent pass line, a little above most awarding bodies' marks, and an explanation of the right answer on every question.
Built on the Level 2 Food Safety in Catering Unit
Every awarding body's Level 2 catering qualification covers the same four outcomes: your legal responsibilities, keeping yourself clean, keeping the work area clean and keeping food safe. None publishes how many questions each topic gets, so the mock tests here give the most weight to temperature control and hazards, where most of the numbers to learn sit. Colleges, councils and trainers who run the course can set Tigertest as practice at tigertest.io/teach and see which topics the group misses most.
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Share FeedbackHow to Pass Level 2 Food Hygiene
1. Learn the temperatures by heart
Most marks hang on a few numbers: chilled food at 8°C or below by law, with fridges set at 5°C or below; hot holding at 63°C or above; freezers at -18°C; cooking to 75°C at the core for 30 seconds; reheating to 75°C, or 82°C in Scotland; cooling within 90 minutes; and the danger zone of 5°C to 63°C. Add the one-off 2 hours for hot food and 4 hours for cold food out of temperature control.
2. Know the bacteria by their foods
Pair each one with where it turns up: Campylobacter and Salmonella with raw poultry and eggs, Bacillus cereus with cooked rice, Clostridium perfringens with big pots of stew, Staphylococcus aureus with skin and noses, Listeria with chilled ready-to-eat food, and E. coli O157 with raw beef. Norovirus is a virus that spreads from person to person.
3. Say the 14 allergens out loud
Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya and sulphites. Know that prepacked for direct sale food needs a full ingredients label under Natasha's Law, and that cooking never removes an allergen.
4. Fix your misses, then retest
Tigertest tracks your accuracy by topic. Aim for 40 or more out of 50 on all four mock tests before your exam. After each test, drill the questions you missed and retrain that test's set.
Level 2 Food Hygiene Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Level 2 food hygiene certificate?
It is the usual name for the Level 2 Award in Food Safety (or Food Safety and Hygiene) for Catering, a short regulated qualification for anyone who prepares, cooks or serves food. Several awarding bodies offer it, and the course usually takes about a day. The law does not demand a certificate, but it does require food handlers to be supervised and trained in food hygiene to suit their work, and most employers use the Level 2 to show that.
How is the Level 2 food hygiene course assessed, and what is the pass mark?
Most regulated versions end with a multiple-choice exam of 20 to 30 questions, taken online or on paper in under an hour. Pass marks are set by each awarding body and usually sit between 60 and 70 percent, for example 20 out of 30. The mock tests here are longer, 50 questions each, and use a 70 percent pass line so you go in with room to spare.
What topics does Level 2 food hygiene cover?
Your legal responsibilities, keeping yourself clean and hygienic, keeping work areas clean and free of pests, and keeping food safe. In practice that means food safety law and HACCP, bacteria and food poisoning, cross-contamination, hand washing and fitness to work, cooking, chilling and hot-holding temperatures, deliveries and stock rotation, cleaning and disinfection, and the 14 allergens.
Are the food hygiene rules different in Scotland?
Mostly they are the same, with a few differences. Scottish law requires reheated food to reach 82 degrees Celsius, where 75 degrees is the usual guidance elsewhere. Food Standards Scotland runs the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, with Pass or Improvement Required instead of 0 to 5, and Scottish caterers use CookSafe where English and Welsh ones use Safer Food, Better Business. Displaying the 0 to 5 rating is compulsory in Wales and Northern Ireland but voluntary in England.
Is this an official course or certificate?
No. Every question is written by Tigertest from Food Standards Agency guidance and the food hygiene law that the Level 2 qualifications are built on, so it tests the same knowledge without copying any awarding body's exam. It is free revision for the course and the exam, not a certificate, and it does not replace the training your employer must give you.
I teach Level 2 food hygiene courses. Can my students use Tigertest?
Yes, for free. Make a class at tigertest.io/teach, post one link, and students join with just their name. You see who practiced, their test scores and the topics your class misses most.
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