I made turkey broth late at night and it sat on the stove to cool - safe?

I meant to wake up in the middle of the night to put cooled stock in the fridge but I didn't and it sat on a hot stove from 11:30 pm (when I turned off the stove) to today. I reboiled it for about half an hour - is it okay to use?

LoosePanda
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5 Comments

Reiney
Reiney November 22, 2012
Toxins build up over time - overnight you should be ok, but reboil for 10 minutes.

This is brought up often, and the Ruhlman/McGee discussion is usually posted, so here is his take on it.
http://ruhlman.com/2011/08/stock-clarifications/
 
drbabs
drbabs November 22, 2012
The USDA says to discard any food left at room temperature for more an 2 hours. The problem isn't the bacteria. You can re-boil it and get rid of them. It's the toxins produced by the bacteria. No amount of boiling kills the toxins. Having had food poisoning (quite awful,) I'd probably throw it out and start over.
 
Monita
Monita November 22, 2012
Here's a source that says it's ok to use the broth
http://www.thekitchn.com/soup-left-out-overnight-is-it-still-safe-to-eat-178685
 
broccolirose
broccolirose November 22, 2012
I would err on the side of caution and say it's not safe. According to ServSafe guidelines if perishable foods like your turkey broth are between the temperatures of about 40-135 degrees for more than 4 hours pathogens are more likely to grow in it and make you sick.
 
Monita
Monita November 22, 2012
It should be ok. Re-boiling it would have "killed" off any problems
 
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