Potential food poisoning- what would you do?

[Wroxie]

Friend is having an outdoor party for the employees of her small business tomorrow. I dropped off some folding chairs and serving dishes for her to borrow today and she had a huge cooked piece of pork on the side that had just come out of the oven (this was about an hour ago). I had just grabbed a diet coke out of her fridge so I knew it was absolutely full - so I asked if she would like me to put the meat in my refrigerator and bring it back to her the next day to re-heat.

She said no, she would just leave it on the side with aluminium foil on it and reheat it the next day. I thought she was joking but no, this is actually her plan- to reheat the pork on the barbecue at the party and shred it for sandwiches. I tried to explain why this is a terrible idea - at any time but especially when it is at least 27-28 degrees in her kitchen- and she just laughed and said people are paranoid about food safety and it would be fine. I pushed a little bit and then she got a bit testy so I just left it.
Now I'm really concerned - I am not coming to the party tomorrow but I know several people who work for her, one of whom is quite pregnant, and another who only finished chemotherapy earlier this year. Should I tell them? Obviously my friend will fall out with me for ruining her party but does the risk of food poisoning outweigh that? I'm leaning towards 'yes' but just wondering what you all think.

Vote yes if I should ruin the party or vote no if I should just leave it.

I would definitely tell the pregnant and immunosuppressed people Just tell them it's in confidence and just to make up an excuse and you really don't want to cause a scene or upset the host? You could perhaps frame it as a question to them- did they know whether something like that was actually fine, as it had surprised you? Argh how difficult

Mind your own business. It’s very unlikely to give them food poisoning.

@FrownedUpon

Mind your own business. It’s very unlikely to give them food poisoning.

Ignore this.

@FrownedUpon

Mind your own business. It’s very unlikely to give them food poisoning.

That's really unsafe advice.

Your friend could literally kill the immunocompromised individuals. Please tell them.

Does she have a dog? Can you arrange with someone who is going to accidentally on purpose knock it onto the floor in sight of the dog? 😬

I’ve had food poisoning from old pork before and it was unbelievably awful. I also know someone who got a brain parasite from badly cooked pork, which may be colouring my judgement!

@FrownedUpon

Mind your own business. It’s very unlikely to give them food poisoning.

Ignore this from me as well. It is hot here, really hot. Leaving the pork out overnight is a really stupid idea.

I would tell them to avoid and hopefully don't drop you in it.

Well, this may be the shortest thread of all time. My husband just got in and I told him the deal... and as we speak he is in our basement family room emptying the "beer fridge" (mini-fridge). He said she can either use it or we can can call preggo and chemo (his words not mine 😹) and let them know the score, her choice. She'll probably still fall out with me but at least she has a chance to save her own party and I don't have to worry about some kind of horrific news story about the deadliest barbecue of 2021.

I would find official advice on food safety on the internet and forward it to her.
Tell her how concerned you are.
Say that you feel she must not serve this pork to anyone - especially not the pregnant lady or immunosuppressed guests, and tell her why.
I think that’s all you can do really.

Yes. Tell them. I've had food poisoning twice in my life and it's excruciating. Having it while being pregnant I cannot and do not want to even imagine.

Mini beer fridges are coolers (for drinks) and not proper fridges so not suitable for the pork at all.

I know you’ve ‘sorted it’ now OP but I’m aghast that anyone would think that it’s ok to serve meat that has been left at room temperature for that long!! Utterly disgusting and twatish behaviour!

She either keeps it in your fridge or you tell them. I had food poisoning once and I wasnt pregnant or having chemo and i couldnt even think without being sick. Also these people are probably really looking forward to it particularly the friend undergoing chemo.

I couldnt sleep if I didnt say something and one of them was sick.

OP, thank God for sensible people like you!
I CANNOT BELIEVE that 44% of people on here have voted that you are being unreasonable! You couldn't make it up!
If you 44% of doubters want to eat sweaty, smelly, festering pork that's been left out in a HEATWAVE for almost a day, go ahead, enjoy!

yes either put it in your fridge or tell them.

For those people it's about safety.

@Bamboozles

Mini beer fridges are coolers (for drinks) and not proper fridges so not suitable for the pork at all.

I thought this too. Maybe worth putting it in your big fridge? I have a mini beer fridge too and it's not as cool as the main fridge (it even has a warm setting, which baffles me but there we go)

Why would it ruin her party if two guests just didn’t happen to eat the pulled pork but just chose something else?

I am confused: how is your DH and his mini fridge going to convince here where you failed? Is he going to let himself in through he Velux Skylight like Spider-Man and kidnap the lukewarm roast and race back to yours with it?

I used to run a B+B. You are right that she is heading towards poisoning people. And as she's preparing food for her staff without proper qualification or kitchen facilities I think she'd be in a grey area there if it came to it and food poisoning was investigated. Also, a beer fridge isn't cold enough to keep this meat safe until tomorrow. That pork should have been refrigerated within 2 hours of being cooked. If she's re-heating it on a BBQ then there's a whole world more of potential pain because to be safe it has to reach the right temperature. WTF is she thinking of?

That's grim 😬 I'd hope that if you tell them they won't repeat it!

My friend had food poisoning from bbq ribs. Caused her to go into early labour. (She’s never eaten pork again.)

@FrownedUpon

Mind your own business. It’s very unlikely to give them food poisoning.

Unfuckingbelievable. Not only are we meant to mind our own business when people living with covid positive cases break isolation, we should also let other people get food poisoning, regardless of how vulnerable they may be.

Wtf has actually happened to this country? Something has snapped in people, and it isn't the people saying we should tell others when they're about to eat harmful things or saying that yes, we should indeed report when people break isolation to go to work with vulnerable people.

Sorry to post and run, we ended up over there for longer than I expected - husband ended up helping to rig up a tarp to provide a bit of shade as the garden was pretty unbearable!

The "mini fridge" is just a standard under counter fridge, specifically
this one- we just use it in the finished basement for beer and wine. It is, however, perfectly capable of safely storing food. I'm a displaced American, any fridge that is smaller than a 1957 Chevrolet feels "mini" to me.

If anyone is wondering how it went, my husband just walked in and said "I've got a little fridge in the back of the car, I'm going to stick it in the garage and get that meat in there before it turns into a biological weapon" and she huffed a little but that was that. We're the kind of friends that just wander in and out of each others' houses and my husband especially watches out for her since her own husband died a few years ago (not of food poisoning!).

Great update

@FrownedUpon

Mind your own business. It’s very unlikely to give them food poisoning.

Shush.