Pesto pasta left out overnight?

[Scottishgirl85]

Quick poll - stupidly left freshly made pesto pasta out of fridge all night. Is it safe to eat? It was for the kid's lunchboxes... I'm assuming needs to go in bin 😔

I'd eat it, it's fine, I do this all the time. I'm still here to tell the tale.

@TestingTestingWonTooFree and @londonrach - I didn't know that about pasta. Thank you for mentioning it.

Lost count of how many times I have done this. Absolutely fine. It wasn't exactly a heat wave overnight anyway.

I wouldn’t think twice for me. Don’t have children so not sure if I would risk it with them though!

I leave food out overnight all the time as it’s still too warm to go in the fridge at bedtime. Sometimes I don’t have the option of putting my lunch in a fridge and it sits in a warm car all day first.

I’ve never ever been ill from it. Infact I very rarely get ill and sometimes I wonder if that’s partly due to my poor habits around food I’ve built up a good immune system!

Yep totally depends on temp of kitchen o/n..id eat it no probs(yumm),but wouldnt give it to DC..i do have a stupidly robust "iron gut"tho

Thanks everyone, bit of a mixed bag! It's the pesto part that i thought can be dodgy I think. Might make them something else and feed pasta to hubby, it's him who made it and left it out

Yes, give to H as long as it was covered overnight. If open, I wouldn't.

Definitely not. Someone died recently after eating pasta that had been left out (for five days)

Recently in 2008

Also that was our for 5 days! Not a few hours over night! Do they put there food in fridges at school OP? Or are they always eating food that has been out for a few hours in classrooms etc?

I am really quite surprised at the people saying they do it. Sure they take a risk. They are adults. But pasta is high risk. And the op is talking about feeding it to children. Not adults, the fact an adult would eat it is irrelevant.

I'd eat it

My toddler eats random food he finds on the floor. We'd eat the pasta.

Yes, would all those saying it’s fine and that they’d eat it give it to their children? Presumably quite young as it’s meant to be in their lunch box.

I didn’t know pasta was high risk. I know rice is. I would possibly eat it myself but not give to children especially as it would be in their bags unrefrigerated for several more hours.

There was a programme on w while ago where they swabbed common things found in fridges. The bacteria on a jar a pesto that had been open for a couple of weeks was the highest in the whole fridge!

Based on that, I would probably risk it myself but wouldn’t feed it to the kids.

It’s fine! I left freshly cooked frittata out last night because it was still warm when I wanted to sleep. Just shoved it in the fridge now. I do it regularly.

I’d eat it but probably wouldn’t give it to the DCs. Their stomachs aren’t as —used to eating out of date crap— strong as mine!

Strikethrough fail! AIBU to ask how do you do a strikethrough?

There was a programme on w while ago where they swabbed common things found in fridges. The bacteria on a jar a pesto that had been open for a couple of weeks was the highest in the whole fridge!

In the ‘use within 3 days of opening’ pesto?

Again, quite different to pasta pesto being left out overnight.

Bin it. A toxin forms in pasta that’s not been properly refrigerated. Bacteria aren’t the issue as such and no amount of antibiotics will help you if you’re poisoned by the toxin.

I once had terrible food poisoning from fresh pasta. In bag in fridge but bag had been open a few days. I definitely wouldn’t risk it with the kids

Pasta should not be left out, the same as rice, it should be stored in the fridge ( food hygiene course many years ago)

I often leave a pasta bake out overnight (if not cooled at bedtime). Or leave a portion of leftover pasta out of the fridge then eat it.

Still feed it the whole family. I hate food waste.

I would eat it without a thought.

If it smells and tastes ok then I'd still happily use it.