Unfortunately, many businesses fail to realize the serious ramifications of not understanding the significance of risk assessment. Finances are expended on many things, from buildings to bar stools, from staff to stemware and from advertising to ambience. Truth be known, if the food passing through these establishments isn’t safe, none of these expenses will matter.
Risk management is the process of weighing policy alternatives to accept, minimize or reduce assessed risks and to select and implement appropriate options.
Food safety risk management has been proved to be useful in making science-based decisions. The food safety risk management is addressed from various perspectives, together with management metrics to facilitate its implementation. Also, a review of risk assessment is included. A promising future can be envisaged for food safety risk management activities.
These risk-based decisions may not be made consciously but nevertheless effectively introduce decision criteria related to relative risk. The most common is the establishment of standard methods of analysis for verifying that a food system is controlling a specific hazard.
The Hazard Analysis is most often conducted by the food safety and quality assurance team, and they are often expected to have knowledge of risk assessments as well. When conducting an ingredient risk assessment, you may ask several questions to gain information that will help with decision making for the ingredient.
Risk assessments can also be used for decision making regarding whether an ingredient should be purchased or used where there is no specific hazard identified but there may be anecdotal association with potential hazards.
Monitoring and review is the gathering and analyzing of data so as to give an overview of food safety and consumer health. Monitoring of contaminants in food and foodborne disease surveillance should identify new food safety problems as they emerge. Where there is evidence that required public health goals are not being achieved, redesign of food safety measures will be needed.