Which two items are required to be available to employees handling food?

The correct choice highlights the essential items that promote food safety and hygiene in food handling environments. Having sanitizers with towels available ensures that food handlers can regularly clean and sanitize surfaces, utensils, and their own hands, particularly after contact with food, waste, or other potential contaminants. This helps prevent cross-contamination, which is a leading cause of foodborne illness.

Additionally, hand wash stations are crucial because they provide food handlers with a designated area to wash their hands with soap and water, which is vital for maintaining personal hygiene. Frequent hand washing, especially after handling raw food or using the restroom, is one of the most effective ways to control the spread of pathogens.

While the other options contain important items for food handling, they do not directly address the critical interchangeable focus on hygiene and sanitation as thoroughly as the selected answer does. Food scales, thermometers, first-aid kits, gloves, disposable aprons, and hair nets have their respective roles in food safety but are secondary to the fundamental requirement of proper sanitation and hand hygiene in preventing foodborne illnesses.