Chemical hazards in food safety

The presence of chemical hazards in food is usually less immediately apparent than that of bacteria and other biological hazards.

Chemical hazards may cause foodborne illness but the frequency is small compared to those caused by microbiological hazards. However harmful chemicals at very high level have been associated with acute cases of foodborne illness and can be responsible for chronic illness at lower levels.

Although chemical hazards generally fall below biological hazards when ranked in importance as public health issues, the long term and chronic effects of these hazards represent an important public health concern.

Chemical hazards may occur naturally or may be introduced during any stage of food production. Chemical hazards consists of the response of a chemical agent in foods that can cause harm to the consumer health. 

Potentially unsafe chemicals can enter the food supply from a variety of sources, including chemical residues and environmental contaminants.

Chemicals hazards include agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, rodenticides, insecticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and other animal drugs.

It is also include cleaning residues, naturally occurring toxins, food additives, allergens and toxic chemicals from industrial processes that can enter the food chain directly during processing or indirectly through plants and animals.

Dangerous, naturally occurring chemicals can be found in some species of fish, or shellfish, some plant foods or mushrooms and allergens.
Chemical hazards in food safety