A food safety hazard is a substance or foreign agent that has the potential to cause food to be unsafe, ie. it can cause illness or injury. Hazards can be classified into three main areas listed below

Biological Hazards

Living organisms like bacteria, viruses and parasites. Specific examples of such organisms include:

• Food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella spp., Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens
• Food-borne viruses such as hepatitis A and noroviruses
• Food-borne parasites such as Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia
• Moulds such as Aspergillus flavus.

Chemical Hazards

Food can become contaminated with unwanted chemicals such as cleaning agents, pesticides, fungicides, fertilisers and veterinary chemicals. For example, food could become contaminated with cleaning agents if care is not taken to store and use the chemicals correctly. Natural toxins can also be found in some products such as green potatoes, fungi, poisonous fish and shellfish.

Physical Hazards

Food can become contaminated with physical objects such as glass, metal, plastic, insects, adhesive dressings and jewellery. If these things are found in food, they may introduce microbial hazards and may result in physical harm to the consumer, for example, choking, laceration and broken teeth.

The third part describes good hygiene practices such as:

• Allergen control practices to prevent cross contamination
• Employee training
• Personal hygiene practices
• Cleaning and sanitising
• Facility and equipment maintenance
• Thermometer calibration
• Pest control procedures, etc.

In other words, your food safety programme should document clearly the procedures and practices what you do. In short, to meet minimum requirements a business must have the following programs in place:

• A food safety plan / hazard analysis
• Hygiene monitoring
• Cleaning,
• Employee training
• Calibration of thermometers / gauges to ensure their accuracy
• Product traceability and labelling
• Verification processes including internal audit and reviewing the FSP to ensure it is adequate and current
• Record keeping
• Product labelling, if applicable