Risk, Risk, Hazard!
We can’t begin to address our food safety risks if we can’t identify the hazards that cause the risks! Risks and hazards are inherent in growing food. Their existence is not the problem - how we choose to MANAGE risks and hazards makes the difference.
Time to put on our hazard-identification goggles!
Food safety risks can come from biological, physical, or chemical hazards. Microbial risks are the largest source of contamination in food, though they are hard to see, so they can be tricky to identify. See if you can spot the risk(s) and hazard(s) in this series of images:
Dirty hands are a food safety hazard when they touch fresh produce. The dirty hands could transfer harmful bacteria and viruses onto the fresh bell pepper, potentially causing the consumer to contract a foodborne illness. This is an example of a biological hazard. (Note: hands do not have to be visibly dirty to be contaminated).
Broken glass from a shattered lightbulb is a food safety hazard when pieces of broken glass get onto fresh produce and are then consumed. This physical hazard risks harming the person who ingests the fractured glass.
A person sick with a foodborne illness is the result of the risk that occurs when produce contaminated with a hazard is ingested. Foodborne illnesses are caused by consuming biological hazards, such as harmful bacteria, viruses, or protozoa.
The road less traveled… [is a less risky path]
Robert Frost probably wasn’t thinking about food safety in his famous poem, but, who knows, maybe?! The route a hazard takes can influence the amount of risk it poses, and not all routes of contamination are obvious. Sometimes, the hazard that causes a problem on-farm doesn’t even originate on-farm! Adjacent and nearby land uses can cause - and have caused - microbial contamination that results in foodborne illness outbreaks. Focusing on the obvious on-farm factors is important, but we must also zoom out to identify the less common ways pathogens may be introduced to our produce. Pro tip: watch for things that regularly travel to and from the farm: shoes, vehicles, transient wildlife, and more could bring in unwanted pathogens.
Ranking and prioritizing risks
Not all hazards are guaranteed to result in harm. However, we can use information about the hazard to help determine risk likelihood and severity. First, we need to identify the source of the risk (the hazard!). For example, farm workers not washing their hands well enough (or at all) after using the restroom, then handling fresh produce, is a hazard. This hazard poses the risk of fecal matter remaining on the worker’s hands and contaminating the produce. Or, another example is the risk of harvesting fresh produce with dirty harvesting tools, caused by the hazard of storing clean and dirty tools in the same spot, increasing the likelihood of mix-ups. Identifying where the known (and foreseeable) hazards occur is a good first step at managing those hazards and their respective food safety risks.
Remember, a hazard is defined as something that can cause harm, so next we need to know the likelihood that a particular hazard will cause harm. Some questions we can ask include: How likely is this hazard to cause a problem? Can I do something to prevent this hazard from becoming a risk? How often might this happen? Is this a recurring problem, or an isolated one?
We also need to determine the severity of a particular hazard’s risk. In other words, how bad will the outcome be, if this hazard results in a problem? For example, how many people will get sick or injured? What will be the repercussions for my farm?
Each of these factors influences how we rank individual risks on-farm. Risks with high probability and severity should be prioritized first, with other known and foreseeable risks getting addressed as soon as practicable.
Risk management is never done. Risks may be ever-changing, based on farm practices, weather, neighboring activities, nearby animal activities, and many more factors. Continuous hazard and risk identification, assessment, management, and monitoring will help prevent food safety problems.
Want to learn more?
Michigan Produce Safety Technicians are ready to help you meet your on-farm produce safety goals. We will work with you to identify, manage, and minimize risks to food safety on your farm, and help you create a comprehensive food safety plan to prepare you for a MI Produce Safety Risk Assessment Certificate. Working with produce safety technicians is always free and confidential, and there is no cost to applying for the certificate. Click here to get started.
---
Article by Landen Tetil, Produce Safety Technician