Which one of the following contaminants is a physical contaminant?

hair

salmonella

insecticide

botulism

The physical contaminant is hair.

A contaminant is anything that is found in food that should not be there. There are several types of contaminants: biological, physical, and chemical.

Biological contamination is the presence of pathogens (bacteria, viruses, yeast, or ) in the food. These pose as biological hazards that may cause illness upon ingestion of food.

Physical contaminants are objects that get in the food like hair, fingernails, metal fragments, glass shards, insects, jewelry, etc. These may be physical hazards that can cause injury to the person who consumes the food. Physical contaminants may have gotten in the food anytime during the processing and preparation of the food.

Chemical contaminants are chemical substances that should not be mixed in food at all or substances that are present in greater than allowed quantities in food. Examples of chemical contaminants are pesticides, insecticides, cleaning agents, etc. Chemical contaminants are chemical hazards since they may cause sickness and poisoning to whoever ingests them.

Based on the discussion above, the options can be classified as:

Keywords: contaminants, food hazards

Hair acts as the physical contaminants.

Further Explanation:

Contaminants are any substance which can cause harm or leave negative impact on the health of plants and animals. So it can be referred to any undesirable substance that can be biological, physical or chemical.

The man-made chemicals such as DDT can also act as the contaminants. Contaminants can be present in soil, land animals and plants.

Physical contaminants are the things that can be visualized by our eyes. Physical contaminants can be objects like pieces of plastic, plant stalks and hair. All these may cause any physical harm and may result in illnesses which is food borne, for example, jaundice, typhoid etc. According to food safety guidelines, human hair should be controlled so as to avoid it from falling into the exposed food.

Human hair can act as the physical or microbiological contaminant as it can provide a platform for the growth of some microbes in the food.

Salmonella refers to the group of specific type of bacteria. It commonly causes food borne illness. It is a type of biological contaminant.

Insecticides refers to any chemical that is formulated so as to kill, repel or harm particular kinds of insects. These insecticides may damage the nervous system and exoskeleton. It is a type of chemical contaminant.

Botulism is a type of illness which occurs due to botulinum toxin this toxin may cause paralysis. It is a type of biological contaminant.

Learn more:

1. Learn more about disease

2. Learn more about contaminants

3. Learn more about plants

Answer Details:

Grade: College biology

Subject: Biology

Chapter: Environmental studies

Keywords:

Contaminant, plant, animal, biological, physical, chemical, DDT, soil, illnesses, food, jaundice, typhoid, microbes, Salmonella, Insecticides, Botulism, botulinum.

answer: blah

explanation:

bc blah