Instead, Tierno says it's better to transfer leftovers straight to the fridge even if they're still warm. He says the temperature of the food will drop much faster this way—usually in just an hour. The hot food may briefly warm up the temperature of your fridge, but he says it should cool back down in no time, and it won't ever get warm enough in there to put your other food in harm's way.
Place containers in the fridge with some space around them, if possible, to increase circulation of cool air. But first, transfer food to smaller, airtight container to speed up cool down time. In case you haven't noticed, cooling down leftovers as fast as possible is key to keeping them safe to eat.
Instead, he suggests facilitating the cool-down process by packing food in small, shallow containers, and leaving them uncovered in the fridge with plenty of space, if possible, to increase circulation. Cover everything up once it's had a chance to fully cool, preferably with an airtight lid to keep food fresher for longer. Be careful to avoid cross-contaminating your food. Cross-contamination is one of the biggest mistakes consumers make when packing up leftovers, says Worobo.
This is how safe food sans pathogens can end up dangerous. Be extra sure that you're not scooping with spoons that have touched raw food that potentially could be contaminated like poultry. Instead, always use clean storage vessels and serving spoons to guarantee no pathogens are reintroduced to already-cooked food. Label everything so you know exactly how long you've had it. Tierno says that everything you put in the fridge should get labelled so that you know exactly how long you've had it for.
As mentioned before, many potentially dangerous microbes are invisible to the naked eye, so something may look fine when it's actually not. If you don't date your food, you could wind up eating something that seems OK but isn't.
Meredith Carothers, the technical information specialist at the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, lent insight on when it's time to throw out leftovers so you don't run the risk of flirting with an upset stomach.
After that, they can start to spoil," says Carothers. It's also important that you know how to store them. The key to storing cooked foods in the fridge is quite simple: you want to make sure that you place these foods in airtight containers or make sure they're wrapped and sealed tightly in resealable storage bags. This will help the cooked food retain moisture and prevent harmful bacteria from tainting your food.
The USDA also advises you to refrigerate or freeze wrapped leftovers immediately after they have been initially cooked or reheated. Any foods that have been left out in room temperature for more than two hours after cooking must be discarded.
Store and cool rice within 1 hour of cooking it, and consume it within 3 days. Other meat and poultry, such as steaks, fillets, chops, and roasts, last 3—4 days in the refrigerator. If you thaw these before cooking them, be sure to do so in the refrigerator — never on the counter.
After thawing, cook within 2 days 3. Opened deli meat should be consumed within 3—5 days of opening. Likewise, cold deli salads, such as egg, tuna, or chicken salad, should be consumed within 3—5 days 3.
Eggs are another higher risk food, as they could transmit the bacterium Salmonella. Shelled hard-boiled eggs should be consumed within 7 days of being cooked and refrigerated 5. Shellfish and fish are delicate, as these can harbor many pathogens or toxins like histamine that could make you sick. Consume leftovers that include seafood within 3 days 6. Soups and stews, with or without meats or fish, will generally last 3—4 days in the refrigerator.
You should eat these leftovers sooner than you might consume their homemade equivalents — within 3—4 days. However, if the leftover meal contains raw ingredients like raw fish or vegetables consume it within 24 hours.
When in doubt, toss leftovers within 3 days. Restaurant leftovers with raw fish or veggies should be consumed within 24 hours. You should inspect your food by observing it for signs of spoilage and smelling it.
First, look for changes in texture or the appearance of mold, which can come in a variety of colors, including white, green, orange-red, pink, or black fuzz. This indicates that food has gone bad and should be discarded. Likewise, if food is discolored, it may no longer be safe or enjoyable to eat. Be mindful that food can spoil even before you can tell by looking at it or smelling it — so follow the guidelines above.
First, look at your leftovers and note any changes in texture or appearance. Food that smells rancid or tastes strange should be trashed. If you've ever eaten questionably old leftovers and been totally fine, then you should consider yourself lucky.
Whether or not you got sick after eating very old food has nothing to do with your "iron stomach" and everything to do with whether or not that food contained bacteria that could cause a foodborne illness, Worobo says. As for the types of pathogens that might be on your food, he says that salmonella, E. Worobo explains that the amount of microorganisms that will get you sick varies dramatically—for example, norovirus requires one to 10 microorganisms whereas it can take over , to get infected with salmonella.
So how can you know if your week-old pizza has dangerous bacteria on it or not? You can't, because the pathogens that might get you sick aren't visible to the naked eye, Worobo says.
Old food could be dangerous to eat even if it looks totally fine, which is why it's better to use time as a frame of reference if you don't want to take the risk, he says. He says that the risk of getting sick from leftovers is actually pretty small, provided you use proper food handling practices more on that in a bit. If there are no dangerous pathogens on your food, there never will be, unless they are introduced at some point.
One exception to this rule is seafood, says Philip Tierno, Ph. If you're wondering why it seems like cooked leftovers don't last as long in your fridge as the raw ingredients do, it's because they don't, says Worobo. Bacteria develops more quickly in cooked food for a handful of reasons.
Here are a few ways you can do that:. First, make sure to never leave leftovers at room temperature for more than two hours. After that, food runs the risk of entering the danger temperature zone —between 40 and degrees F—which is an environment that allows microbes to grow much faster, says Tierno. And if you're in a particularly hot place, he says you shouldn't leave leftovers out for longer than an hour before transferring them to the fridge and make sure your fridge is cooled to just below 40 degrees F, which is what it should typically be set at.
If you can't get leftovers to a fridge before that amount of time has passed—maybe because you're out for the day and carrying it around in your bag—he says it's safest to simply throw them away. This two-hour rule is the main reason why it can be riskier to save leftovers from a restaurant than food you cook at home, says Worobo. The longer food is kept at room temperature the more likely it is to develop potentially dangerous bacteria, and if you're at a restaurant or ordering delivery, you may not be able to get food in the fridge quickly enough.
However, if you are able to refrigerate them within two hours, and the restaurant that they come from uses proper food handling practices, your risks are pretty much the same as they would be with homemade food, says Worobo. There's also no danger in keeping leftovers in the original takeout containers, but they will probably last longer and retain their flavor and texture better if transferred to something airtight, says Worobo.
Despite what you may have heard, it's totally fine to put leftovers in the fridge while they're still warm. Tierno says that it's common for people to leave leftovers out at room temperature until they cool down completely, but that this is a mistake.
0コメント