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- FAQs on Bacteria
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- Exactly what is meant by the phrase perishable food?
- Defining Some Current Language about Food
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- What does the term shelf life mean?
- What's in Our Food? Maybe Processing Aids, Maybe not
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- Exactly what defines a farmers’ market?
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- FAQs on Food-borne Illness and Mishandling of Food
- About how many cases of food-borne illness occur in the U.S. each year?
- Answer Key to “How Much Do You Know about Safe Handling of Food?”
- How Much Do You Know about Safe Handling of Food?
- I Left It Out Too Long! Can I Still Eat It?
- Should Your Grocery Card Track Food-Borne Illnesses?
- Sudden, Awful Intestinal Distress--Is it the Flu or a Foodborne Illness--or Both?
- What YOU Can Do to Avoid Food-borne Illness
- What does the phrase food-borne illness refer to?
- FAQs on Food Product Dating
- Are stores required, by law, to remove outdated items from their shelves?
- Do most consumers actually pay attention to the dating on foods?
- Does the “use by” date matter once the product is frozen?
- Is information on food longevity and safety available by phone?
- What are expiration dates?
- What do the terms closed dating and open dating mean?
- What if there is no date on a product, and I don’t remember if I bought it a month ago or ten years ago?
- What should consumers know about food product dating?
- When Did You Buy It? When Did You Open It?
- When to Throw Food Out? Not on the Use-By Date
- Who establishes these product dates?
- Who requires and regulates dating on foods?
- Why do “best by” and “use by” dates sometimes seem conservative?
- FAQs on Food Safety
- "Is It Safe To….?" FAQs Answered by our Advisory Board
- FAQs about Ground Beef, Seasonings, Olive Oil, Lemon Wedges, and Fish
- FAQs about Mushrooms: Are they Very Dirty or Very Clean?
- FAQs about Soft Cheeses--What's Safe, What Isn't
- FAQs on BPA: the attacks continue, but are they justified?
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- FAQs on Raw Fruits and Veggies—the Answers Can Protect Your Wallet and Your Health
- FAQs: Cutting Boards and Kitchen Counters--Selection and Care
- Food Bars/Buffets in Supermarkets--Is the food safe? How can you tell?
- Food/Meat Thermometers—What You Need to Know
- How Long Should Cheese Be Aged? Will the Rules Be Changed?
- How Long Will They REALLY Last? Part I: Non-perishables
- How Long Will They REALLY last? Part II: Perishables
- Imported Foods—What’s Safe, What’s Risky?
- Is It Safe? Is It Nutritious? More Survey Answers from Scientists
- Is It Time to Switch to Pasteurized Eggs?
- Is the Food Safety Modernization Act Making Our Food Supply Safer?
- More FAQs about Minimum Safe Cooking Temperatures: Pork and Other Perishables
- Sushi: Why Such a Short Shelf Life?
- Winter Food Storage—Can I leave It in the Car or in the Garage?
- Would You—Should You—Do You--Eat Irradiated Food?
- FAQs on Food Wrapping
- Are any plastic wraps or containers really “microwave safe”?
- Are some plastic wraps more effective than others?
- Can I refrigerate meat and poultry in its store wrapping?
- Can I use plastic freezer bags to store produce in the fridge?
- Can chemicals leach unto food from plastic wrap or containers?
- Do coated plastic bags really help produce last longer?
- Does aluminum foil give foods a metallic taste?
- Does exposure to aluminum cause Alzheimer’s disease?
- Everything You Need to Know about Wrapping Food Right
- How should fruits be wrapped before refrigeration?
- Is it safe to use aluminum foil in a microwave oven?
- Should I wrap raw vegetables loosely or tightly before refrigerating?
- What are some advantages and disadvantages of aluminum foil?
- What produce needs to be wrapped before refrigerating?
- What’s better for wrapping food—plastic or aluminum foil?
- Why does foil sometimes darken, discolor, and leave black specks on food?
- Will a foil cover help keep foods on the table hot or cold?
- FAQs on Freezing Food
- FAQs on Leftovers
- FAQs on Mold
- What is mold?
- Does mold ever grow on nonperishable food?
- Can I remove a moldy part from food and eat the rest?
- About how many different kinds of molds are there?
- How can I avoid getting mold on my refrigerated food?
- Is mold always visible?
- Are any molds harmless?
- What food groups are most susceptible to mold?
- What kinds of illnesses can result from eating moldy food?
- What kind of packaging protects foods from mold?
- What other safety tips will help prevent mold from growing?
- Why are some molds dangerous?
- FAQs on Organic Food
- What Is Organic Food?
- Are Organic Methods More Humane to Animals?
- Does Conventional Food Have a Longer Shelf Life Than Organic?
- Does Organic Food Taste Better than Conventional Food?
- Is Organic Food More Nutritious Than Conventional Food?
- Is Organically Grown Food Better for the Environment?
- What Do the Various Organic Labels Mean?
- What Important Contributions Has the Organic Movement Made?
- Which Are Safer: Organic or Conventional Food Products?
- Will Organic Baby Food Make Baby Healthier?
- FAQs on Oxidation: How It Affects Foods
- FAQs about Plastic Products Used with Food
- Pyrex® Glassware: Is it safe to use?
- Are plastic bags safe to use in the microwave?
- Are some plastic wraps safer and/or more effective than others?
- Are there any health risks from reusing plastic water bottles by refilling them with tap water?
- Are we eating chemicals from plastics along with our food?
- Can I microwave food in my plastic containers?
- Does the plastic used in water bottles pose a health risk?
- If I heat food in an open can, will that cause the plastic lining to leach chemicals into the food?
- Is it safe to heat frozen entrées in their plastic containers and with their plastic wrap?
- Is it safe to use plastic wrap as a covering when microwaving food?
- Is it safe to wash and dry plastic plates, cups, containers, and utensils in the dishwasher?
- Is there good evidence that BPA is harmful to human health?
- Of the plastic products used to store, heat, or eat with (wraps, bags, containers, silverware, plates, etc.), which contain BPA?
- What is BPA?
- Why is so much of today’s food packaged in plastic?
- FAQs on Preservatives
- What are Preservatives?
- All things considered, is our food supply safer or less safe because of preservatives?
- Are the preservatives in hot dogs and similar products health risks?
- What preservatives are known to cause allergic reactions?
- What are some common preservatives used in food?
- What food groups commonly have preservatives in them?
- Why are preservatives added to food?
- Will the label on the product tell me if it contains a preservative?
- FAQs on Washing Produce: Why and How
- Other FAQs
- Can chicken soup really cure a cold?
- Is Chocolate Good For You?
- Can Science and Technology Help You Save Food Dollars?
- FAQs Answered By Our Board Scientists: on Chickens, Bananas, Old Salad Dressing, and More
- FAQs about Food Price Increases
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- FAQs about Shelf Life: Tortillas, Pancakes, Wine, and More
- Food Fraud: Are you paying for scallops and getting shark meat?
- Is Cheese Addictive? Only If You Eat It
- Missing Chickens: Where Have All the Small Ones Gone?
- Nine FAQs about Food Labels
- Quiz Yourself! Check Your Knowledge about Food Temperatures
- Scientists Answer Two FAQs about Egg Safety
- Should Sour Cream and Cottage Cheese Be Stored Upside Down?
- Some Shelf Life Info, General and Specific (Spirits, Defrosted Veggies, Green Tea, and More)
- Syrup from a Tree or from a Lab--Which Should You Pour on Your Pancakes?
- Ten FAQs about the Prickly Pineapple
- What's New in Food? IFT Expo Offers Tasty Innovations
- What's on the Menu in Cuba?
- What’s in My Water? Answers to FAQs
- What will you be dining on this year? Here are predictions from folks in the know
- FAQs on Bacteria
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- It Says "Use By Tomorrow," But You Don't Have To
- Ten Tips for Consumer Food Safety
- Food Allergies: Recognizing and Controlling Them
- “Is It Spoiled?” When in Doubt, Check It Out
- How To Keep Your Cooler Cool
- Recent Recalls: Salmonella Threatens 100s of Products
- STOP! Don’t Rinse That Raw Chicken!
- Sous Vide—A Better Way to Cook?
- Why You Need a Safe Cooking Temperature Chart and How to Get One Right Now
- “Myth-information” about Food Safety: You’d Better Not Believe It
- After The Storm: What You Can Save and What You Must Throw Out
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- Organic Food, GMOs, the Safety of American Food, the Value of Use-By Dates, and More--Scientists Tell Us What They Think
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- Going Away for All or Part of the Winter? Prepare Your Kitchen for your Absence
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- How do summer squash and winter squash differ?
- New Year’s Resolutions For a Safer Kitchen
- Preserve the Taste of Summer by Canning—But Do It Safely
- Summer Food Fests Offer Much More than Calories
- Summer Party Tips: Baby Carrots (Using for Dips) Hot Dogs (Ditching the Guilt), and Watermelon (Finding a Ripe One)
- Tailgating: How to Do It Right
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- A Food App You're Apt to Like; A Brand-New Invention for Getting Shelf-Life Information
- Battling the Ripening of Bananas
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- Pesto: Ingredients, Uses, Shelf Life, Contamination, and More
- Shelf Life of Foods: What You Need to Know
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- Chocolate Is Even More Healthful Than You Thought
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I Left It Out Too Long! Can I Still Eat It?
Funny thing, but almost every question we get from our site members is a variation of the same question. Optimists phrase it positively: “Can I still eat it?” Pessimists ask, “Do I have to throw it out?” In either case, it’s a query about food that has been kept too long in the “danger zone” (40°F-140°F), in other words, a perishable food that hasn’t been kept hot enough or cold enough to prevent bacterial growth. No one wants to discard food that cost a lot and/or took a long time to prepare. So we did some research and asked two food scientists on the Shelf Life Advice Advisory Board to provide specific and general answers to “Is it really spoiled?” questions.
From Marilyn: Sunday evening, she cut up some fresh fruit and put it in a plastic bag to take to work the next day. She refrigerated it that night and put it on the table Monday morning. But she forgot it, so it sat on the table all day. Could she then refrigerate it and take it to work the next day? Here’s how Professor Joe Regenstein responded: “That would make me nervous. If the food had any contamination, the organisms had lots of time to grow. I would chuck it.” The usual recommendation from food safety experts is to keep cut-up fruit out no longer than 2 hours.
From Alana: She prepared everything needed to make chicken soup, put it in her slow cooker, and planned to cook it overnight, then refrigerate it in the morning and reheat it for dinner. However, she forgot to plug it in. Could she then plug it in the next morning, cook it all day, and have a safe dinner? Dr. Catherine Cutter sympathized, having suffered a similar mishap with corned beef, a much more expensive item. Her comment: Alana made the right decision in discarding everything in the pot.
Most poultry are contaminated with Salmonella and Campylobacter, bacteria that usually don’t make the bird sick but can make humans sick if the pathogens are not killed by cooking. These pathogens will grow rapidly on raw chicken at room temperature. Alana might have defended her pot of uncooked chicken soup this way: “If I’m going to cook the food, wouldn’t that kill all the bacteria including the ones that grew while it was standing at room temperature?” Yes, but some bacteria produce toxins (poisons) that are not destroyed even when the food is cooked at a high temperature. Dr. Catherine Cutter points out, “Staph grow really well on meat and poultry, especially at room temperature.” She was referring to staphylococcus, which, produce a toxin that, if consumed in contaminated food, is likely to create great abdominal discomfort within a few hours.
From no one: No one asked us this specific question, but, no doubt, many people make this mistake, so we’ll pass the question and answer along to you: “I left a big pot of chili on the stove unheated for several hours. Is it still safe to eat?”
Emphatically no, says Dr. Cutter. “If you have a large or thick amount of food that is not cooled rapidly, you risk the growth of Clostidium perfringens, which causes a diarrheal disease. We see this foodborne illness a lot with improper cooling of thick foods such as casseroles, soups, stew, and chili. You can get a high level of bacteria fast in high-protein foods. Spores can germinate if the food is not cooled quickly, and the vegetative or actively growing cells are ingested. Once in the gut, the cells can produce a toxin that causes diarrhea.” Dr. Cutter recommends putting these thick foods into smaller containers and not overcrowding the fridge in order to help the food cool quickly.
Most people know that keeping perishable food at room temperature is a bad idea. They may not know that most foods contain at least small amounts of bacteria. Refrigeration slows the growth of most bacteria. Freezing stops their growth completely but doesn’t kill them. When the food is defrosted, they’ll continue to grow. Only cooking to a high enough temperature kills the bacteria. However, even cooking food may not kill the spores of some bacteria or some bacterial toxins.
Bacteria are not the only cause of food-borne illness, but they are the main one. Bacteria multiply very quickly, so the time limit for keeping food at room temperature that’s recommended by food safety experts is 2 hours if the air temperature is about 72°F and one hour if the environment is 90°F or above. “That’s silly,” some people respond. “It can’t be that all foods become contaminated at exactly the same time.” Good point. However, the 2-hour rule is a protective, conservative guideline that is easy to remember. (No sense overwhelming one’s memory with a different time period for each type of food, wouldn’t you agree?)
But suppose company is coming in 10 minutes, and you really want to serve your casserole that’s been on the counter for hours. How can you know for sure whether or not it’s safe? Sorry, but you can’t know. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because it looks, smells, and tastes okay, it couldn’t be contaminated. It could be. You aren’t going to spend $100 or more to have a microbiology lab test your casserole, so deciding whether to serve it or discard it depends upon how much risk you’re willing to take. However, you should also want to consider the general health of those you intend to serve it to. Some people are more likely than others to become ill from bacteria in a particular food. Particularly vulnerable are young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems from cancer treatment, HIV, diabetes, or bone marrow or organ transplants.
More than 250 diseases are caused by contaminated food or drink. You can protect yourself and your family by keeping foods out of the “danger zone” as much as possible. Here are a few tips that might help you remember to get your leftovers back into the fridge quickly, something that’s not easy to do when you’re entertaining dinner guests at home.
How Can I Remember to Refrigerate Perishables Promptly?
- When you have dinner guests, refrigerate the perishable appetizers before you serve dinner (maybe while guests are eating salad). It’s easy to forget about the appetizers if they’re in a different room. If you’re afraid you’ll forget them, ask someone else in the family to be responsible for getting perishable appetizers back in the fridge.
- Don’t cater to late-comers by leaving appetizers or entrées out at improper temperatures. They won’t appreciate your delicious dinner if it makes them sick.
- Use hot plates or ice under platters. Once hot food has been cooked to the proper temperature, as long as it’s kept above 140°F, that time doesn’t count as part of the 2-hour limit. The same is true of cold foods kept on the table or buffet at 40°F or below.
- Set a timer to remind you to put food back into the fridge 2 hours after it’s been out at room temperature.
- Take a last-minute look around the kitchen and dining room after meals and at bedtime to be sure that all perishables are in the fridge.
- Eating outdoors away from home creates additional challenges. When preparing food for a picnic or tailgating party, plan ahead ways to keep food at the right temperature or plan a menu that excludes perishable food.
Other Ways to Keep from Contaminating Food
Avoiding the “danger zone” is one important way to avoid food-borne illness, but not the only one. When you’re the chef, prepare food with clean hands and clean utensils. Avoid cross-contamination from raw foods to ready-to-eat foods. For example, don’t cut a raw tomato on the same unwashed cutting board you used to quarter a raw chicken. (In fact, it’s a good idea to have one cutting board for meat and poultry and another for fruits and vegetables.) To avoid serving undercooked (and therefore possibly contaminated) food, use a meat/poultry thermometer to measure the temperature, and consult a cooking chart to be sure the food reaches the minimum safe temperature before you permanently remove it from the oven.
To learn more about bacteria in foods, click here: http://shelflifeadvice.com/content/why-does-refrigeration-keep-bacteria-multiplying. Note the related Q/As listed on the right side.
Source(s):
Catherine Nettles Cutter, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, Dept. of Food Science
Joe Regenstein, Ph.D. Cornell University, Dept. of Food Science
Essortment.com “Health Tips: A guide to Staphlococcus and foodborne illness”
http://www.essortment.com/all/foodborneillnes_rbla.htm
mmpcgastroenterology “Foodborne Illness”
http://www.mmpc.com/gastro_foodborneillness
Food Safety Information Council “Food Poisoning Bacteria
http://www.foodsafety.asn.au/factsheets/foodpoisoningbacteri2249.cfm
Link(s):
mmpcgastroenterology “Foodborne Illness”
http://www.mmpc.com/gastro_foodborneillness