re: Quick help. Left a beef roast in crock pot over night

Half the FB thinks food should be tossed from the fridge after 2 days.

In most cases you should be fine eating it. For most people the worst case scenario would be an extra trip up the hallway.

Only way I would toss it is if you have a compromised immune system.

Heating it up should dispose of most creepy crawlies that might have set up a home in the roast.

quote:

---

Posted by notiger1997 Thanks for all of the replies. I can't risk it. I'm throwing that thing away

---

Wuss. I'd have eaten that without a second thought.

quote:

---

Posted by notiger1997 on 11/11 at 7:58 pm to notiger1997 Thanks for all of the replies. I can't risk it. I'm throwing that thing away

---

If you waited till 8pm to address this then yeah, the odds of not getting sick from eating it have swung wildly from 3:1 to 1:10.

quote:

---

Bite me.

---

A human bite is far more infectious and dangerous than that lovely roast you tossed out.

I need to say a couple of things that my brothers and sisters need to hear.

Usually it is not living microorganisms that cause food poisoning. It is the toxins they throw off as byproducts of their metabolism - as they utilize the food where they are located. In most cases, very little of this toxin is all it takes to cause the food poisoning. Cooking the food after the toxin is produced may not denature the toxin. In other words, you can cook the spoiled food and it will still cause the food poisoning.

We did studies where hamburger smelled absolutely rank and it was still good (toxin wise). Other foods smelled absolutely fine and were so full of toxin that they might be fatal.

The bad boys are chicken, dressing, potato salad, eggs, stuff like that. The organisms begin multiplying slowly and then suddenly hit what is called logarithmic growth stage, where they reproduce by factors of ten, sometimes every five to ten minutes. An organism that has attained logarithmic growth stage, will generate large amounts of toxin quickly, even before the food turns rancid or rank.

If the bug is e-coli, then everything I have said is not applicable. Bugs like e-coli do their bad stuff living and growing inside of you. The food associated with e-coli is usually beef - hamburger. Uncut beef (roasts etc) are much safer, because the inside is not exposed to the bacteria, only the surface.

The bad bug in chicken is usually salmonella or shigella. You have never had a bad day like salmonella will give you. If my memory is correct, it stands up very well to heat. If it is there cooking does little good.

Please excuse the generalities I have used. What I have shared is pretty much how it is.

One last thing. People have experienced lethal poisoning from Botulism producing organisms with no noticeable off taste in the food. Botulism production occurs in low acid food under anaerobic conditions. I seem to remember cases of botulism in dressing left out too long before cooking. I am suspicious it could grow in red beans if handled wrong.

quote:

---

Wuss. I'd have eaten that without a second thought

---

This. That qualifies as extra fresh for anyone that regularly eats at the hunting or fishing camp

quote:

---

Bite me. I put it in the fridge this morning when I got up.

---

Well then it would have been fine, imo.

quote:

---

MeridianDog

---

Great post. Bookmarked it for future salmonella, botulism, ecoli discussions.