Food Hazards

Hazard 1 (Codex): ‘A biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food with the potential to cause an adverse health effect.’ Significant hazards (International Life Sciences Institute- ILSI) : ‘ Hazards that are of such a nature that their elimination or reduction to an acceptable level is essential to the production of safe Foods. ’

Classification of hazards: Hazards can be classified into three groups: 1) Microbial 2) Chemical 3) physical

1) Microbial Hazards: Microbial hazards are contamination of foods, at unacceptable levels, with microbial agents of foodborne diseases such as viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. Microbiological hazards are the most important for several reasons:  They are capable of causing foodborne disease outbreaks that affect large numbers of people.  Microbial pathogens can cause infections, intoxications or toxico- infection.

2) Chemical Hazards: Chemical hazards may cause foodborne diseases, but the frequency is small compared to those caused by microbiological hazards. Chemical poisoning: is food poisoning caused by chemicals that are in the food by accident.

Chemical hazards include:  Agricultural compounds such as pesticides, antibiotics, and growth hormones.  Industrial chemicals such as cleaners and sanitizers.  Equipment-related compounds such as oils, gasoline, and lubricants.  Naturally occurring toxicants such as mycotoxins  Environmental contaminants such as lead and mercury.  Chemical preservatives  Allergens  …

There are three main sources of chemical contaminants in food plants:  Chemicals entering the plant with the raw materials or ingredients  Chemicals used in the plant to support manufacturing processes  Chemicals intended for cleaning and sanitation purposes.

3) Physical hazards: Physical hazards are physical agents that are present in a food and can harm the consumer. Examples include:  Fragments of stones  Insect fragments  Wood fragments  Pieces of glass  Hard fragments of plastics  Carton  … Physical hazards characteristically affect only one or a few persons, since they are generally present in only a few packages.

Differentiation should be made between foreign bodies capable of physically injuring a consumer and those that present only an esthetic problem. In general, physical hazards do not cause a disease but an injury – such as a broken tooth or a cut in the mouth. Some claims have been made that physical hazards cause a psychological impact that disturbs the relationship between individuals and their food (so-called Psychosomatic food illness). Psychosomatic food illness: is illness caused by the mind after seeing someone else sick or after seeing a foreign object, such as an insect or rodent, in a food product. By definition, HACCP deals with food safety. Therefore, only physical contaminants that can cause injuries should be addressed.

Presence of flies indicates the existence in the plant environment of putrefying and decaying matter in which they breed. The presence of rodent droppings is clear evidence of infestation with rodents. Poor employee habits and behavior can also introduce foreign bodies into the food.