Can I eat leftover pizza that stayed out all night?
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As thousands of American college students prepare for their first classes this morning, Doug makes pizza and tries to answer the question: can I eat that pizza I left out last night?
Evan had fun editing and that’s not my baby sneezing (and falling out of the chair).
Waste not, want not: food safety, discarding food, and tough times
Whenever I think of leftover pizza, I recall my teenage years listening to Rolling Stones on vinyl at George’s apartment, I wonder whatever happened to that stray puppy one of the visitors brought home until the fleas were discovered, and I wonder how long the pizza would be good. I’ve probably eaten pieces of pizza that spent the night on the turntable.
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So when Susan Reef, president of US Food Safety Corp., says eating pizza that has spent a few hours at room temperature is a no-no, I sorta scoff (low water activity, no epidemiological history of outbreaks from morning-after pizza consumption, she probably doesn’t like the Stones).
Kim Painter reports in USA Today tomorrow that if Maribel Alonso, a food safety specialist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Hotline, brings home a broken egg, she discards it.
Doug Powell, a food safety person at Kansas State University, says he would cook with the egg, probably into a batch of pancakes, adding,
"It's just messy, but if it's been kept cold, it should be OK.”
(Messy means, be careful of cross-contamination).
What's in your fridge? Smell from leftover food in unplugged fridge sends 7 to hospital, sickens 28
Ever had leftover food loitering in your fridge for so long it made you yack?
Anyone who has worked or lived in an area with a communal fridge has a tale of grossness. Amy’s mom recalled yesterday about a fridge in one of their rental units that had been left full of food and unplugged – apparently for some time. The chicken was particularly interesting.
Amy and I found some grossness when we moved into our current house which previously was a fraternity drinking house – although the turkey carcass in the driveway was the grossest.
In San Jose, California, an enterprising office worker discovered an unplugged fridge full of rotting food, so decided to move the food into a conference room while using two cleaning chemicals to scrub down the mess.
The mixture of old lunches and disinfectant caused 28 people to need treatment for vomiting and nausea.
Firefighters had to evacuate the AT&T building in downtown San Jose on Tuesday after the fumes led someone to call emergency services. A hazardous materials team was called in.
Authorities say the worker who cleaned the fridge didn't need treatment — she can't smell because of allergies.
