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

I think you have had a hard time on this thread OP,

Yes it probably is fine on balance, overnight in the autumn.

But you are not wrong that refrigeration is the better way to store food and there is nothing wrong in being careful - especially with a young child. You asked opinions which was what these forums should be for.

Also Most Fridges have a minimum temp of 5-10 degrees. This is literally overnight cupboard room temp in autumn

‘normal cooking temperatures’ is defined as 70 degrees. If you cook at boiling the second time it’s fine - all the spores will be destroyed.

As said by a lot of posters, it was usual to do this in previous generations, with beef. Then you'd heat to boiling. These days I'd zap it in a microwave. However babies under 1 would only be given a bit of the gravy and potatoes, but not the meat. I wouldn't have fed it to a child under 5.

I'm giggling at some of the attitudes in these posts, "did it have a lid on? Bacteria can't get through lids so its fine hun xx"

Basic, basic food hygiene. No I wouldn't eat meat that's been at room temperature overnight.

The reference to the lid is because of flies you muppet.

No it won't. Sorry to be rude but ffs!

To kill spores you need to heat to 121 degrees C under pressure for 3 minutes, people don't cook to that temperature at home. To kill them through boiling (100 degrees C), you'd need to boil for around 5 hours.

It's the toxins that bacteria produce that cause illness and they can't be killed through normal cooking.

The recommended fridge temperature is 1 - 5 degrees C. The maximum legal fridge temp in the food industry is 8 degrees C. If a fridge at home is above that then it's too warm and needs to be turned down.

A few years ago a restaurant did that for a Christmas meal. They cooked the meat, sliced and covered it, and then left it in the cool cupboard. They then "reheated it" the next day in gravy. They killed several people doing this through food poisoning and went to prison.

Their defence could never be "well, we've always done it that way, and no one has ever been ill."

@Ozanj Your kitchen cupboards are between 5-10! Where do you live? The North Pole? And meat absolutely shouldn't be left out for days before cooking. You really need to read about food safety. This isn't about opinion.

I wouldn't eat it if it had been left out overnight.
Food should be cooled quickly and refrigerated to be safe to reheat the next day.
I certainly wouldn't give it to a baby
Chances are it would be fine, but I wouldn't take the risk

A 9 month old - who If like any other 9 month old - probably licks the floor at any given chance.

Meat out of a fridge Is fine so long as its raised to a correct temperature, you're bit way too precious

So after all that angst you ate it and fed it to uoir baby?

You remind me of my university halls friend who would stand by making ‘ewww’ noises whilst I prepared bone-in chicken and then dig in once cooked.

What are you talking about?

She didn't eat it and was clearly upset that her baby had (whether her DM fed it to the baby or whether OP had done so before realizing the meat had been left out overnight is not clear).

We clearly have a different brand of fridge. Should be 4 degrees.

I wouldn't eat it if the night had been unusually hot, but I would otherwise. Germs would be killed by the cooking. Much more dangerous to eat something that has been kept warm for hours, as in a hotel buffet.

Bacteria would be killed by cooking but not any toxins/poisons they have released into the food.

A few years ago a restaurant did that for a Christmas meal. They cooked the meat, sliced and covered it, and then left it in the cool cupboard. They then "reheated it" the next day in gravy. They killed several people doing this through food poisoning and went to prison.
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Their defence could never be "well, we've always done it that way, and no one has ever been ill."

Obviously didn’t reheat it sufficiently. Not an issue if you do.

Yes, it is an issue. Reheating kills the bacteria but any spores/poisons/toxins they've produced will remain.

Once it has been left out at room temperature for 2 hours, meat is unsafe to eat (even if reheated).

Do you buy pies from the bakers op?

At our local co-op then bake pies and sausage rolls then put them out on the bakery shelf.

I would suggest that adding vegetables to a stew and bringing it back to the boil and simmering it is much less dangerous than eating (hot or cold according to the bag) meat pies that have sat on a shelf for hours. Yet that passes hygiene regs.

I have just finished a bowl of really nice chilli, that I made on Friday afternoon, reheated Friday evening and then once cooled on Saturday decanted into some tupperware in the fridge. I still have some more for tomorrow!
These dishes are so much better on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days!
I wouldn't do that with chicken obviously, but beef is going to be fine.

She’s very careful to avoid saying who fed it to the baby (‘the baby ate it’) so I doubt anyone’s fed it to the baby against OP’s wishes.

Yes, it is an issue. Reheating kills the bacteria but any spores/poisons/toxins they've produced will remain.
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Once it has been left out at room temperature for 2 hours, meat is unsafe to eat (even if reheated“

Don’t know what else to say 🤷‍♀️ 60 years old. Ate rare roast beef and lamb cold next day and the day after as a child, it was kept in a cupboard.
As an adult mum, was very careful about reheating. Avoided microwave like the plague because they’re inconsistent. That said, my 85 year old mum relies on her (very unsanitary) microwave and is still alive.

reheating pre-cooked meat is completely safe if it’s done slowly and carefully to the correct temperature.

It is an issue because reheating may kill any bacteria but won't kill the poisonous toxins they have produced whilst multiplying. The toxins are what causes illness.

I very much doubt your local bakery are leaving baked goods out, at room temperature, for longer than 2 hours. They would absolutely be offside of food safety regulations if they are.

At bakers like Greg's (and I imagine most others), freshly baked goods are displayed for up to 2 hours, after which time they are packaged and refrigerated.