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 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.