My husband thinks foods are safe to eat after being left out long periods, esp if they are sealed or covered??

Question

I am very concerned about eating foods that have been left out of refrigeration for long periods, like over an hour and a half or so in case of food poisoning but my husband is not. He also says that if something is sealed or a meat is covered with breading or sauce or something that that protects it from contamination. Like he left a sealed container of milk out overnight and said the fact it hadn't been opened protected it and a piece of fried chicken covered with sauce left out for hours was protected from salmonella, etc. by the breading and the sauce. I still don't think it's safe/worth the risk to eat these things. Is this true?

Answer 1

A couple of hours is not going to hurt, but after four hours, bacteria can begin to grow to dangerous levels. Generally, vegetables are safe to leave out longer than meats and dairy. An unopened container of milk left overnight should be OK - I've forgotten to put away the milk after shopping, and put it in the fridge the next day, and it was fine, but that's because milk is pasteurized. Even then, it probably would have spoiled faster if I hadn't used it right away. And if it had been a hot day, it probably would have gone bad.

Basically he's wrong - in no way will sauce covering a piece of chicken "protect" it - bacteria will be happy to grow on the sauce. Salmonella is present in foods before you prepare them - if a food is contaminated with salmonella, it is already in the food. Leaving it out just gives the bacteria a chance to grow back after cooking has killed most of them. Cooking kills most, but not all, salmonella, and leaving the food out lets them regrow.

Answer 2

Did you know that aged beef is really beef that has been hanging on hooks for a while, [weeks maybe, but you could look that up] in the open air? They will cut the dried crust off, which will then expose a wonderfully tender and flavorful cut of beef.

I wouldn't eat RAW non-vegetable food that's been left out for a while, in spite of the aged beef principle, but I'm not as concerned about cooked food. I also wouldn't assume that non-vegetable products that are meant to be chilled, such as milk or yogurt, would stay good on the counter if it hadn't been opened, since those particular containers are not vacuum packed. The air that is in the packaging contains bacteria that have the opportunity to grow if the food is brought to room temperature.

I just remembered that a friend of mine one time found a piece of wrapped american cheese in a pocket of a pair of pants that he rarely wore...this piece of cheese had not only been washed and dried, but had also sat in his closet for months. He sniffed it, pronounced it good, and unwrapped it and ate it. He was fine. Must be the preservatives.

Answer 3

he is an idiot,he will find out we he gets a stomach virus

Answer 4

i have a friend who leaves meals(cooked, not raw) out on the counter for about 5 hrs all the time, then she reheats them to eat. Ive never seen her get sick from it. However, i wouldn't recommend it. and certainly NOT any dairy products(or raw foods). But if your house is a/c'd generally speaking you should be ok with the food setting out for a period of time. but if you're so concerned, just put it away!? A full fridge and freezer runs more efficiently anyways.

Answer 5

No. Watch my lips...no! Do not eat it nor let your children!!

If he insists, let him go for it but also state that you will be the one doing the emergency care and driving to the hospital and say think of me, deary!

Answer 6

OMG That is NOT good to eat!!!

Put it up for him or let him "learn" his mistake one day.  

Answer 7

I guess I have a sturdy constitution and I'm not afraid to try it.   I've eaten food that's been left out for longer than half hour.

Maybe not mayonnaise or cheese.

Jeez how do you think the pioneers did it?  Not every country and  society has the modern convenience of refrigeration.

Answer 8

You are MOSTLY correct.    Sauce or breading does not protect meats.  It might actually accelerate spoilage.   Think of how quickly a moist piece of bread will visibly mold (The mold actually begins much before you can see it).  

The milk on the other hand has a few caveats.    Let me cite you an example to help understand milk spoilage.  

Dairy companies that distribute milk to New York City AND it's suburbs sometimes put two expiration dates on the milk.   NYC has it's own dairy expiration rules that sets an expiration date 4 days (96 hours) after 6am on the day the dairy product was pasteurized.   In the suburbs, the expiration date varies from 6 to 8 days.   Some milk prints two expiration dates because the dairy company is not sure where that particular product will be sold (NYC or the Suburbs).  

The reason for the above is that much of NYC milk is delivered to families directly and to small corner stores.   This delivered milk sometimes sits unrefrigerated for 8+ hours depending on the delivery time and the availability of the person receiving delivery.   Milk delivered at 7am might not be refrigerated until 7pm when the person comes home from work.  

So based upon these regulations, you can infer that unrefrigerated milk can be left out for some time but it significantly shortens the shelf life.    If your milk that you left out had an expiration date 3-4 days away then the chances are that the milk is still fine to drink.  

Answer 9

Haha, you shouldn't let your husband feed you such lies :-) No, it's not safe to eat meat or drink milk that's been left out, even if it is sealed. Unless it specifically says on the package "refrigerate AFTER opening", then it needs to be refrigerated at all times.

Answer 10

Actually sauces are breeding grounds for bacteria, and milk left out without refrigeration will inevitably go bad, regardless of the type of container, sealed or not. If food that requires refrigeration is left out, covering it with plastic wrap may delay the decay somewhat, but in the end all you've done is seal the bacteria laden air into the food with the plastic wrap. Despite your husbands' confidence in coverings I'd let him eat the food he leaves out by himself and stick to properly stored food so that you'll be well enough to take him to the hospital when he (inevitably) comes down with food poisoning.

Answer 11

No it is not true. Hispanics are very much of this ilk though, my wife is the same way and she is from El Slavador. Food left out for more than an hour starts to double the bacteria build up. As for chicken it won't manifest salmonella unless it's unercooked to begin with. Cooking chicken thoroughly kills all the salmonella bacteria but less harmful bacterias will form after the food sits for an hour or so. people think it's OK to do this because usually they have very heart bacteria flora in their own bellies that kills off the bacteria that is grown with foods that sit at room temp for a few hours.

Answer 12

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! That is completely incorrect.  Just because it was covered does not make it safe.  Otherwise, 18 wheelers would not have to have refridgeration systems in them for MILK and MEATS to include CHICKEN.  The cold environtment helps to prevent the natural bacteria that is in the air and on the food from growing and becomeing harmful.  This of it this way, you don't walk into hospitals and think, "man it is hot in here" and you never will.  They are cold for a reason...... to prevent the further growth of harmful bacteria.

Answer 13

Food should be consume fresh as soon as possible. Even food kept in refrigerator started to develop bacterias but slower than food kept outside.

http://indian-veg-food.blogspot.com

Answer 14

COVERING DOES NOT INHIBIT THE GROWTH OF BACTERIA, AND SOMETIMES COVERED FOOD LEFT OUT SPEEDS UP THE GROWTH