Food contaminants can be classified into biological, chemical, and physical contaminants.
Biological contaminants
Biological contaminants include disease-causing microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, which cause foodborne illnesses.
Chemical contaminants
Chemical contaminants can be organic or inorganic. Organic chemical contaminants include, but are not limited to, environmental and processed contaminants, toxins, drug residues, pesticide residues, food allergens, and migratable harmful chemicals from food contact materials. Besides organic chemical contaminants, there are also inorganic and radiochemical contaminants, including, but not limited to, heavy metals and food radionuclides.
Physical contaminants
Physical contaminants include foreign materials such as glass, metal, and plastic. They can be introduced along the supply chain e.g. imports, local farms, food processing plants, etc.
Consuming contaminated food can cause us to fall ill. That is why it is important for everyone — industry, consumers and the government — to work together to reduce the risk of food contaminants.
How can we prevent contamination?
Preventing contamination to food products is a concerted effort and joint responsibility by the food industry, consumers, and the government. They can do so by:
- The food industry must comply with regulations to ensure food safety and adopt practices to prevent food contaminants from entering and impacting the food supply chain.
- Consumers play an important role as they directly control the food products that they buy and consume and how they prepare and store the food products. Consumers can take steps to prevent contamination by handling food properly. For details and tips, see Joint Responsibility in Food Safety.
- SFA has put in place a comprehensive, farm-to-fork food safety system to ensure that our food is safe for consumption. To learn more about SFA’s integrated food safety system, see What We Do.
For more information
You can contact us through the SFA Online Feedback Form.
