My mom often makes a soup, keeps it in the fridge for over 10 days (it usually is left overnight on a turned off stove or crockpot before the fridge), then boils it and eats it. She insists it’s safe and has zero risk. I find it really gross because even if the bacteria are killed, they had to have made a lot of waste in the 10-15 days the soup sits and grows mold/foul right?!
But she insists its normal and I’m wrong. So can someone explain to me, someone with low biology knowledge, if it’s safe or not…and why she shouldn’t be doing this if she shouldn’t?
Every food safety guide implies you should throw soup out within 3-4 days to prevent getting ill.
Edit: I didn’t mean to be misleading with the words indefinitely either. I guess I should have used periodically boiling. She’ll do it every few days (then leave it out with no heat for at least 12 but sometimes up to 48 before a quick reboil and fridge).
In: Biology
Bacteria produce compounds that they excrete into their environment for many purposes, including to inhibit/kill other organisms. These compounds can make you very sick.
Boiling the soup to kill the bacteria doesn’t remove or destroy these compounds, so it can still make you sick.
However, I forget the name for them, but there are endless stews. Basically, the stew is kept constantly at a temperature high enough bacteria and viruses cannot survive and more ingredients are added as needed so it essentially stays good forever. That was what I thought your title was asking about.
Keeping soup in the fridge for 10-15 days and boiling it again has given microbes time to colonize the soup and it could make you sick. That said, most things are fine to eat longer than people realize. If it smells and tastes okay, it’s likely fine.
Well if bacterial spores were in the soup, not a given, they can potentially survive the boiling. Sprout in the the soup and grow, releasing toxins that further boiling won’t eliminated (depends on the toxin, some are heat stable).
However it is possible to sterilize food and it can last quite a while and it is done with gamma radiation that kills all bacteria in meat for example while raw. That can last quite a while and be stored at room temperature if sealed in a way no bacteria can get in. I don’t know how long that meat remains good an some enzymes in the meat may break stuff down and it goes bad that way, but I haven’t looked into it to see if that is true. Anyway, canning is essentially similar. You kill everything, including spores if done right, and that canned food lasts a very very long time.
That’s how the English make their food, so it definitely works to some extent. My mom has a pot of peas, carrots, and potatoes that are kept constantly boiling day and night. She inherited it from her parents who inherited it from their parents (ad infinitum). Legend says that the fire underneath the pot was given by Prometheus himself.
Lot’s of bad info here about perpetual stews. They were NOT exclusively heated 24/7. In old Inn’s and taverns of medieval era, yes they were because they were required to have warm food available 24/7 by law. However, in most homes they did not have the resources to keep the fire going hot that much. I have, and I know many others, have kept large pots that get boiled every day with new ingredients, and consumption. Although bacteria can technically grow in the conditions in between boiling, so too can bacteria grow when you’re eating it. It’s literally in your mouth, stomach, intestines, crawling on your skin, etc. However, within 24 hours, except for special strains in special conditions (usually labs), there will very, very rarely be enough bacteria (and much fewer bacteriophages) that will have grown. After all, growth is only exponential with a very slow start. As long as some old is consumed, and some new introduced to the pot, illness is extremely unlikely.
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