A biological hazards is any micro organism, cell culture or human endoparasite, including any that have been genetically modified, that can cause infection, allergy, toxicity or otherwise create a hazard to human health.
It is anything of biological origin that can harm human beings or their goods or environment.
Many HACCP programs are designed specifically around microbiological hazards that are considered by many to be most important problem associated with food production.
Biological hazards can be group into four different classes:
1.Bacteria
2.Viruses
3.Protozoa
4.Fungi and spores
The seriousness of these biological hazards varies greatly. It is difficult to avoid microorganisms because they are everywhere.
When developing an HACCP program, the food processor should have three basic aims:
1. Destroy, eliminate or reduce the hazard
2. Prevent recontamination
3. Inhibit growth and or toxin production.
Most biological hazards are inactivated or killed by adequate cooking and/or their numbers are kept to a minimum by sufficient cooling. Once the microorganism has been eliminated, measures to prevent recontamination should be taken.
Finally, if the hazard cannot be totally eliminated from the food, microbial growth and / or toxin production must be inhibited.
Biological hazards
