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
Yes, some bacterial spores can travel through the air, but also just about anything your food touches has some bacteria on it because basically everything we touch or use has bacteria on it. The utensils you used to cook the food, the container you store it in, the plate or bowl you eat if off of… An errant sneeze or cough can spray bacteria everywhere, as can a loose hair.
The environment could have an effect on the time it takes for food to go bad, but there isn’t going to be any meaningful difference between your home and a restaurant or outdoors.
Lastly, reheating food can kill the bacteria, but a lot of foodborne illnesses are not caused directly from the bacteria but by the bacteria’s waste (basically their poop), which isn’t destroyed by heat. So if you leave food out for too long, reheating it again won’t make it safe to eat because while the heat might kill the bacteria, it won’t do anything about the bacteria’s waste.
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