Food safety - was I over-cautious?

[Anonymous]

I made a real simple eggplant parm on Sunday - two kinds of cheeses, eggplant dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, quick fried then baked. I ate it Sunday night and Monday night and wanted to take some for lunch today (though it was starting to lose its appeal) but realized I left it on the counter for a few hours - four.

I'm a food safety snob. Actually don't eat a lot of red meat and pork cause it freaks me out and throw stuff away if there's any doubt. Just wanted to see what others would do. I opted not to bring it to lunch today.

[Anonymous]

Something switched in my brain during my first pregnancy. My biggest food aversion was any kind of leftover. Before that I loved leftovers. I would sit at work thinking about the 4 day old Pad Thai in the fridge. At that time I may have eaten eggplant parm 4 hours out of the fridge, but not now. If it were super fresh (as in made this morning and then left out), it wouldn't be as worrisome, but it is 2 days old plus the time out of the fridge.... It's probably ok- I wouldn't eat it, but I wouldn't think you are crazy if you did.

[Anonymous]

I would have eaten it.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Would have tossed it. All it took was one case of food poisoning. I am very, very cautious now.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't have eaten it.

[Anonymous]

I would have eaten it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something switched in my brain during my first pregnancy. My biggest food aversion was any kind of leftover. Before that I loved leftovers. I would sit at work thinking about the 4 day old Pad Thai in the fridge. At that time I may have eaten eggplant parm 4 hours out of the fridge, but not now. If it were super fresh (as in made this morning and then left out), it wouldn't be as worrisome, but it is 2 days old plus the time out of the fridge.... It's probably ok- I wouldn't eat it, but I wouldn't think you are crazy if you did.

How do you go to restaurants? Do you know that the vast majority of food that you are eating when you go out - even to very high end places - is pre-prepared and only finished at that last minute?

[Anonymous]

If I have doubts, I just reheat thoroughly. Put it in the oven for 30 min and have at it.

[Anonymous]

4 hours I would have done. Probably not much more than that.

[Anonymous]

I would have been sick of eggplant parm by then.

[Anonymous]

2 hours is my max. So, at 4, it would be in the trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 hours is my max. So, at 4, it would be in the trash.

+1 Taking a chance on food poisoning is not worth it to me.

[Anonymous]

The cold slows down the development and growth of bacteria, which causes the decay of food. If it came out of the fridge, 4 hours is okay. If it was heated and then left out, I probably wouldn't keep it past about 2 hours, 3 tops.

[Anonymous]

I make a lot of stews and soups struggle with how long to let food cool down before I refrigerate it. I worry if the giant pot of hot soup will raise the temp in the fridge, spoiling the milk, etc. Sometimes when I remember (rarely), I'll submerge the pot in a sink filled with ice and cool it off quickly, but usually I let it cool off for a few hours then refrigerate. How do you more-cautious PPs handle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 hours is my max. So, at 4, it would be in the trash.

+1 Taking a chance on food poisoning is not worth it to me.

I would have eaten it. Last week I got food poisoning from the Ice House Cafe in Herndon. I have never ever gotten sick from my own cooking and lazy refrigeration habits, but a number of times have been sick from restaurants. Ice House took me by surprise, as the food is high quality and fresh.