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?

Question

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

Answer 1

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.