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Physical hazards are foreign materials either intentionally or unintentionally introduced to food products (ex: metal fragments in ground meat) or naturally occurring objects (ex: bones in fish) that are hazardous to the consumer. A physical hazard can contaminate food products at any stage of production. Everyone in the food chain especially the food processors should take adequate measures to avoid physical hazards in food.
Physical Hazards Risk in Food
Factors Determining a Potential Risk
Factors that cause potential risk to consumers in food products include:
Common Physical Hazards
Common sources of physical hazards in food include:
Glass, paper pieces, hair, plastic, carton piece, nut, bolt, screw, metal pieces, pins, stem, fish bone, glove piece, wire tacks, equipment fragments, twigs, grass seed, shell, stone, buttons, jewellery, nails, tobacco pieces, steel scrub, paper pin, medicine strip, wooden piece, cap bottle, cling wrap, coins, watch, thread, sequences, temper glass and the list goes on.
Fig 01- Type of physical hazards
Prevention of Common Physical Hazards
Recall Cases due to Physical Hazard:
Date | Brand Name & Product Name | Cause for recall |
11/20/2019 | Nabisco & Cheese Nips | The potential presence of plastic |
11/15/2019 | Breakstone’s & Cottage Cheese | The potential presence of plastic and metal |
09/06/2019 | Udi’s & Classic Hamburger Buns | Foreign Object White Plastic |
08/01/2019 | Entenmann’s & Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies | Due to the potential presence of visible, blue plastic pieces |
07/11/2019 | Ragu & Pasta Sauce | Potential contamination with plastic fragments |
07/10/2019 | Multiple brands & Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns | Potential Presence of Small Pieces of Hard Plastic |
02/11/2019 | WTRMLN WTR & Cold press juiced Watermelon | Possible Presence of Soft Plastic Pieces |
11/15/2019 | Breakstone’s & Cottage Cheese | The potential presence of plastic and metal |
06/21/2019 | Parent’s Choice & Advantage Infant Formula Milk-Based Powder with Iron | The potential presence of metal foreign material |
07/18/2018 | H-E-B & Creamy Creations ice creams and sherbets | Due to broken metal in processing equipment |
05/30/2018 | EconoMax, Hill Country Fare, Creamy Creations & Ice Cream and sherbet | Foreign material-metal |
02/08/2018 | Grreat & Grreat Choice Adult Dog Food with Chicken and Rice | metal contamination that could potentially be a choking hazard to pets |
02/08/2018 | Bright Farms & Salad Greens | Potential Presence of Metal Pieces from Construction |
02/09/2018 | Trident & Frozen Multi-grain Alaskan Cod | Contains small pieces of plastic. |
12/29/2017 | Casa Sanchez & Guacamole | Foreign matter: a small piece of yellow plastic |
12/29/2017 | Fit & Active & Chocolatey Chip Protein Meal Bars | Due to the Presence of Plastic Piece |
10/13/2017 | Merkts & Port Wine Cheese Spread | Presence of small pieces of plastic |
Recall Cases:
Fig02: Physical hazards found in Jimmy Dean sausages
2. On 20.11.2019 in USA, NABISCO RECALLS 11-OUNCE BOXES OF CHEESE NIPS OVER PLASTIC CONTAMINATON. The recall notice states, noting the pieces came from a dough scraper that was incorporated into the production process of a small amount of product.”
3. On 20.11.2019 in USA, Kraft Heinz recalls Breakstone’s cottage cheese for metal, and plastic bits, no reports of illness or injury related to the issue.
4. On Nov 6, 2019 in USA, Chicken recall: More than 2 million pounds recalled, may be contaminated with metal.
5. Mom finds nail in school canteen lunch; complaint with Dubai Municipality, KHDA. A parent of a four-year-old schoolgirl was terribly shocked when he found a nail in his child’s unfinished school lunch box. She found a rusted nail stuck in the dosa batter.
Fig 03: Nail found in school canteen lunch
6. On 15.05.2017, UK, A person damages two front teeth after biting into a takeaway pizza ‘with 5p coin baked into the dough’.
Fig 04: 5p coin found in takeaway pizza
7. On, 17 Sep 2018 in Singapore, Strawberry needle scare: Growers to look to metal detectors to contain contamination crisis,
8. Bingo (Tedhe Medhe) — thread found in bingo (tedhe medhe). A person was having bingo (Tedhe medhe) and found a long piece of thread in it on Aug 25, 2019.
Fig 05: Long piece of thread in Bingo (Tedhe Medhe)
9. McDonald’s, at Choo Yun Ting on FEB 9, 2019 received two customer complaints. One a piece of paper in his scrambled eggs. Another complaint was a piece of plastic embedded inside (the) fish patty.
Fig 06: A piece of plastic & Paper found in fish patty & v scrambled eggs respectively
10. Australian Woman Nearly Breaks Tooth after Biting into Metal Rod Inside McDonald’s Burger. A woman in Australia’s Sydney had a harrowing experience when she went to have a meal at McDonald’s. Ada Teaupa found a small metal rod in her chicken and cheeseburger that she ordered from the popular fast-food chain on FEBRUARY 18, 2020.
Fig 07: Metal Rod found Inside McDonald’s Burger
11. A Pregnant lady got a cigarette butt in her Krispy Kreme doughnut on 11 May 2015, in Australia.
Fig 08: Cigarette butt found inside doughnut
12. Cigarette found in food dish 2PL – Picture of Mehak Grill House, Ilford. Dish did not taste right and then I found a black cigarette with a very strong tobacco smell. Then found the filter of the cigarette amongst the chow Mein at Alisonhauxwell, UK December 18, 2016.
Fig 09: Cigarette filter found in chow Mein
13. Man discovers half-smoked cigarette in Chinese takeaway, Horndean, Hampshire, UK on 18 Feb 2018
Fig 10: Half-smoked cigarette in Chinese takeaway
14. On 22 August 2019, Japan, A 73 years old man, needed part of his bowel removed after a 2cm-long fish bone he accidentally swallowed perforated his intestine.
Fig 11: Perforated his intestine due to fish bone
15. On 03/11/2011, McDonald’s Chicken nuggets found with bone inside. McDonalds says on their website their chicken McNuggets are boneless.
Fig 12: McDonald’s boneless Chicken nuggets found with bone inside
16. Unhappy meal: Six-year-old bites into chicken McNuggets and ‘finds half-inch piece of BONE’. She took a bite out of the nugget and chipped her tooth. Mr Merry claims that he then spotted a bone inside the piece of chicken on 14.03.2014.
17. A nut bolt was found inside a donut purchased from one of their outlets in Bangalore, India in the year 2022.
Fig 13: A nut bolt inside a donut from MOD
Detecting and Eliminating Physical Hazards
There are several methods available to detect foreign bodies on food processing production lines:
Physical hazards are dangerous, both for the consumers as well as for the company. They can be detrimental to the brand name and can leave a huge burn in the company’s pockets. The food manufacturers should have control over foreign particles getting into the product in terms of infrastructure, man, method, and handling practices. The food handlers must be aware and trained regarding the reason and consequences of physical hazards in food.
There should be proper monitoring checks ( such checks can be established by implementing HACCP standards . Read more here. ) in place for raw materials, production line, and dispatch line, and verified as well to avoid contamination. The trained and certified officials to handle the production, QA section etc. can help too. Proper traceability shall be carried out if an emergency happens. All food handlers, people inside out and top management need to strive for the safety and quality of food. After all, “Prevention is Better than Cure”.
We, at Food Safety Works, can help you identify the gaps in your systems and, of course, also how to fix them effectively.
About the Author
Mythri R is an Associate Consultant at Food Safety Works. She has been working with a lot of food processing units to ensure they have a robust Food Safety Management System. She is very well conversant with HACCP and ISO22000.