Risk Management and Food Safety Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key food safety concepts, hazards, contaminants, natural toxins, bacterial pathogens, and FATTOM conditions.

Risk Management in Food and Beverage Operations

The systematic process of identifying food-safety hazards, assessing the risks they create, and applying appropriate control measures to prevent foodborne illness, injury, contamination, and other losses.

Five Basic Principles for Safer Food Handling

WHO guidelines for safe food handling: keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, and use safe water and raw materials.

Food Hazard

A condition or source that can cause harm through food, generally categorized as biological, chemical, physical, and time–temperature hazards.

Biological Hazards

Microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other living biological agents that can cause foodborne illness.

Chemical Hazards

Cleaning chemicals, pesticides, environmental contaminants, and toxins that can enter food and cause harm.

Physical Hazards

Foreign objects present in food, such as glass, metal fragments, small stones, or hair, that can injure consumers.

Time–Temperature Hazards

Improper control of temperature and time that allows harmful microorganisms to grow or toxins to form in food.

Time–Temperature Control

Managing the amount of time food is exposed to temperatures that can allow harmful microorganisms to grow or toxins to form.

TCS Food

Time/Temperature Control for Safety food that requires specific time and temperature controls to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation (formerly called Potentially Hazardous Food or PHF).

Cross-Contamination

The transfer of harmful microorganisms, allergens, chemicals, or other contaminants from one food, surface, utensil, equipment, or person to another.

Chemical Contaminants

Harmful chemicals that enter food at levels that may cause illness or injury, originating from environment, processing, packaging, storage, cleaning agents, or pesticides.

Physical Contaminants

Foreign objects that unintentionally enter food during production, delivery, storage, preparation, cooking, or service and may cause physical injuries like choking or cuts.

Naturally Occurring Food Toxins

Toxic substances naturally produced by plants, fungi, bacteria, algae, or animals that can cause illness when consumed in sufficient amounts.

Hypoglycin A

A naturally occurring toxin found in ackee fruit.

Ciguatoxin

A natural toxin found in certain reef fish that causes ciguatera fish poisoning.

Scombrotoxin

A toxin produced in fish like tuna and mackerel that causes histamine/scombroid poisoning.

Mycotoxins

Toxic compounds produced by certain molds that contaminate grains, corn, and peanuts (such as aflatoxins).

Amygdalin

A natural toxin present in apricot, peach, and plum seeds that can release cyanide.

Ipomeamarone

A toxic compound associated with fungal spoilage in damaged or moldy sweet potatoes.

Furocoumarins

Naturally occurring phototoxic chemicals present in celery, citrus, and parsnips.

Glycoalkaloids

Toxic compounds such as solanine and chaconine found in green or sprouted potatoes.

Lectins

Natural toxins found in raw kidney beans that cause gastrointestinal illness.

Trypsin Inhibitors

Naturally occurring substances in soybeans and legumes that interfere with protein digestion.

Oxalic Acid

A compound present in rhubarb leaves that can cause toxicity at high exposure levels.

Cucurbitacins

Natural toxins found in bitter squash and zucchini that cause gastrointestinal illness.

Cyanogenic Glycosides

Compounds found in cassava and bamboo shoots that can release cyanide and cause cyanide poisoning.

Goitrogens

Substances found in cabbage, broccoli, soy, and cassava that can interfere with thyroid function.

Food Allergens

Foods that can trigger an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals, including milk, egg, peanut, soy, wheat, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.

Bacteria

Microscopic, single-celled organisms found almost everywhere; some are harmless or beneficial, while harmful strains contaminate food and multiply to cause foodborne illness.

FATTOM

An acronym representing the six conditions that allow harmful microorganisms to grow in food: Food, Acidity, Time, Temperature, Oxygen, and Moisture.

Clostridium botulinum

A bacterium producing a neurotoxin that causes botulism and paralysis; often associated with improperly home-canned, preserved, or fermented foods.

Campylobacter jejuni

A bacterium frequently associated with raw/undercooked poultry, unpasteurized milk, and untreated water that causes campylobacteriosis; prevented by cooking poultry to $165\,^{\circ}\text{F}\,(74\,^{\circ}\text{C})$.

Escherichia coli

A group of bacteria found in undercooked ground beef and contaminated produce; certain STEC strains cause severe cramps, bloody diarrhea, and HUS.

Listeria monocytogenes

A bacterium found in deli meats, soft cheeses, and unpasteurized dairy that can survive and grow at refrigerator temperatures, causing serious listeriosis in vulnerable populations.

Clostridium perfringens

A bacterium associated with cooked poultry, beef, gravy, and large batches of cooked food held at unsafe temperatures, causing food poisoning.

Shigella

Highly contagious bacteria causing shigellosis, spread through contaminated food, water, poor hand hygiene, and person-to-person transmission.

Staphylococcus aureus

A bacterium that produces toxins in foods handled after cooking (such as pastries and sandwiches), leading to rapid-onset nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps.

Foodborne Viruses

Very small infectious agents (such as Norovirus, Hepatitis A, and Rotavirus) that multiply only inside living host cells and do not grow in food.

Parasites

Organisms (such as Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella, and Anisakis) that live in or on a host organism to obtain nutrients.

Fungi

Organisms including molds, yeasts, and mushrooms that grow on food when moisture, warmth, and poor storage are present, potentially spoiling food or producing mycotoxins.