Stew meat was left out all night

[BeLoftyTurtle]

At relatives house and they have stew..... However they did the first phase of the stew last night by boiling the meat last night and left it on the stove. Today they added veggies and reheated/cooked veg in the stew.

Aibu in not eating it

Yeah I read that one, and it doesn't seem to support what you're saying.

I'd eat it too.
Assuming you're not in some tropical clime, it's autumn here. Cool weather.
If it's been left on the stove with the lid on overnight I'd absolutely eat it!

Reheating does kill the bacteria but not the poisons or toxins that some bacteria produce. You've been lucky (or at least, not unlucky).

Many of us have been lucky. Can you name a poison or toxin I may have been exposed to?

No, I would not be eating that.

Just to add, if it is the case that the majority of modern food poisoning cases are attribute to industrialized meat farming, that would seem to increase the need to refrigerate cooked meat promptly and the risks of not doing so. If it was once relatively safe to leave meat out overnight, it isn't now.

No, you need to add in the knowledge about how food production has industrialised I realise. That article is talking about recognition of the causes of food poisoning, the fact that it’s a growing problem, and the growth in understanding of public health prevention measures at that time. But before industrialised food production, bacteria didn’t spread as it now does, and we now see way higher levels of disease arising from how easy it is to contaminate a lot of meat, and other food, and how widely that food will spread. Previously water was the main cause of disease, including salmonella. Food poisoning quite often meant poisonous mushrooms or shellfish.

The idea that our modern understanding of food hygiene means that lots more people used to die of food poisoning through what they ate isn’t really the case.

This random news report gives an idea of the scale of food distribution now. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/virginia-death-linked-to-listeria-outbreak-from-deli-meat/5685130/?os=vbKn42TQHo&ref=app

Well, I was being a bit mischievous before, but yes, meat is more dangerous now than it used to be. Leaving some cooked beef out overnight and then reheating it thoroughly is still probably going to be fine though.

Staphylococcus presents itself within hours, but depending on the pathogen, it can take days to show symptoms.

https://www.merckmanuals.com/en-ca/home/digestive-disorders/gastroenteritis/staphylococcal-food-poisoning

I keep going back to it but seatbelts are just a good analogy here. Many, many people have failed to wear seatbelts on journeys without any ill effect - but the fact remains they're putting themselves at increased risk of harm due to a failure to take a simple precaution.

Perfectly fine, many generations have done this. Pan with lid on once cooked then add other ingredients.

Have you not googled how ok this is?

I agree it's probably going to be fine but I still wouldn't eat it, particularly if I could quite easily eat something else that is less likely to be unsafe.

Yes, totally different! Totally different generation, not brought up with stew. I doubt they have prepared undercooked chicken.

Yes, and most (all?) places say that it's not okay. Have you not googled?

Stew meat, what sort of meat?

Left out all night? Outside on the floor or in a covered pan?

Cooked or raw?

When bacteria multiply or die, they release poisonous toxins (exotoxins or endotoxins). The toxins are what cause illness and can not be killed through normal cooking, refrigeration, or freezing. It's the toxins you need to be weary of.

Food was kept in very cold larders and houses didn't have central heating.

I wouldn't want to eat it either OP.

Did you only make it as far as the thread title?

No I would not. Meat has been left out accidentally (has happened on a few occasions!) will be thrown out.
Even things like pasta and rice, I’ll chuck them if they’ve been left out.

Only things I will eat left out are things like potato/french onion soup for example.

I’ve done this countless times with no ill effects.

Spore forming bacteria could cause illness from the way the meat has been left. When the conditions get too hot for these types of bacteria when cooking, they form a spore (like a protective shell), which can not be killed by normal cooking. A spore can be killed at 121 degrees C under pressure for 3 minutes, known as a "botulinum cook" (used in the canning industry,) cooking or boiling at home won't kill them.

When you then leave the meat to cool down, the spores start to germinate back into bacteria (danger zone 5 to 63 degree's, optimum multiplying temperature 37 degrees) so the longer this bacteria is left to cool down at room temperature, the more the bacteria will multiply and release poisonous toxins. They can multiply into the millions within just a few hours.

You can't then just think oh i will just reheat the food to kill this bacteria because the toxins they have produced can not be killed.

This is why rice should be cooled rapidly because bacillus cereus (which is a common bacteria on rice) is a spore former.

Do you eat canned food @Healingsfall ? Spores survive canning and then the cans/jars hang around, sometimes for years, at room temperature.

were you kicked out because you didnt eat the meat?
who fed the baby??

I wouldn't but I think I'm paranoid about this kind of thing. I've done a food hygiene course that would also say that isnt ok

I remember years ago going to a cottage with friends. We had cooked a beef stew, a lamb curry and big pot of rice and left overs got left out overnight whilst we had drinks and forgot about it. I was up early and cleaned the kitchen next day and friend asked what I had done with the left overs and was surprised when I said I had binned them as she said we could have eaten them that night . I was pretty shocked that she planned to save food that had been sitting out all night.

Looking at this thread, I'm a minority but I couldnt eat cooked meat left at room temperature overnight, even if it was fine, I'd obsess about becoming ill.

Was the heating off over night ?