What is a hazard?

A hazard can be described as anything with the potential to cause harm.

Hazards can be broken down into different categories. Physical hazards would be things that can be found in food that can cause harm when eating such as cuts in the mouth, broken teeth, internal injury and burning. These can be caused by broken glass, nails, bolts, string and even jewellery.

Hazards can also be chemical. This would include problems with food that when eaten can cause food poisoning and chronic illnesses. This can be caused by food not being cleaned and prepared properly and being exposed to pesticides, cleaning chemicals, weed killers, additives and poisonous foods.

Some people are allergic to particular ingredients and foods and can go into anaphylactic shock or have a negative immune response. The foods that are most likely to cause an allergic response in people who are allergic are peanuts, milk, eggs, shellfish, gluten, soy and sesame seeds. Foods must be properly labelled as some individuals can have an allergic reaction even if the food they eat does not contain a specific allergen but simply come into close contact with it.

Another very serious type of hazard would be the microbiological hazard and this can give rise to the spread of food-borne illnesses such as E Coli.

For more information on cleaning products used in the food industry that are HACCP compliant please visit www.blendwell.co.za/Food_Industry_Cleaning_Products. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a large range of cleaning chemicals at their factory in Midrand, South Africa. We are your local cleaning chemical manufacturer!