Food safety question

[HoosierKettle]

Last night I spent a considerable amount of time making meatballs and sauce.  I forgot and left them in the pot uncovered. This morning I reheated to an internal meatball temp of 165. I ate one. Let cool then refrigerated.

Is that an acceptable approach when you leave something out overnight? 

Everything I have read sounds like as long as it’s heated thoroughly, you could eat a piece of rotted meat it would just taste like crap. It didn’t say that but that’s how I interpreted it.

Is there any food safety gurus here?  I know Matt would know.


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[Dc_smoke309]

I’m guessing if it’s cooked it’s probably not gonna hurt you .


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[HoosierKettle]

I’m not worried for me. I just wanted to make sure I killed off any bacteria this morning, that way if anyone else reheats them and may not get them thoroughly heated, would be safe.

Just testing theory. Normally I would just throw them out but I spent the better part of 4 hours making them lol.


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[Hell Fire Grill]

Was the ground meat cured or did you make the meatballs from sausage?

Properly cured it'll hold up better than if its not.

Dont get me wrong curing is not a substitute for good handling and preparation practices, but shit happens.

If there are any bacteria growing reheating will only make them grow faster.

In general if you dont eat it twice by dinner time...your ok. 

[HoosierKettle]

Was the ground meat cured or did you make the meatballs from sausage?

Properly cured it'll hold up better than if its not.

Dont get me wrong curing is not a substitute for good handling and preparation practices, but shit happens.

If there are any bacteria growing reheating will only make them grow faster.

In general if you dont eat it twice by dinner time...your ok.

You might be right but the way I understand it is warming something up a little can cause problems if bacteria exists but properly reheating to 165+ will kill any bacteria. Kind of the same principal as boiling water.

I could be wrong. That’s just the way I have interpreted what I had read.  I’ll try and find the article.


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[HoosierKettle]

I don’t know if this is the same article I read before but it is similar. Its ambiguous because it’s says to refrigerate food within 2 hours but also says when reheating to bring to 165 to kill bacteria.

I (maybe mistakenly) interpret that to mean as long as you reheat past 165, it may not matter how long it sat out. That’s the question.

https://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/holiday_leftovers.html


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[Mr.CPHo]

“When it doubt, throw it out” is my mantra on questionable leftovers.  I like stretching my food-dollars as much as possible, but I prefer peace of mind more. 


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[kettlebb]

“When it doubt, throw it out” is my mantra on questionable leftovers.  I like stretching my food-dollars as much as possible, but I prefer peace of mind more. 


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This! I know we can spend a lot of time and money on food but it’s never worth being sick over.


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[Jules V.]

Here it goes. Heating a food to 165F will kill most if not all  food borne bacteria in existence.   The problem is bacteria will generate toxic proteins that cannot be killed(denatured) by cooking. The heat will kill the live bacteria but not the byproduct that was generated by the bacteria.  Play it safe.

[HoosierKettle]

Here it goes. Heating a food to 165F will kill most if not all  food borne bacteria in existence.   The problem is bacteria will generate toxic proteins that cannot be killed(denatured) by cooking. The heat will kill the live bacteria but not the byproduct that was generated by the bacteria.  Play it safe.

Perfect!!  I knew I had to be missing something. The articles didn’t go far enough for my curiosity.


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[Jules V.]

Perfect!!  I knew I had to be missing something. The articles didn’t go far enough for my curiosity.

Yeah most bacterias to a certain degree are safe for most folks with normal immune system.  They're omnipresent.  But what you need to worry about are it's byproduct which can be very nasty.

[inkaddictedchef1]

Perfect!!  I knew I had to be missing something. The articles didn’t go far enough for my curiosity.

Yeah most bacterias to a certain degree are safe for most folks with normal immune system.  They're omnipresent.  But what you need to worry about are it's byproduct which can be very nasty.

... this!

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[varekai]

I had also read something, maybe here in this forum, but many of our grandmas were, as are we, prone to "scrape of the mold" and eat it. I read thats fine for cheeses and "harder" products, but jellies and the like, the article said that beyond the visible mold, there are "tentacles" that are not visible to the eye, and even though you scraped the mold off, there still may be lurking bacteria wait to make you sick...just my 2 cents.

[Grillagin]

I got ragingly sick from food poisoning when I was a senior in HS.  Continuous evacuation from both ends at the same time was no fun.  I don't take chances on any doubtful food.  Its worth the extra time and money not to feel like I'm dying, for me anyway.  Be safe.

[HoosierKettle]

I got ragingly sick from food poisoning when I was a senior in HS.  Continuous evacuation from both ends at the same time was no fun.  I don't take chances on any doubtful food.  Its worth the extra time and money not to feel like I'm dying, for me anyway.  Be safe.

Agreed!!  I got horribly sick when I was middle school age on a piece of long john silvers fish. Not leftover.  Same symptoms. The sickest ive ever been.

I threw out the meatballs. I’m pretty religious about throwing out food that has set out too long.  I also throw out condiments and everything else that are past the date.  Drives my wife crazy on some things.

My question was mostly academic and I learned a lot from the discussion. [emoji106]


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