Hazards to Food Safety

1. Foodborne Illness

Foodborne illness is any illness resulting from the food spoilage of contaminated food,
pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as toxins such as
poisonous mushrooms and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10
minutes.

2. Foodborne Hazard

A food hazard is defined as anything that could contaminate food and cause illness or injury, or
could otherwise violate established food safety program criteria if left uncontrolled.
Understanding the hazards that contribute to foodborne illness and injury is important to
determine the necessary steps to prevent, reduce to an acceptable level, or eliminate altogether
hazards before food reaches the consumer. In retail food establishments, there are three
categories of hazards which contribute to foodborne illness and injury:

a. Physical Hazard
b. Chemical Hazard
c. Biological Hazard

Physical Hazard

A physical hazard is any foreign matter unintentionally introduced to food or a naturally

occurring object which could cause illness or injury to the person consuming the food item.
Examples of physical hazards could include bones in fish, flaking paint, hair, dirt, metal
fragments and nails. Sources for contaminants include raw materials, badly maintained facilities
and equipment, improper production procedures and poor employee practices.

Chemical Hazard

Natural and manufactured chemicals can cause people to become sick if they have
contaminated food at the source or during processing. Chemical hazards can be divided into two
categories: chemical agents and toxic metals. Chemical agents include cleaning or sanitizing
agents, pesticides or food additives. These can accidentally contaminate food if they are not
stored or used properly. A common chemical hazard is using a chemical sanitizer with a much
higher concentration than the regulatory standard.

Biological Hazard

While physical and chemical hazards have potential to cause foodborne illness, the majority of
these illnesses result from biological hazards such as bacteria, viruses and parasites (refered to
collectively as pathogens). The CDC has identified 31 different pathogens known to cause
foodborne illness.
3. Bacteria

Bacteria constitute a large domain of microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length,

bacteria have a number of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. Bacteria were
among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats.

4. Stress Condition for Bacteria

The bacterial stress response enables bacteria to survive adverse and fluctuating conditions in
their immediate surroundings. Various bacterial mechanisms recognize different environmental
changes and mount an appropriate response. A bacterial cell can react simultaneously to a wide
variety of stresses and the various stress response systems interact with each other by a
complex of global regulatory networks.

5. Bacteria Growth

Bacterial growth is the asexual reproduction, or cell division, of a bacterium into two daughter
cells, in a process called binary fission. Providing no mutational event occurs, the resulting
daughter cells are genetically identical to the original cell.

Factors Affecting the Need of Growth

a. Temperature
b. Acidity
c. Water Activity
d. Oxygen
e. Micronutrients
f. Toxin

6. Potentially Hazardous Food (PHF)

Inadequate food temperature controls are the most common factor contributing to outbreaks of
food borne disease. Disease causing bacteria grow particularly well in foods high in protein such
as meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, cooked vegetables such as beans, and cooked
cereal grains such as rice. Because of the high potential for rapid bacterial growth in these foods
they are known as "potentially hazardous foods."

Potentially Hazardous Foods Include:

 Food from an animal origin that is raw or heat-treated. Some examples are eggs, milk,
meat, and poultry.
 Food from a plant origin that is heat-treated. Some examples are cooked rice, cooked
potatoes, and cooked noodles.
 Raw seed sprouts.
 Cut melons, including watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew.
 Garlic and oil mixtures.