A food safety hazard, in HACCP's sense, is anything in food reasonably likely to cause illness or injury if it is not controlled: a biological agent, a chemical, a physical object, or an allergen. The FDA's HACCP principles and application guidelines, cited below, describe HACCP as a systematic approach to the identification, evaluation and control of food safety hazards based on seven principles. The hazard analysis is the first principle, and its output is the list of hazards by process step; the plan is the control for each. The HACCP plan template on this site prints the analysis from the kitchen's processes, free and without an account.
Biological
Bacteria and their toxins, viruses, parasites. They enter with raw food and people, grow in the temperature danger zone, survive undercooking and cross from raw to ready-to-eat. The FDA's safe cooking temperatures, from the same page: 145°F with a 3 minute rest for whole cuts of beef, pork, veal and lamb and for fin fish; 160°F for ground meat and egg dishes; 165°F for poultry, leftovers and casseroles; 140°F to reheat fully cooked ham. The FDA's safe food handling page, cited below, says to keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F or below, to refrigerate perishables within 2 hours of cooking or purchasing and within 1 hour if the temperature outside is above 90°F, and its buffet guidance keeps hot foods at 140°F or warmer and cold foods at 40°F or colder.
Chemical and physical
Cleaning chemicals, pest control products and contaminated ingredients on the chemical side; glass, metal, plastic, bone and packaging on the physical side. The controls are storage, dilution and labelling for the first; inspection at receiving, a brittle-materials policy and equipment checks for the second.
Allergen
An allergen in a dish that a customer was told it was not in, or cross-contact on the bench. The control is the allergen matrix on this site, current and dated, and separation in preparation and service.
From hazard to control point
A hazard is controlled at a critical control point when that step is where it is prevented, removed or reduced and no later step will do it. Cooking, cooling, holding and reheating are the usual ones. The hot food temperature check on this site is the cooking record; ProbeLedger Pro keeps the set.
Questions people ask about food safety hazard
Is a hazard the same as a risk?
The hazard is the agent; the risk is how likely and how severe. The analysis names the hazards and evaluates the risk.
How many hazards does a kitchen have?
Many; the plan controls the significant ones at a handful of critical control points.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.