Is it safe to eat leftover food that was left out on the counter to cool at dinnertime,?

Question

then forgotten until morning? Will additional cooking kill the bacteria that may have grown?

Answer 1

According to food safety rules, you should store food immediately after cooking if you are not going to eat it. So the most conservative people will tell you it's not safe.

However, I've done it. Depending on what the food is, you might be okay. It's your health, so you can decide how much of a risk to take.

I suppose that further cooking would probably kill some bacteria, if you get the food to a high-enough temperature. If you didn't get it hot enough, the warm temps would just allow the bacteria to grow faster.

Answer 2

No. Bacteria exist everywhere in nature. They are in the soil, air,
water, and the foods we eat. When they have nutrients
(food), moisture, and favorable temperatures, they grow rapidly, increasing
in numbers to the point where some types of
bacteria can cause illness. Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of
temperatures between 40 and 140 °F, some doubling
in number in as little as 20 minutes. Some types will produce toxins that
are not destroyed by cooking.

Pathogenic bacteria do not generally affect the taste, smell, or appearance
of a food. In other words, one cannot tell that
a food has been mishandled or is dangerous to eat. For example, food that
has been left too long on the counter may be
dangerous to eat, but could smell and look fine. If a food has been left in
the "Danger Zone" – between 40 and 140 °F – for
more than 2 hours, discard it, even though it may look and smell good. Never
taste a food to see if it is spoiled.

Answer 3

Technically, you should never eat any food that has sat between 40-160F for very long. Safe food handling guidelines state that you should dispose of any cooked food that has sat at room temperature for more than two hours (one hour if above 90F). That being said, I think it kind of depends on a few things: what kind of food you're talking about (I admit I've left pizza out on the coffee table for a couple days and still ate it -- wasn't very good, but I'm still here -- but fish would probably kill you) General rule I follow is that it had better get into the fridge within a couple of hours, or if it was a big pot of something that was still scalding hot when I scooped some out to eat, probably four hours (because it's still hot enough to be inhospitable to contamination)

Additional cooking will indeed kill the bacteria, but any toxins they may have released or WILL release in the process of dying will still be present in the food and will still make you sick, even though the food may be nigh sterile.

Bottom line: you'd better just throw the stuff out and remember to refrigerate your leftovers next time.

Answer 4

2 hour rule states that anything left out for 2 hours needs to be refrigerated or frozen, after that, your leaving yourself open to a world of microbial growth! Additional cooking does not always kill bacteria, some actually thrive on heat.

Answer 5

When in doubt, throw it out. Cooking might kill some of the bacteria, but if you have ever had food poisoning (I have) you wouldn't want to take that chance ever again.

Answer 6

depends what it is seafood?get rid of it for sure in a kitchen situation food is chilled quickly in a blast chiller and refrigerated stored at a safe temp of5 degrees c or under the safe zone for hot food is 63 or above anything between is considered danger zone but thats in industry where we have to keep our asses covered or be closed down at home you can afford to be more flexible judge by what it is and how long its out and how warm the room is if it smells definately dump it

Answer 7

I would just throw it out. Food should be imm. refrigerated after a meal. They say not to even let food cool down anymore.

Answer 8

Hey I dont know if you have insects and stuff in your house stay away but if you dont hey go for it! Wait you didnt eat dinner?

Answer 9

NO!!~