Eli5 why is it that food can be left in steamers and under heat warming lamps for hours but it harbors harmful bacteria if you leave it in a hot place like a car for a few hours?
In: 312
The same temperature can be problematic if you get there “from below” but not “from above”.
Restaurant codes typically tell you that if you are serving hot food, it needs to reach a certain HOT temperature and then it cannot go below a relatively WARM temperature until it is served.
That’s not the same as bringing the food to that WARM temperature from the fridge.
Much of it comes down to how recently the food was prepared. Under heat lamps in a restaurant the food would presumably be fresh and relatively free of germs and pathogens. Food in a hot car… could be days old.
The danger zone that others are referencing is between 40 and 140 degrees. Anything above or below that is safe to eat. If it is within that range, then you have to account for how long it has been in the danger zone. Usually 4 hours is the max for it to still be safe.
Bacteria reproduce more effectively in hotter climates but after a certain point they just die. A car won’t reach that point but a steamer will. Similar to how yoghurt is made. Milk is heated up really hot (about 100c) to kill all germs and then lowered (about 45c) so bacteria samples can reproduce.
[removed]
There’s a thing in food sciences called “the danger zone”. Within the danger zone conditions are right for bacteria to propagate. Outside the danger zone bacteria either is killed or cannot propagate. The temp range according to the USDA is 40F – 140 F. Above 140F food is safe. Below 40F food is safe. Between those two temperatures food will begin to spoil.
The unpopular answer is while generally yes, we’re talking about different bands of temperatures between a car and a heatlamp, in reality they overlap a lot and a heatlamp is not much better from a food safety perspective.
I use my dashboard as a microwave every day. Still kicking! But there are select things I wont. Irrational paranoia
To put it simply: You don’t want your food to have the temperature of your body for long. Very cold is fine, you can’t survive at that temperature, very hot is fine, you can survive either. The bacteria want environment like you, wet and warm.
Question: Doesn’t it get also nasty humid inside a car as opposed to under a dry heat lamp?
Latest Answers