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

In higher temperatures bacteria reproduce faster, but once temperature hits about 65 °C (150 °F) they start dying because it’s too much heat for them. The inside of a car doesn’t get quite as hot as that, but gets sufficiently warm for bacteria to reproduce very fast. Food in steamers and under lamps does get hot enough to kill off bacteria.