When you pull properly handled and stored meat out of the refrigerator, there is an expected amount of microorganisms to begin with.
"Food safety is a function of both temperature and time."
The FDA's recommendations on cooking time are based on a 7-log10 reduction of bacteria meaning after the recommended time at a particular temperature ten million bacteria will be reduced to one bacterium.
explains this in the context of sous vide cooking of chicken.
The problem with leaving raw meat/poultry/fish on a counter for hours and hours is that no one knows how much proliferation occurred during this time.
The FDA's safe handling recommendations for meat are based on the microbial proliferation in a normal setting. They give the two hour guideline. For sure this is a very conservative estimate, they won't flirt with the edge.
It wouldn't be surprising if the guideline varied in other countries. There are also other factors that the FDA can't predict: ambient temperature variances, individual food handling practices and personal sanitation, and other things like whether or not the meat had been salted.
The FDA guidelines are broad. If you don't follow them, you are playing food safety Russian roulette. People in food Q&A forums are going to point at the local government agency's guideline.
Next time, don't ask. Look up the FDA guidelines yourself and make the call privately.
Yes, I've handled food outside of the FDA guidelines but I don't ask random anonymous Internet strangers whether I should. That's a judgment call on my shoulders and yes I've also had food poisoning before.
4 Comments
"Food safety is a function of both temperature and time."
The FDA's recommendations on cooking time are based on a 7-log10 reduction of bacteria meaning after the recommended time at a particular temperature ten million bacteria will be reduced to one bacterium.
Kenji Lopez-Alt's article here:
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast
explains this in the context of sous vide cooking of chicken.
The problem with leaving raw meat/poultry/fish on a counter for hours and hours is that no one knows how much proliferation occurred during this time.
The FDA's safe handling recommendations for meat are based on the microbial proliferation in a normal setting. They give the two hour guideline. For sure this is a very conservative estimate, they won't flirt with the edge.
It wouldn't be surprising if the guideline varied in other countries. There are also other factors that the FDA can't predict: ambient temperature variances, individual food handling practices and personal sanitation, and other things like whether or not the meat had been salted.
The FDA guidelines are broad. If you don't follow them, you are playing food safety Russian roulette. People in food Q&A forums are going to point at the local government agency's guideline.
Next time, don't ask. Look up the FDA guidelines yourself and make the call privately.
Yes, I've handled food outside of the FDA guidelines but I don't ask random anonymous Internet strangers whether I should. That's a judgment call on my shoulders and yes I've also had food poisoning before.