If it gets up to temp, what’s the difference? Answers I have seen is it takes too long to reheat, but how does that apply to raw food if the time is the same?
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Food safety is all about minimizing the amount of time food spends in the “danger zone” of temperatures where bacteria can flourish. This danger zone is, roughly, anything warmer than the fridge and colder than a cooking temperature (140F). This isn’t just about killing bacteria but about minimizing the amount of time it spends eating your food and turning it into toxic waste. You absolutely can get sick from eating food with no active bacteria. This is why you can’t just leave food out for weeks then make it “safe” by heating it through.
Ideally, you wouldn’t start raw food in a slow cooker – traditional braising usually starts with cooking the ingredients on high heat before moving to “low and slow.” This is a good move for both flavor/texture and food safety reasons. But putting your ingredients through one slow heating cycle generally won’t cause any catastrophic problems and may be tolerated because it’s convenient. Putting the same food through another slow heating cycle is flirting with danger and also unnecessary. Heating in a microwave or an oven is faster, easier, and achieves the same results.
As a side note, this is also why you should only reheat the leftovers you intend to eat immediately. Reheating that whole casserole dish, taking a few scoops, and putting the rest back in the fridge is subjecting later servings to unnecessary time in the danger zone.
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