David Robert Lambert

The Oxford English Dictionary defines HAZARDOUS (adj.) as 1) fraught with hazards or risk; dangerous; risky 2) of a person: given to risk-taking; reckless; adventurous 3) of the nature of the game of hazard; dependent on chance, and 4) that is or represents a hazard to human or animal health; that is damaging to the environment.  A HAZARDOUS MATERIAL (n.) isany of various substances considered to be especially dangerous to humans, the environment, etc., if not handled, used, or stored in a particular way and HAZARDOUS WASTE (n.) is waste, esp. industrial waste, that is potentially harmful to human health or to the environment and which requires special facilities for its disposal.

Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causes many diseases, and reduces the health of smokers in general.  It is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States as evidenced by causing more deaths each year than the following five causes combined: 1) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 2) illegal drug use,
3) alcohol use, 4) motor vehicle injuries, and 5) firearm-related incidents.  More than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States.

Clearly, cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health, but what about food?  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services) used to use the term “potentially hazardous foods” to describe many of them.  Of course meat, poultry and fish need special handling but what about a leafy green salad and cut tomatoes?  Yes, even a salad!

A potentially hazardous food (PHF) or time/temperature control for safety food (TCS) is defined in terms of whether or not it requires time/temperature control for safety to limit pathogen growth or toxin formation.  The list of TCS foods may surprise you.  Basically, if you need to keep a food item in the refrigerator, it’s a TCS food.  That means everything from milk and cheese and eggs and meat, all the way down to cooked rice.  Why use such a scary term, potentially hazardous, for everyday food items?  Why try to associate these common foods with cancer, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl?

Here is the story about TCS foods.

The FDA publishes the Food Code, a model that assists food control jurisdictions at all levels of government by providing them with a scientifically sound technical and legal basis for regulating the retail and food service segment of the industry (restaurants and grocery stores and institutions such as nursing homes). Local, state, tribal, and federal regulators use the FDA Food Code as a model to develop or update their own food safety rules and to be consistent with national food regulatory policy.

Between 1993 and 2001, the Food Code was issued every two years. With the support of the Conference for Food Protection (CFP), FDA decided to move to a four-year interval between complete Food Code editions. During the interim period between full editions, FDA may publish a Food Code Supplement that updates, modifies, or clarifies certain provisions. The 2005 Food Code was the first full edition published on the new four-year interval, and it was followed by the Supplement to the 2005 Food Code, which was published in 2007. The 2017 Food Code is the most recent full edition published by FDA.

In 2009, the FDA Food Code had a definition of Potentially Hazardous Food on page 15:

Potentially hazardous food (time/temperature control for safety food)
means a food that requires time/temperature control for safety (TCS) to limit
pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation.

Following issuance of the final report “Evaluation and Definition of Potentially Hazardous Foods” (Technologists, 2010) by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) on December 31, 2001 the recommendation was made to change the name of “potentially hazardous foods” or “PHF” to “temperature control for safety food” or “TCS”. The report advised that use of both terms (e.g. PHF/TCS) during a transition phase would facilitate migration from one term to the next. Now over a decade since the IFT report, the transition term has been in common use in the FDA Food Code since 2005.

In 2012, the CFP made a recommendation to the FDA to change the definition of PHF/TCS to TCS.

The definition of “Potentially Hazardous Food (Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food)”, abbreviated PHF/TCS in the FDA Food Code, has now been in common use for over six years. While it has served its purpose for introducing the new term, the time has come to complete the migration to the new definition. The definition and abbreviation for “Potentially Hazardous Food (Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food)” or “PHF/TCS” should be modified to drop the reference to “potentially hazardous food” and “PHF”. Instead, the definition should read “Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food” abbreviated as “TCS”.

The Conference recommends that a letter be sent to the FDA requesting the following change to the 2009 Food Code (as modified by the Supplement issued in 2011):

Replace the current definition “Potentially Hazardous Food (Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food)” abbreviated as “PHF/TCS” with the new term “Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food” abbreviated “TCS” throughout the entire FDA Food Code.

The FDA acted on this 2012 recommendation and dropped the PHF term throughout the 2013 FDA Food Code.  The FDA Food Code is the model upon which states and other jurisdictions base their food-related laws and regulations.

However, now over 5-years later, neither the State of Maryland nor Montgomery County has done the same.

REFERENCES accessed February 23, 2019.

Oxford English Dictionary
hazardous, adj.; hazardous material, n.; hazardous waste, n.

Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/

Conference for Food Protection, Council I, 2012 Scribe Packet, Issue Number: Council I 004
Change definition of PHF/TCS to TCS
http://www.foodprotect.org/issues/packets/2012ScribePacket/issues/I_004.html

MARYLAND Food Handlers List of TCS Foods
https://www.mdfoodhandlers.com/Content.aspx?PageName=TCS

United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code
https://www.fda.gov/food/GuidanceRegulation/retailfoodprotection/foodcode/

2009 FDA Food Code
https://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/20170404235435/https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM189448.pdf

2013 FDA Food Code and Supplement
https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/UCM374510.pdf
https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/UCM451981.pdf

FDA Food Code 2017
https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/UCM595140.pdf

FDA Training Resources, Program Information Manual, Retail Food Protection Training Resources
https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/RetailFoodProtection/IndustryandRegulatoryAssistanceandTrainingResources/ucm113843.htm
Page Last Updated: 01/29/2018

Code of Maryland (COMAR) Regulations (Last Updated: July 29,2016)
Title 10. Department of Health & Mental Hygiene Subtitle 15. FOOD, Part 3.
Chapter 10.15.03. Food Service Facilities
http://mdrules.elaws.us/comar/10.15.03

Chapter 15. Eating And Drinking Establishments – Montgomery County
http://montgomeryco-md.elaws.us/code/core_ch15_15.00.01