RISK MANAGEMENT AS APPLIED TO SAFETY SECURITY AND
SANITATION
OVERVIEW OF POTENTIAL HAZARDS IN FOOD SERVICE
OPERATIONS
Overview of Potential Hazards in Food Service Operations
Food handlers, whether they pick crops from the fields, slaughter animals, or prepare food at home, in a restaurant,
or in a hospital kitchen, are also sources of pathogens, chemicals and hard foreign objects.
They can contribute to the hazardous condition of the food through unsafe food handling and preparation practices.
Consumers themselves must handle food safely, keep it hot or cold, and eat in promptly. Otherwise, surviving
microorganisms in the food will multiply and cause illness.
1. Food Safety Hazards
A food safety hazard is a biological, chemical or physical agent, or condition of food, with the potential to
cause harm or an adverse health affect when the food is eaten.
Simply said, a food safety hazards is anything in a food that can cause harm to the consumer in the form of food-
borne illness.
Food-borne illnesses are defined as diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter
the body through the ingestion of food.
The most common clinical presentation of food-borne disease takes the form of gastrointestinal symptoms; however,
such diseases can also have neurological, gynecological, immunological and other symptoms.
Multi-organ failure and even cancer may result from the ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs, thus representing a
considerable burden of disability as well as mortality
Food Safety Hazards can be classed as:
Biological such as microorganisms;
Chemical such as chemicals, pesticides, cleaning agents and allergens; and
Physical foreign objects that are not supposed to be in the food, such as timber, glass, packaging material
and naturally occurring objects – bones, dust and grit.
Potential Hazards that can result to Food-Borne Illness
BIOLOGICAL CHEMICAL PHYSICAL
BacteriaParasites and Agricultural chemicals Foreign objects with
HelminthesVirusFungiprions (pesticides)Natural plant toxinsAnimal food:HairPebblesGlass
toxinsFood shardsToothpicksPlasticsMetal
additivesMedicationsRadioactive fragmentsFabrics
substancesAlcohol
Sources of Food Safety Hazards
Risks of hazard resulting to food-borne illness can arise from every step of food process from production to
consumption.
Risk of one or more hazards are always present in each step or area. Hazards can contaminate food through one or
more of the following factors: Material, Men, Method, Machine, Money and environment.
Contamination is the unintended presence of harmful substance in food while cross contamination is the transfer of
such harmful substance from one food to another through a non-food surface such as cook wares, equipment and
food workers.
SANITATION
OVERVIEW OF POTENTIAL HAZARDS IN FOOD SERVICE
OPERATIONS
Overview of Potential Hazards in Food Service Operations
Food handlers, whether they pick crops from the fields, slaughter animals, or prepare food at home, in a restaurant,
or in a hospital kitchen, are also sources of pathogens, chemicals and hard foreign objects.
They can contribute to the hazardous condition of the food through unsafe food handling and preparation practices.
Consumers themselves must handle food safely, keep it hot or cold, and eat in promptly. Otherwise, surviving
microorganisms in the food will multiply and cause illness.
1. Food Safety Hazards
A food safety hazard is a biological, chemical or physical agent, or condition of food, with the potential to
cause harm or an adverse health affect when the food is eaten.
Simply said, a food safety hazards is anything in a food that can cause harm to the consumer in the form of food-
borne illness.
Food-borne illnesses are defined as diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter
the body through the ingestion of food.
The most common clinical presentation of food-borne disease takes the form of gastrointestinal symptoms; however,
such diseases can also have neurological, gynecological, immunological and other symptoms.
Multi-organ failure and even cancer may result from the ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs, thus representing a
considerable burden of disability as well as mortality
Food Safety Hazards can be classed as:
Biological such as microorganisms;
Chemical such as chemicals, pesticides, cleaning agents and allergens; and
Physical foreign objects that are not supposed to be in the food, such as timber, glass, packaging material
and naturally occurring objects – bones, dust and grit.
Potential Hazards that can result to Food-Borne Illness
BIOLOGICAL CHEMICAL PHYSICAL
BacteriaParasites and Agricultural chemicals Foreign objects with
HelminthesVirusFungiprions (pesticides)Natural plant toxinsAnimal food:HairPebblesGlass
toxinsFood shardsToothpicksPlasticsMetal
additivesMedicationsRadioactive fragmentsFabrics
substancesAlcohol
Sources of Food Safety Hazards
Risks of hazard resulting to food-borne illness can arise from every step of food process from production to
consumption.
Risk of one or more hazards are always present in each step or area. Hazards can contaminate food through one or
more of the following factors: Material, Men, Method, Machine, Money and environment.
Contamination is the unintended presence of harmful substance in food while cross contamination is the transfer of
such harmful substance from one food to another through a non-food surface such as cook wares, equipment and
food workers.
