I cooked chicken in the oven today before picking up my son from school and left it out to cool (covered) while I picked him up. By the time I finished cooking the rest of dinner, the chicken had been out for 2 hours. The safety recommendation is past 2 hours, toss it. Normally, I wouldn’t worry about it and I would definitely eat it, but I’m pregnant so I’m being extra cautious AND my toddler and I just had a bout of stomach bug less than a week ago so I really didn’t feel like riding the vomit train again so soon. Anyway, my question is the title. Where does the bacteria come from that causes illness after you eat it? I assume the air but is the air in my home less likely to spoil the food as quickly as say, a restaurant or somewhere outdoors? And lastly, since I’ve put the chicken in the fridge, would reheating it tomorrow kill any of that bacteria?
In: Biology
The bacteria were already there, but not in high enough numbers to reach the infectious dose (the number of bacteria required to cause illness). When the food is left out of the fridge, they can multiply and reach infectious dose.
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