How long can food be left out of fridge and still be edible?

[kat321]

At school my child cooks in the last lesson of the day, the food is too hot to bring home and the teacher tells them she will place the lids on the air tight pots when it has cooled and then they pick it up the next day to bring it home to warm it up again for tea. The food has not been in a fridge overnight more so it has been kept in a reasonably warm roomfor 24 hours. My question is is i still safe to eat 24 hours later without refrigeration?

[hope19]

Depends what the food is if it contains pork,chicken or fish then no,cake etc are fine.

[society]

I don't think the food will be any good, especially if the room is warm. If the room was very, very cold then depending on what the food is, it'd be okay. I wouldn't take any chance with it though.

[society]

Nokno but there's a difference, your can was a sealed one and most likely pasteurised.

[kat321]

Thanks thats what I was thinking especially when the recipes will start having meat in - I deliberated for ages with a vegetable soup until I decided before xmas it just wasn't worth the risk!

[woofgang]

is there someone you can tactfully discuss this with, its not good food hygiene and IMO the children shouldn't be being taught that its okay

[brenda]

This is an example of poor timetabling, on the part of the school, and shows a complete lack of awareness of food hygiene on the part of the Headteacher and the cookery teacher.As a parent you are being made to waste money for cookery on items which are inedible.You should raise this with the school as soon as you can before you all suffer from food poisoning . Not all parents will be as switched on as you as to the dangers.

[saxy_jag]

As Hope says, depends very much on the actual food and the conditions in which it is stored. I seem to recall from some long past (2003) food hygiene training that most items should be covered and in a fridge within 45mins to prevent bacteria breeding. Room temperature is no good at all.

From the fridge. most meats, if reheated thoroughly, can be safely eaten. Rice should NEVER be reheated, although it can be eaten cold as long it's been kept in the fridge.

A more sensible way to teach cookery to kids is to have them cook their own lunch and then sit down together to eat it, thus learning good social habits at the same time. I used to support an HE teacher at a special school. Every group in the senior school cooked their own dinner once a fortnight and supervising staff would sit and eat with them - a lovely opportunity to meet the kids on something other than a teacher/pupil level.

[sue11]

I agree that all schools should be ensuring that children understand the importance of refridgerating certain foods to try to ensure food safety. In my understanding, it is the temperature of stored food that decides how quickly bacteria can multiply and become dangerous. Bacteria will not multiply in temperatures of under 5 degrees and a temperature of over 60 degrees centigrade will kill off bacteria, but to be on the safe side, food should be heated to over 70 degrees. The danger time zone for bacteria multiplying in food that has been left in an unrefridgerated place is between 2 to 4 hours.
My feelings are that even if food is left out in a warm room for some time, if heated properly, it should kill off any bacteria and be safe to eat, but it is not a practice that I would recommend anyone using on a regular basis!
Saxy jag, the idea that rice should never be reheated is not true, if it was, the ready meals that we can buy from the supermarkets such as curry or chinese meals would all be giving us food poisoning on a regular basis! You treat cooked rice in the same way as any other food, store and heat it safely and it should be fine to eat.
Cheers Sue

[cherrychapstick]

i would like to point out one thing you said your daughters teacher has told them she will put lids on when they have cooled down but they are in last lesson of the day how long does the teacher stay behind for as some foods will take longer than others to cool ,i would have a serious word with the head of the school about this ,when i was at school we were never told to leave our food in class we always took it at the end of the lesson no matter if we had lessons after it or not

Cherry

[kat321]

Thanks for all that it's pretty much what I thought but I just wanted to clarify a few things before I raise it with the school. My daughter said it was not put in fridge as when she went to collect it the day after it was just out on the table they had left it on. And like you have said food hygiene is rule number one in cookery. Anyway thanks everyone.

[heathfield]

Home refrigeration only started to become commonplace in the 1950s. Before that, families managed to survive perfectly well using up un-refrigerated leftovers from the day before. That second-day soup tastes better is acknowledged by most people, but mine goes nowhere near a fridge. I think that many people are just too panicky these days over what will keep and what won't.

[ummmm]

I agree with heathfield...