Why is Food Safety Important?
Access to safe food is a fundamental human right – you don’t expect to get sick when you eat food in your home, at work or at a restaurant.
However, there are some food contamination incidents that pose a threat to public health. When these foods make their way out to the public market and the contamination is identified (through testing activities or even complaints), they may need to be recalled. This is called a consumer level recall.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is the authority that is responsible for facilitating consumer level recalls. Lets look at some recent consumer level food recalls from the FSANZ web site. Click the link below to look at recent recalls from the Australian market (click on each recall to look at the relevant details and food safety threat). Consumer level recalls are mandatory and must be followed due to the risk to public health.
The exert below is an example of a consumer level Food Recall from FSANZ (hover over “+” sign for description of the different sections)
Food Borne Illness
It is estimated that there are over four million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year year.
Is this too many cases and can we do better? Watch the following video and make up your own mind.
While most people who contract a foodborne illness experience only a mild, short-term illness, certain groups within the population are at greater risk of severe illness or even death.
Those at higher risk are called the vulnerable population. Explore those of us that are at risk by flipping the cards below. Use the 
button to view the different populations.
Lets review what we have learnt so far by completing the following exercise (choose the correct answer for the three questions):
Food Safety Hazards and Risks
Within the food manufacturing industry, there are a number of food safety hazards and risks that we must be aware of. Once we are aware of the hazards and risks, we can try and minimise their impact to food safety and the end consumer.
Hazards and risks are sometimes confused and used incorrectly. The following diagram explains the difference between a Hazard and Risk.
Reference: EUFIC (2025). The European Food Information Council . https://www.eufic.org/en/
To review your knowledge of hazards and risks in the following activity.
How does this apply to food safety? Let’s look at the common egg as an example to distinguish between a food safety hazard and risk.
Reference: EUFIC (2025). The European Food Information Council . https://www.eufic.org/en/
Let’s apply your knowledge of the above concept in the following activity.
We can take food safety hazards one step further by breaking them up into the different types encountered in the food industry.
To reinforce the above three types of hazards, let’s examine some examples that we find in the food manufacturing industry:
Physical Hazards:
Broken glass (e.g. – lights or equipment gauges etc.)
Chemical Hazards:
Cleaning chemicals and lubricants used on site.
Biological Hazards:
These hazards are hard to see with the naked eye. They are small but can make us very sick. You may be familiar with some of the following types of biological hazards:
We will talk further about the bacterial hazards as these are the most common biological hazards that make us sick. The technical term you may hear are Food Borne Pathogens.
Let’s sum up the types of food safety hazards by thinking about some examples of physical, biological (sometimes called micro-biological) and chemical hazards. Complete the activity below by correctly labeling the the type of hazards (Physical, Chemical, Biological) and matching it with the picture on the card.
Critical Food Safety Hazard – Allergens
When we consider food safety hazards in the food manufacturing industry we need to be very aware of allergens. Food allergies can be life threatening. The only way to manage a food allergy is by avoiding the food allergen. This means it is critical that we give consumers the correct information about what allergens are in the product they are consuming and ensure food is protected from cross contamination with allergens that are not declared.
The following poster from Food Standards Australia New Zealand lists the common allergens that require labeling in Australia. You will note that tree nuts are separated out into their individual types. All of these types of tree nuts are considered allergens and must be labelled individually.
Reference: FSANZ (2023). Food Standards Code. www.foodstandards.gov.au
Why are Gluten and Sulphites separated out?
You will notice that Gluten and Sulphites are separated out in the above poster. This is because people have intolerances to these two substances and still need to be aware of their presence within a food. These intolerances can still be very severe and are a food safety hazard.
Let’s test your knowledge of the above food allergens by selecting which of the following are common food allergens.
To recap on your knowledge on food allergens , complete the following activity by selecting the correct words for the corresponding part of the sentence.
The Food Production Chain
The following diagram sets out the different stages of the food production chain. You can see that there are multiple steps along the chain and many different chances for food to become contaminated.
What can make us sick or harm us within the food production chain
Within each step, their are a number of important hazards to be aware of. Lets look at some of the hazards within the above food production chain. Here are some examples of Physical, Chemical and Biological hazards at each step.
Primary Production
This is where the food is grown or produced. Think of a field of lettuce rowing or grazing cattle and the types of contamination that may exist.
In the activity below, you will find examples of each type of hazard (Physical, Chemical and Biological) and you will need to correctly list the type hazard (Chemical / Physical / Biological).
Processing / Manufacturing
This is where the food is converted into the form that we eat. This is where you will work and you need to be very aware of the different hazards at this point.
Distribution
This involves getting the food out to the public safely and hygienically. Most companies will not have direct influence over their product once it leaves their premises. However they do have a responsibility to ensure they use use the right service providers (transport companies etc) and have a product that can stand up to the challenges of the distribution chain.
When you look at the following hazards in the distribution chain, think about how some of the hazards and risk they pose may be minimised.
Food Preparation
This is normally done at home once you have purchased your ingredients. However a lot of the hazards are relevant for when you handle or prepare food in a manufacturing environment. This step is critical and is where a lot of the hazards are introduced to the food.
Controlling Food Safety Hazards and Risks
Now that we have learnt about the food safety hazards and risks in the food production chain, we need to be aware of how we can minimise the risk of the consumer (person consuming the food) being impacted.
So what tools are available to us as food handlers and manufacturers?
Temperature Control
To stop the bacteria that can make us sick (food borne pathogens) from growing, we need to keep food out of what is called the temperature “Danger Zone”. Food poisoning bacteria can multiply quickly in the danger zone.
What is the danger zone?
The poster below explains that to minimize the growth of food poisoning bacteria, we must keep the food chilled at less than 5°C or heat and keep it at above 60°C.
Food Safety Information Council. (n.d.). Temperature danger zone: Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold [Infographic]. https://www.foodsafety.asn.au
Cooking Food Correctly
To ensure we kill off the dangerous food borne pathogens, we need to ensure that we cook it properly. The poster below sets out the relevant cooking temperatures for common foods.
One important point to remember is that the temperatures below are for the center of the food. We will talk further about how to measure the internal temperature in future lessons.
Food Safety Information Council. (n.d.). Safe cooking temperatures [Infographic]. https://www.foodsafety.asn.a
Segregation of Food:
How do we ensure that we don’t cross contaminate food that has been cooked or that is ready to eat? The best way is to keep them separate from raw food and other contaminants to minimise the chance of cross contamination. The key thing you need to remember is that the raw food could contain the food borne pathogens that can make us sick. This is why we need to keep raw foods separate from the food that we are going to eat. The following info graphic shows the difference between cooked, ready to eat and raw foods.
NSW Food Authority. (n.d.). Keep food separate [Infographic]. NSW Government. Retrieved June 15, 2025, from https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/
Good Personal Hygiene
If we are preparing and handling food, we need to be careful with our personal hygiene. How we handle the food can directly lead to contamination and ultimately make someone sick. We will go into more detail about personal hygiene in future lessons but lets review the poster below to recap on when and how you should wash your hands.
Food Safety Information Council. (n.d.). How to wash hands safely [Infographic]. https://www.foodsafety.asn.au
Cleaning and Sanitation:
In addition to to good personal hygiene, it is essential to ensure the surfaces that touch our food are safe and minimise the chance of contamination. This means we need to ensure that the surfaces are free from our three types of food safety hazards (Chemical, Physical and Biological). How do we ensure the surfaces are safe?
National guidelines and science tell us to use the following 6 steps when cleaning and santisiing surfaces:
Reviewing the controls that reduce the risk of food hazards, complete the following activity
