CAT Critical Reasoning Practice question with Solution 78

The interiors of unsalted foods that are microwaved get hot enough to kill the bacteria that causes food poisoning, whereas the interiors of salted foods don’t get so hot and are therefore more vulnerable to harmful bacteria that could lead to food poisoning. This isn’t a difficult situation to imagine encountering in real life. Armed with this knowledge, any reasonable person would feel safer from food poisoning by not adding salt to food before microwaving. This notion is echoed in correct choice (D).

(A) offers a comparison that’s impossible to verify from the stimulus. The stimulus never even mentions exterior bacteria, whereas it does state for a fact that there is harmful bacteria on the interior of food. There’s simply no basis in the passage for comparing how much bacteria is on the exterior of food to how much is on the interior.

(B) needn’t be true, because the author isn’t condemning microwaves themselves, just pointing out a risk in the use of microwaves with salted foods. For all we know, conventional ovens may do an even worse job of killing bacteria.

(C) Scope shift: The stimulus deals with the effects of adding salt to food before microwaving, while this choice is about adding salt after microwaving. Be careful!

(E) is unwarranted; we can’t conclude salt is the primary cause of these problems because other elements may do an even better job of protecting bacteria from microwaves.