OT - Cooked food, unrefrigerated

[LiveMusic]

How long do you think it is safe to eat food that has been cooked? I wonder if what it is matters?

 

If food has been out for five or six hours, are you worried? How about a day? Two?

[Mats Olsson.]

What kind of food is it?

[LiveMusic]

Just a general question. Typical home-cooked meals. Mean, veggies, bread.

 

All my life, I never remember my mom letting food sit out long. She would refrigerate it soon after the meal. When I eat with her these days, I note she will let it sit out all day. Just wondering if that is "safe" or normal for other people. Or, even letting it sit out an entire 24 hours. Obviously, there is a limit. Of course, if you were starving, if it were in any way edible, you'd be happy!

[cherri]

I would not, could not, eat spoiled food.

 

From the food & drug Administration:

 

How long can leftover food be left out of the refrigerator?

 

Hot foods should be refrigerated as soon as possible within two hours after cooking. But don't keep the food if it's been standing out for more than two hours. Don't taste test it, either. Even a small amount of contaminated food can cause illness.

 

Date leftovers so they can be used within a safe time. Generally, they remain safe when refrigerated for three to five days. If in doubt, throw it out, "It's not worth a food-borne illness for the small amount of food usually involved."

[wraub]

I'd say it depends on the food. My inlaws are Korean, and much of the food in their house is salty, spicy, pickled, or all of those.

Food sits out there all the time.

But then, now that I recall, even American food sits out there all the time, and no one gets sick.

Maybe it's their house...

Even so, I'd be a lot more likely to eat left-out kim-chee than a left-out souffle'.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

[KenElevenShadows]

If it's spicy food, you can get away with a lot of things more, especially things like beans. Indian food keeps a long time, for example.

 

But what is it about pizza? You can keep a pizza with meat and cheese out for a day or two and it's still edible!!!

[LiveMusic]

Originally posted by cherri:

I would not, could not, eat spoiled food.

 

From the food & drug Administration:

 

How long can leftover food be left out of the refrigerator?

 

Hot foods should be refrigerated as soon as possible within two hours after cooking. But don't keep the food if it's been standing out for more than two hours. Don't taste test it, either. Even a small amount of contaminated food can cause illness.

 

Date leftovers so they can be used within a safe time. Generally, they remain safe when refrigerated for three to five days. If in doubt, throw it out, "It's not worth a food-borne illness for the small amount of food usually involved."

Now that's an appropos answer! This is what I have been telling my mom and she said she'd been doing it her whole life, which flabbergasted me. Not true. Only in the past few years. She was always meticulous about being safe.

[Hound Dog]

Bacteria need six conditions in order to multiply. They need a source of food, a mildly acid environment, a temperature between 41ºF and 140ºF (5º and 60ºC), time, diferent oxygen requiring environment, and enough moisture. These requirements can be remembered using the acronym

F-A-T-T-O-M.

 

Six Conditions Bacteria Need to Multiply

F Food - High in protein

A Acid - pH of 4.6 to 7.0

T Temperature - 41º to 140ºF

T Time - two hours, four hours, etc.

O Oxygen - different oxygen requiring environments

M Moisture - enough water or humidity

Food- most bacteria prefer foods that are high in protein like meats, poultry, seafood, dairy products, and cooked rice, beans, and potattoes.

Acidity - most foods are acidic and have a pH less than 7.0. Most bacteria prefer a neutral environment (pH of 7.0) but are capable of growing in foods that have a pH in the range of 4.6 to 9.0.

Temperature - time and temperature are the most critical factors affecting the growth of bacteria in foods. Most disease-causing bacteria can grow within a temperature range of 41º to 140ºF (5° and 60°C). This is commonly referred to as the food "Temperature Danger Zone".

Time - bacteria need about four hours to grow to high enough numbers to cause illness. This includes the total time that a food is between 41º and 140ºF.

Oxygen - aerobic bacteria must have oxygen in order to grow. Anaerobic bacteria cannot survive when oxygen is present because it's toxic to them.

Moisture - disease-causing bacteria can only grow in foods that have a water activity higher than 0.85. Water activity is a measure of the amount of water that is not bound to the food and is therefore available for bacterial growth. Drying foods or adding salt or sugar reduces the amount of available water.

 

Yes, it matters

[LiveMusic]

BTW, back in my health-nut days, I recall reading something about a McDonald's burger. Like you could let them sit for months and they wouldn't spoil. Yikes. That's food?

[not coaster MODERATOR]

"this milk smells funny"

 

"yuk!, it tastes terrible too"!

[Barandine Vondenger]

Always eat prepared or cooked foodes either a little warmer or colder.

never room temp

bacteria BREEDS at room temps.

HEAT killes most bacteria.

Cold keeps bacteria from forming on most foodes.

[boosh]

Originally posted by arellspencer:

Always eat prepared or cooked foodes either a little warmer or colder.

never room temp

bacteria BREEDS at room temps.

HEAT killes most bacteria.

Cold keeps bacteria from forming on most foodes.

Sorry, the ideal temperature for bacteria that is harmfull to p[eople is body temp so here it means 37 degrees celcius... 78 celcius pasteurizes(kills most) 100 degrees is sterilizing and kills all. the traces bacterias leave when the spoil food cannot be destroyed by cooking.Spurs I think they're called in English. For strong healthy people it's no problem if food is out of the fridge for 2 days(as long as the meat is cover in fat or butter)(which means oxygen cannot reach the bacterias).... Bacterias need three things 1 oxygen 2 water 3 the right temp...If you take one away like adding salt(which dehydrates) keeping it under oil or butter(which prevents oxygen from hitting them) or the fridge or oven(which either stops their growth or kills them) there's no harm done to ya,..

Unless you're weak(sick) a baby or an elderly person.

 

Rule number 1 cook clean and don't mix raw with cooked foods.

 

I work in the cleanest kitchen of my country( yes we actually have an agency who checks that).We have been the #1 for 6 years now. If someone has any questions about this stuff just ask me

[Barandine Vondenger]

hey you ought to know better 'n me.. I don' minde being wrong about this. .. I know very little about a lot of subjects it seems ahahaha!

I'm a freak about eating food that has set out for a while. I only like to eat colder or hotter food. never room temp.

[Guitar Geezer]

I made the mistake of eating a couple of bites of 3 day old Potato Salad (which had been in the fridge all along) on Wednesday

 

nuff said (forgot there was mayo in it )

[boosh]

Originally posted by arellspencer:

hey you ought to know better 'n me.. I don' minde being wrong about this. .. I know very little about a lot of subjects it seems ahahaha!

I'm a freak about eating food that has set out for a while. I only like to eat colder or hotter food. never room temp.

Haha man Arell I just re-read my post,...worst spelling I ever did. When I wrote the stuff I just came home after having loads of beers with my co-workers. I didn't speak with a double tongue but it seems like I typed with double fingers.

[Slowly]

I think chicken rots quicker than anything, and its un-refrigerated shelf life is about fours hours, and even the Bible says don't eat anything after three days. Kcbass

[Wewus432]

Anything with dumpster juice on it, is bad.

[henrysb3]

Anyone for Fear Factor?

[skipclone 1]

I`m always extra suspicious of anything involving white collagenic substances-milk, cottage cheese (don`t eat that anyway), mayonnaise (don`t eat that either), yogurt, or any food heavy in those things-they seem to go bad faster.

Chinese meat is often left outside to cure after it`s cooked-you can see whole chickens, ducks and various animal parts hanging in front of the shops. It`s probably due to the cooking method, I wondered about it but I got sick only twice in five years, once in Taiwan and once in Thailand.

[KenElevenShadows]

I had to take a health class for teachers recently to renew my teaching credential. The professors mentioned that bacteria knows what's edible. They said that if you can leave out certain foods and the bacteria won't touch it, that might be telling you something about what you're eating!

[revolead]

This reminds me of a really corny video I watched in 7th grade called "The Danger Zone." Anyway, it said something about food between 40 F and 70 F is not safe to eat without reheating or chilling. I don't really remember. I don't really care. I'm alive and well.

[Raymar]

I used to go by the philosophy of - just nuke it!

 

Then I found out that microwaving any food plays with its molecular structure in a nasty way that isn't good for your bod. Browned food is glicated which causes cancer(little food trivia for ya there).

 

If you want to risk food poisoning its your call.

 

Steve

[Mats Olsson.]

Originally posted by Raymar:

Then I found out that microwaving any food plays with its molecular structure in a nasty way that isn't good for your bod.

Can you please elaborate?

[Jim Novak]

Microwaving does things with proteins and sugars that are not well researched, and interferes with the Maillard reaction, which is why food tastes different from a microwave. What goes in isn't what comes out.

 

But cooked foods with starch contains acrylamide, which is also carcinogenic, so really you should only eat raw or warmed food anyhow. Which sounds kooky, but it's reality. Just because we can eat something doesn't mean it's good for us.