Analysing potential food hazards
We take our business seriously. How do your existing caterers stand up to Risk Assessment?
A hazard is anything that may cause harm to one of our customers and may be:
Bacteriological
(eg. Salmonella in chicken) The most important hazard is likely to be harmful bacteria that may contaminate and grow in food. We have already examined in “Common Causes of Food Poisoning” how bad practices, inadequate supervision, instruction or training of staff can lead to bacterial contamination, bacterial growth and multiplication or bacterial survival. Common bacteriological hazards are associated with particular foods (eg, Salmonella with chicken and raw eggs, B cereus with rice and E coli with raw meat). It is therefore necessary to ensure that the handling and use of such products eliminates the hazard. For example ensuring chicken and raw meat are thoroughly cooked, rice is not left at ambient temperatures to cool and that finished products do not contain raw egg (eg, home made mayonnaise or desserts).
Physical
(eg. wood/glass in the product) Whilst there are some physical contaminants that can cause harm (eg, glass) the majority are unpleasant (eg, paper, a hair, a piece of string, etc). Obviously, to reduce the risk of customer complaints and potential loss of business, appropriate controls are put in place. Glass hazards are eliminated by decanting ingredients from glass bottles before bringing them into preparation areas; staples from boxes removed away from food handling areas, etc.
Chemical
(eg. cleaning chemicals in the product) Chemicals can enter food products and ingredients by misuse of chemicals (eg, decanting into food containers, residue left after cleaning, etc); by misuse of pest control chemicals by inexperienced personnel or chemical already present due to chemical spraying of crops. Identification of the potential for a hazard to cause harm to our customers is the first step to ensuring that we produce safe and sound food every time. This standard enables us to concentrate resources on the most effective ways of preventing unsafe food reaching the consumer.
A full hard copy version of the To-Go haccap booklet are available by request
