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I keep hearing people say stuff like "throw it away after 2 hrs if it was left out in the open bla bla"

In reality, a lot of persons can't afford to throw food away, like me.

So what if I reheat it thoroughly, won't it kill the microbes and make it safe to eat?

rumtscho
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Ceejay Home
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    Just for clarification: the time threshold means that after that the food is no longer safe. It does not mean that it’s going to make you sick, just that you can’t be sure it won’t. You can always decide which level of risk you are willing to take. But while reheating may kill the pathogens (not true for example for *Clostridium botulinum*), it may not destroy the poisonous substances they produced. OTOH, boiling well for ten minutes will destroy botulinum toxin. Find more details in the generic posts about food safety. – Stephie Dec 30 '22 at 16:18
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    Yes, you can, provided - 1. It doesn't smell bad. 2. It doesn't taste different or weird. 3. It doesn't have any fungal growth on it. Another factor to keep in mind is the weather. Food rots slower in cold weather. So if it has been kept out on a hot day, be more careful. Also, meat products tend to rot faster. You have to experiment, and observe your bodies reaction and learn. – sfxedit Jan 02 '23 at 17:24
  • The answer to the duplicate question is 'no', spoiled food won't become unspoiled from heating. The answer to your question is a clear yes. After 4 hours at room temperature soup is still perfectly save to eat. It is usually more tasty when heated (depending on the kind of soup) but that has nothing to do with food safety. – quarague Jan 03 '23 at 18:15
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    I routinely let my big pots of soup (and etc.) sit on stove and cool off overnight before stashing in the fridge, or putting in containers for freezing. Four hours is nuthin'. I imagine some things could be questionable if sitting "lukewarm" and uncovered for 4 hours. Staphylococcal food poisoning is not removed by reheating, and it can cause severe pain. – kreemoweet Jun 20 '23 at 21:57
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    There is a lot of discussion regarding food safety and spoilage. Bottom line from the FDA and USDA is this. You need to use your common sense, and your physical senses to determine whether something is safe to eat. The health department rules and regs are for commercial entities, to help prevent a restaurant from making the public sick. They do not apply at home. – Escoce Jun 21 '23 at 17:48
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    @sfxedit C. Botulinum spoilage can be odorless, and have no detectable presence. – Escoce Jun 21 '23 at 17:49
  • @Stephie C. Botulinum also can only be killed at 240F, boiling is not enough to guarantee C.b. is eliminated. It only takes one survivor! This can be evidences by canning meat in a low acid environment using the water bath method. After water bath canning say, chicken and waiting 5 or 6 weeks, your vacuum sealed canned chicken, will no longer be evacuated will grow cloudy and when you open it....God help your nose!!! – Escoce Jun 21 '23 at 17:51
  • @Escoce I wasn't aware about C.B. So as a precautionary measure it would be advisable to always reheat such food at high temperature before eating it. – sfxedit Jun 22 '23 at 14:00
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    @sfxedit only with unspoiled food. Once the food has been spoiled, it can't be unspoiled. Reheating food does not detoxify it even though it may kill living bacteria. – Escoce Jun 23 '23 at 19:01

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