The task of ensuring food safety is complex—food safety hazards can arise at any stage of the food chain, beginning with primary production through distribution to consumption.

Coastal erosion is the process by which local sea level rise, strong wave action, and coastal flooding wear down or carry away rocks, soils, and/or sands along the coast. All coastlines are affected by storms and other natural events that cause erosion; the combination of storm surge at high tide with additional effects from strong waves—conditions commonly associated with landfalling tropical storms—creates the most damaging conditions.

A tsunami is a series of ocean waves produced by sudden movements of the ocean floor—tsunamis can be caused by earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic activity. In the deep ocean, tsunami waves can travel across the ocean as fast as a commercial jetliner (more than 500 miles per hour), yet appear to be a simple ripple only a few inches high at the ocean's surface—likely not noticeable to someone on a boat or ship.

At the global scale, sea level is rising. Measured at tide gauges on every continent and by satellites on orbit, global average sea level has risen about 10-12 inches over the last 100 years (1920-2020)

During extremely high tides, the sea literally spills onto land in some locations, inundating low-lying areas with seawater until high tide has passed. Because this flooding causes public inconveniences such as road closures and overwhelmed storm drains, the events were initially called nuisance flooding. To help people understand the cause of these events, they are now referred to as high-tide floods.

By definition, inland flooding doesn't occur on the coast, yet hazard specialists consider it with other coastal issues because it is often the result of landfalling coastal storms.

Inland floods can also occur after rain falls for many days in a row, as a result of brief periods of intense precipitation, when snowpack melts quickly, or when dams or levees fail. Whenever the volume of water on land overcomes the capacity of natural and built drainage systems to carry it away, inland flooding can result.

When severe storms such as hurricanes, cyclones, and nor'easters move toward land from the ocean, low pressure and strong winds can push abnormally high water levels onto the coast. Storms moving across the Great Lakes can also produce flood-causing surges.