eli5 why can you cook raw food in a slow cooker, but can’t reheat leftovers?

Question

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?

In: 0

Answer 1

Bacteria has been growing on the food now that it has been in the fridge. Reheating in the slow cooker keeps the food in the danger zone for way too long. Its not the bacteria that makes you sick, its the poisons the bacteria produces as its waste product and that poison cannot be cooked away.