Wouldn’t bacteria also grow in the water left out and release toxins?
In: 43
After reading some comments, I feel that I must interject with the official food safety guidelines:
Food that requires temperature control for safety (read: “Perishable”, which is a whole new discussion involving carbon content, water content, pH, and a few other things) has a bad window of 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. It can only be considered safe if it is in that window for less than 4 hours. After 4 hours, it might be safe, but you can’t be sure.
TLDR: Between 40 and 140 for 4 hours (the rule of fours).
Regarding OP: drinking water is generally considered non-perishable because it doesn’t have enough nutrients to support sufficient bacterial growth to cause disease.
Bacteria need two things to grow and be a risk to you.
1) something to live in
2) something to eat
Water is a great thing for bacteria to live in. Tepid, still water is their absolute favorite.
The bits of meat and veggies in soup are excellent things for bacteria to eat. This combined with the fact that soup has a lot of water in it makes it the perfect place for bacteria to live and reproduce.
Meanwhile plain tap water itself has very little in it as far as things the bacteria can eat. So while there is plenty of bacteria in the water itself that settles in from the air, they can’t grow at a fast pace because there isn’t a good source of energy for them.
Meanwhile in concentrated things like honey or pure sugar the low water content will actually suck water out of the bacteria and kill them. So while they have plenty of food, they don’t have enough water to live.
Things that bacteria need to grow. F.A.T. T.O.M
Food
Acidity
Time
Temperature
Oxygen
Moisture
Health code states that food is unsafe to eat if the temperature remains in the danger zone, above 41 degrees F and below 135 degrees F, for more than 4 hours. Low temp slows growth, such as with milk. It takes time, but it will go bad eventually. High temp kills, such as chicken at 165 degrees F, and then it can be safely held at 135 or above.
There are exceptions to the temperature danger zone like syrup and ketchup, but it applies to most food you make yourself.
Potable water is clean from bacteria, so it will be ok in open air, assuming you don’t drink from it and leave bacteria backwash, a foreign particle does not contaminate it, or an animal drink from it.
I wonder what you mean by “a few hours”. I’ve eaten soup etc that has been left out overnight, or even for a day. It was sterilized first by boiling…cuz yeah, it is soup
RANT: Kinda related to OPs post but. I am soooo tired of people warning of botulism. [Get informed!](https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/surveillance.html). According to CDC tracking there are typically less than 30 CASES A YEAR of food based botulism cases reported!
Latest Answers