A food safety hazard can be defined as any factor present in food that has the potential to cause harm to the consumer.
Food safety hazards may be biological, chemical or physical object.
Chemical hazards can cause food borne disease and the consumer health. This includes naturally occurring substances, such as allergens, and toxins and contamination of food with chemicals substance, their residue or their degradation products at levels that can harm the consumers.
Some chemicals added to foods also make them unsafe. One potential chemical hazard is an excess quantity of sodium nitrite. This potential hazard was recognized decades ago when controls were established by the USDA to minimize this risk.
Other chemical hazards which should be considered include agricultural chemicals such as pesticide, herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and other animal drugs, antibiotics, sulfa drugs, cleaning and sanitizing agents, oils and greases.
The above chemicals must be approved by federal agency before they can be legally used. If a chemical leaves a residue in food, the cognizant agency is responsible for establishing a tolerance level – the amount of residue that can legally remain in or on raw and processed foods.
Under some circumstances, chemical hazards can be eliminated or reduced through processing operations. For example, washing and peeling of agriculture produce is a very effective method for eliminating or reducing residues of agricultural chemicals.
Establishing safe food handling practices to avoid chemical hazards in the food supply, again like biological and physical hazard controls, will increase not only the safety of the food supply but also the margin of profit, reduce legal liabilities and promote good will to improve consumer confidence.
Chemical hazard in food industry
