Surely it’s in the “danger zone” for a long time before being fully cooked, right? Could you leave out meat for 4 hours THEN toss it in a slow cooker?
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Slow cookers are not food holders. A food holder will keep food around 150-160F to stop bacteria growth. That’s what all the heat lamps due at fast food places.
A slow cooker *can*/*will* reach 212F. Even on low, my slow cooker slightly bubbles where the liquid touches the ceramic once it has come to temp.
When food goes bad, the *food* is not what makes you sick, its the poisons the bacteria create through their metabolic processes which make you sick. Cooking can’t remove those poisons.
I have left things out overnight by mistake, but it has never worried me since the food hits the container when its still well above 140F and once sealed, nothing else is getting in to set up shop. The chance of any growth is minimal. I’ve done that with bone stocks. Boiled 12 hours, turn it off, leave it still covered cause it bed time. At that point, the broth is sterile from 12 hours at 212F and being covered, nothing is really getting in to set up a colony and if something does, it is super minor and then next morning I bring it back to a boil again and keep going killing anything that did get in.
This is very different than leaving out a rack of ribs for 4 hours on your counter top.
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