Food safety in your company: tips and advice:

Food safety is a term used to determine the safe use of food. What exactly does this mean? Why is it important for companies in the food sector? And how do you improve food safety in your organization? You will find all the answers on this page.

What is food safety?

By safe food we mean food that is edible without making you sick. Food safety is very important for companies in the food processing industry. Good food safety can prevent food from becoming contaminated with viruses, bacteria and harmful substances. Click Here for food safety course

It is impossible to guarantee 100% food safety. Even with the best possible hygiene measures, food can be exposed to harmful substances. However, there are several concrete steps that can be taken to limit these risks. Various rules and laws have been created for this purpose in the Netherlands and abroad.

Food safety includes preventing the following risks:

• Food poisoning
• Food intolerances
• Food allergies
• Food spoilage

In order to do this correctly, various areas of expertise are associated with food safety. For example, it is important to make risk analyses, to properly  the management and communication of these and to make use of various areas of knowledge such as quality science, toxicology, food technology, epidemiology and food legislation.

What do we mean by unsafe food?

Our food is susceptible to all kinds of pathogens. Examples of these are bacteria, viruses and parasites. These are often not or odorous and also not visible. However, that does not mean that they cannot make people very ill. For example, consumers can experience symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.

To protect consumers against such incidents, food companies are responsible for the safe and hygienic processing of food. This prevents food from becoming contaminated with salmonella,, listeria and the. Another well-known example is the parasite . This is sometimes found in raw meat or in animal feces. This is one of the reasons why pregnant women are advised not to eat raw meat.

What forms of food safety are there?

In food safety, we distinguish four forms, each of which is briefly explained below. This will give you a better idea of ​​what food safety is exactly.

(Micro-)biological – By (micro-)biological food safety we mean fungi and bacteria. These are so-called micro-organisms to which food can be exposed during production, storage or preparation.

Chemical – By chemical food safety we mean foreign substances in the food. These are sometimes deliberately used to make food safer. In such a case, we also call this an additive. It also happens that foreign substances unintentionally end up in the food. These are so-called contaminants. A good example of this are agents that are used to protect crops against pests.

Physical – By physical food safety we mean any residues of glass or metal that end up in the food during the production process. Fortunately, there are now special filters that filter these residues almost completely from the food.

Biotechnological – By biotechnological food safety we mean genetically modified organisms that are added to food. These must first be approved by the EAV for safety and responsible use. Biotechnology plays an important role in organic food preparation.