A living or biological source of harm in food, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, moulds or their toxins.
A living or biological source of harm in food, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, moulds or their toxins. A biological hazard is one of the three main categories of food-safety hazard, alongside chemical and physical hazards. It covers harmful micro-organisms and their by-products: disease-causing bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria, viruses such as norovirus and hepatitis A, parasites, and toxins produced by bacteria or moulds. Biological hazards are the most common cause of foodborne illness. Many biological hazards are invisible and give no warning through smell or appearance. They can enter food from raw ingredients, contaminated water, pests, food handlers or dirty equipment, and many can multiply rapidly when food is held in the temperature danger zone. Controlling them is the central focus of food-safety systems built on HACCP principles. Australian food businesses control biological hazards mainly through temperature and time control, thorough cooking, cleaning and sanitising, good personal hygiene and preventing cross-contamination. A HACCP-based food safety program identifies the critical control points where biological hazards must be managed, such as cooking, cooling and cold storage steps. Because biological hazards can grow, the key is to prevent conditions that allow multiplication: keep cold food cold, hot food hot, and limit the time potentially hazardous food spends in the danger zone. Buying from approved suppliers, controlling pests and monitoring temperatures all reduce the biological hazard load in a food business. A kitchen cooks a large pot of curry and leaves it to cool slowly on the bench overnight before refrigerating it. Spore-forming bacteria that survived cooking multiply as the curry sits warm for hours. Cooling the curry quickly, for example by dividing it into shallow containers and chilling it within the recommended cooling times, would have controlled the biological hazard.
Frequently asked questions
What are examples of biological hazards in food?
Bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria, viruses such as norovirus, parasites, and toxins produced by bacteria or moulds. These are the most common cause of foodborne illness.
How are biological hazards different from chemical and physical hazards?
Biological hazards are living organisms or their toxins, chemical hazards are harmful substances such as cleaning agents or pesticides, and physical hazards are foreign objects like glass or metal.
Why are biological hazards so important?
They are the leading cause of foodborne illness, can multiply rapidly in the temperature danger zone, and are usually invisible, so they must be controlled through good practice rather than inspection.
How do biological hazards get into food?
From raw ingredients, contaminated water, pests, food handlers and dirty equipment. Cross-contamination and poor temperature control then let them spread or multiply.
How does a food safety program address biological hazards?
It identifies critical control points such as cooking, cooling and cold storage, sets limits like safe temperatures, and requires monitoring and corrective action to keep biological hazards under control.
