Is this "rule" followed in the UK.

[Onetwistedsista]

So I've worked in the USA and this rule about food not being refrigerated within over 2 hours drives me nuts! Do people in the UK do that? For example, bake cottage pie, leave to cool, then forget about it ( by mistake) but toss it out for possible baceria. Here in South Africa they'd just laugh at me. I've not followed it till now simply because of my DS but its stressful. So cook a pot of food, but takes forever to cool then dip it in a cold sink of ice so it cools faster! What a schlep! Has anyone here actually really gotten 'sick 'by eaten something that hasn't been refrigerated within 2 hours?

I've left bolognaise sauce out overnight (forgot to put in fridge) many times. I get up in the morning and stick it in the fridge (before dh notices!), make sure its it piping hot and eat a few days later and none of us have been sick yet!

(would maybe think twice if it was really warm weather overnight, but probably still do it)

Numerous times i've left leftovers to cool (in a tub with a lid on) and gone to bed and forgotten to refrigerate, a lot of these have chicken/rice in them! Refrigerate when remember then make sure absolutely piping hot. No issues so far

If you do a food hygiene course in UK, they will say that anything left out of the fridge for more than 2 hours shouldn't be used but in practice, in my own home, if it looks and smells OK, it is OK.

I too live in SA.

I don't apply this rule. It usually gets refrigerated when i walk into the kitchen and see it.

I am still alive and well.

The danger zone for food is between 5 (or 8) and 63c. That's when most bacteria will not just survive but grow. Food above 63 struggles to support the survival of bacteria. There are exceptions, like spore formers, which is why meat gravies and rice, even when reheated or re boiled are dangerous, but generally, that's the rule. And listeria will grow below 8.if you think about it, you wouldn't actually eat anything, ever!

The USA has ten times the rate of food poisoning compared to the UK.

I don't put hot food in the fridge but I will happily leave stuff to cool down for a long time. I try not to leave it overnight but sometimes it happens. I haven't gotten sick from doing this, but I'm sure there will be people out there who have been unlucky.

Years ago as a student I left a chilli uncovered in our (mouse-infested) kitchen for 2 days and it grew mould... I just scraped the worst of it off and mixed the rest back in and then reheated it I didn't get ill but I wouldn't do that these days!

Most food poisoning occurs in the home, I think it's over eighty percent
But bizzarely every one of those think it's something they ate outside. No one ever thinks it's them.

And as much as you might be fine 99 times out of a hundred, the truth is that one time you're not will make you careful for ever.

Seriously when you experience vomiting in the sink whilst simultaneously violently shitting in the loo. You'll do anything to make sure it doesn't happen again,

I would like to roast a chicken on Saturday but let it cool until warm to serve with salad. Is this acceptable?

Blimey !
I don’t eat meat so generally things are safer but I will happily leave something covered overnight and then put in fridge in the morning. I also don’t put anything hot or even warm in the fridge - my fridge takes forever to get back to proper temperature even after putting shop away.

Most people, no, unless it's high risk food.
Food services, etc- yes.

You only need to follow rules if you work i the food industry- of course when at home you follow common sense. Depends on the weather as well.

We're having an ongoing battle about this at work - think school but only for very small numbers of children.

The kitchen is an important part of what we do and good quality homecooked meals are provided. As you'd expect the cook is very clear on what the rules are regarding refrigeration.

Anything that should be refrigerated that has been out for more than 2 hours has to be binned. It's a bone of contention because staff and students would like "real" butter but the kitchen insist we must have "spread" because they can't leave the butter out and so it's too difficult to use.

Is she being jobsworth or is she right? FWIW I support that she has taken this stand in line with her training, but I also know(?) that no harm would come to anyone if the butter was left out.

I've left food on the side for 24 hours before putting it in the fridge, I'm not dead. Never heard of anything so ridiculous!

I've cooked stuff and left it on the hob (covered) overnight/until I heat it up, and reheated it the next day. I'm not dead.

No, I would never eat cooked food that had been left out overnight. Unless it was the coldest, coldest winter night and there was no heating on at all.

My in-laws will leave everything out in pans on the hob, indefinitely as far as I can see. The food hygiene (and general hygiene) at their house makes me shudder. It used to terrify me feeding the kids there when they were tiny.

@munemema I have this same argument with DH.

I maintain that butter shouldn't be stored in the fridge when it's likely to be used and that it needs to be transferred to room temp and allowed to soften before being used.

He thinks it should be kept in the fridge at all times and we should all eat rock hard slabs of butter.

I think there are strict rules about this in commercial establishments (restaurants, food stores) but at home not so much!

It would depend on the dish for me. I eat a plant-based diet, but I think most people would probably hesitate over cheese or meat left out for hours in hot weather!

Is she being jobsworth or is she right? FWIW I support that she has taken this stand in line with her training, but I also know(?) that no harm would come to anyone if the butter was left out.

Butter was always used to preserve things, wasn't it? A layer floated on top of a jar of stuff...

I never put butter in the fridge, because it gets too hard. It goes in a covered butter dish, in as cool a place as I can find, but not in the fridge.

Butter, like cheese and yoghurt, was a way of preserving milk/cream. Like smoking fish, or preserving things in brine. The very idea that you'd throw out butter - a product developed specifically to be able to last a long time - because it had been out of the fridge for a few hours makes me throw my eyes to heaven.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/2-000-year-old-bog-butter-unearthed-in-co-meath-1.2678854

"Top chef Kevin Thornton has revealed he tasted bog butter, but archaeological experts are reluctant, describing the material as crumbly and with a distinctive smell like strong cheese.

“Theoretically the stuff is still edible - but we wouldn’t say it’s advisable,” Mr Halpin said.

I let it cool down in the oven . ( which is obviously cold )
It also stops flies going on it.
Then into the fridge.
Never had food poisoning so must be doing something right.

I sometimes let food cool down overnight, but it is rarely hot in my house (UK).
If there is a heatwave, then I may do things differently.
However, that said, I am much more careful with meat products. I am not a great meat eater myself, so always leave anything cooked with meat in it, covered until cool, and refrigerate the same day, and never leave cooked meat and raw meat in the fridge on the same shelf (even tho covered).
I have never heard of the 2 hour rule, tho

In work any food left out for more than 2 hours must be thrown away. In practice we do offer leftovers to staff at their own risk as I hate food wastage.

Never worked in a professional kitchen and don't make meat-based dishes so have never given this much thought. Tbh I think I'm doing well if I remember to cover the food once it's cooked. My family think leftovers are an abomination unto the cook, so the issue of overnight storage never occurs.

Only thing I've been really bad off is reheated brown rice. Worse than labour contractions.