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Chili cooked on stove top, had an emergency and moved it to a crockpot, on warm setting. Is it still ok to eat? It's been in the crockpot 7 days.

It was covered and hard to get the lid off. Once the lid came off I stirred it and it was not burned to the bottom.

No power outage in the 7 days.

user51947
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  • Is it proven that no power outage, crockpot malfunction, or tampering with the pot happened during these days? – rackandboneman Nov 15 '16 at 09:35
  • Thank you, I gave more information. I'm new here and new to cooking. – user51947 Nov 15 '16 at 09:36
  • Welcome to Seasoned Advice! We are happy to help you get started. As a first step, take the [tour] and browse our [help] to learn more about the site and the Stack Exchange mechanisms in general. We have a few canonical Q/As on food safety, and they might help you as well: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/17528/how-long-can-cooked-food-be-safely-stored-at-room-warm-temperature?rq=1 ; http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/34670/how-do-i-know-if-food-left-at-room-temperature-is-still-safe-to-eat ; – Stephie Nov 15 '16 at 09:39
  • http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/12992/why-is-it-dangerous-to-eat-meat-which-has-been-left-out-and-then-cooked and http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/21068/how-long-can-i-store-a-food-in-the-pantry-refrigerator-or-freezer Happy reading! – Stephie Nov 15 '16 at 09:40
  • Someone had a very similar idea today: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/75498/how-to-prevent-the-crockpot-burning-my-soups See this answer and the comments, please. – Stephie Nov 15 '16 at 09:43

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The keep warm setting on a crockpot is not hot enough to prevent foodborne illnesses, and after 7 days your chili is probably not safe to eat. I would throw it away. Next time put it in your refrigerator if you want to preserve it.

GdD
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  • "keep warm" is a vague name for a setting, specifications/numbers pertaining to that particular model would help. If a "keep warm" setting was "warm but still in the danger zone" it would be really dangerous because that would create PESSIMAL food safety conditions. – rackandboneman Nov 15 '16 at 09:38
  • Thank you all for your support and answers. I feel a little stupid for doing what I did! I was told once not to put hot food in the refrigerator. My husband had to be rushed to the hospital and that was all I had on my mind. – user51947 Nov 15 '16 at 09:42
  • It happens to everyone @user51947, taking people to the hospital is more important than food preservation in my book. – GdD Nov 15 '16 at 09:44
  • @user51947 in cases of emergency, a pot of chili becomes an afterthought. I hope all went well for him and you! – Stephie Nov 15 '16 at 09:44
  • Awful news @user51947! My condolences and best wishes to you and yours. – GdD Nov 15 '16 at 09:58
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    So sorry to hear this! My condolences, @user51947. – Stephie Nov 15 '16 at 10:00
  • Well that will go down the garbage disposal!! – user51947 Nov 15 '16 at 10:05
  • So hot food can go in the refrigerator? – user51947 Nov 15 '16 at 10:12
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    This is a great place with very smart people!! I will be back with more questions!! Y'all have very good advice! Now that my husband is gone, I have to learn to cook! He did all the cooking! – user51947 Nov 15 '16 at 10:18
  • It can go into the refrigerator, IF you don't overload your refrigerator (thermally) to a point where everything else gets warmed up, or the compressor takes damage. Very dependent on refrigerator model what it can deal with. – rackandboneman Nov 15 '16 at 10:50
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    see http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/8919/is-it-safe-to-put-hot-food-in-the-fridge It takes a lot of hot food to overload a modern refrigerator. The pan/pot has a lot of the heat so it is best to first transfer to a cool vessel. – paparazzo Nov 15 '16 at 16:57
  • A chef friend told me a couple weeks ago that the "Keep Warm" setting on crock pots keeps the heat at 165F. I don't know if this is hot enough to preserve a food or not. In the restaraunch (as in raunchy...all of them in general, the place I worked was clean and very aware of health codes) I worked used the phrase, "one hour between 100F and Freezing", to mean if food stays out between those two temps for more than an hour, throw it out. Freezing kept things for a long time, but I do not know how long above 100F food can be kept. – Sensii Miller Dec 07 '16 at 20:29