The description 'organics, metals, mycotoxins/phycotoxins/phytotoxins, food additives, nutrients, toxicants from cooking, and radionucleotides too' corresponds to which hazard category?

• A. Biological hazards
• B. Chemical hazards
• C. Physical hazards
• D. Radiological hazards

Answer: (B)

Hazards in foods are grouped by the type of threat, and this list points to chemical hazards. The items mentioned—metals, organic chemicals, toxins produced by microbes (mycotoxins, phycotoxins, phytotoxins), substances added to food (food additives), nutrients that can cause harm at improper levels, toxicants formed during cooking, and radionuclides—are all chemical substances or contaminants that can cause adverse health effects. They’re not living organisms, and they aren’t physical objects like glass or bone fragments.

Biological hazards refer to pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Physical hazards are foreign objects or materials. Radiological hazards involve radiation exposure from radioactive materials; in many frameworks radionuclides are discussed separately as radiological hazards, but they’re included here as chemical hazards because they represent chemical contaminants that can produce harm in food.

So the described category fits chemical hazards.