Identifying Hazards

A hazard is classed as something that could be dangerous. There are many different hazards. When talking about food hazards, a hazard is something that could mean that food is not safe for consumption.

It is important to understand what can cause illness and injury from food. This knowledge combined with awareness and staff training can then be used as a prevention.

Contamination causes in brief:

• Food stored at incorrect temperature
• ‘Use By’ and ‘Best Before’ dates ignored
• Uncovered or unprotected storage
• Contaminated food preparation areas
• Poor personal hygiene
• Unclean and poorly maintained equipment and utensils

Identifying Hazards

• What could cause the food to become unsafe?
• Could this cause sickness?
• People can fall sick from such hazards.

Food safety hazards could be:

• Bacterial Contamination: involving harmful bacteria, e.g. when some foods are left out of the fridge for too long and bacteria begins to multiply in them.
• Contamination: involving chemicals getting into food, e.g. cleaning sprays or pest control chemicals or biological contamination.
• Cross Contamination: where bacteria is picked up from one food to another or via work surface or tool.