A foreign object in food that could cause injury or illness, such as glass, metal, plastic, stones or hair.
A foreign object in food that could cause injury or illness, such as glass, metal, plastic, stones or hair. A physical hazard is any foreign object in food that could cause harm if eaten, such as choking, cuts or dental damage. Common examples include fragments of glass, metal (for example from worn equipment or staples), hard plastic, stones, bone, pest debris, and other objects like jewellery, buttons or hair that fall into food during preparation. Unlike biological and chemical hazards, physical hazards are often visible. Physical hazards can enter food at any stage, from raw materials brought in by suppliers to breakages and poor practices in the kitchen. While some cause only distress or complaints, others such as glass or metal can cause serious injury. Preventing them relies on good premises maintenance, careful handling and controls at points where objects could enter food. Australian food businesses control physical hazards through good housekeeping and design: maintaining equipment so parts do not break off, using shatterproof materials where possible, keeping glass and brittle plastic away from food areas, and inspecting incoming ingredients. Staff practices matter too, such as removing jewellery, wearing hair restraints and not working over open food with loose items. Some businesses use physical controls like sieves, filters, magnets or metal detectors at key steps, particularly in manufacturing. A food safety program should identify where physical hazards could enter and set procedures for prevention and for responding to breakages, such as isolating and discarding potentially affected food when glass breaks nearby. A glass light fitting above a prep bench shatters while staff are plating desserts below. Rather than checking, the team continues serving, and a customer later finds a glass fragment in their dessert. Using shatterproof covers on lights and immediately discarding any food that could have been affected by the breakage would have prevented the incident.
Frequently asked questions
What are examples of physical hazards in food?
Glass, metal fragments, hard plastic, stones, bone, pest debris, and personal items such as jewellery, buttons, plasters or hair that fall into food during handling.
How do physical hazards get into food?
From raw ingredients, from equipment that breaks or wears, from packaging, from the premises such as broken glass or flaking paint, and from food handlers and their clothing or jewellery.
How can a business prevent physical hazards?
Maintain equipment and premises, use shatterproof materials, keep glass away from food, inspect deliveries, enforce jewellery and hair rules, and use sieves, magnets or detectors where appropriate.
What should staff do if glass breaks near food?
Stop work in the area, isolate and discard any food that could have been affected, clean up the glass thoroughly, and check surrounding surfaces before resuming to make sure no fragments remain.
Are physical hazards always visible?
Often, but not always. Small fragments can be hard to see or hidden in food, so prevention through good practices and controls is more reliable than relying on spotting them.
