According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture we need to becareful when it comes to eating leftovers. They say many Americans end up sick because they ate something that might have been sitting out just a little too long or maybe it was in the fridge a little longer than thought. The best advice is when in doubt throw it out! Here is a list of how to tell if something is safe or to throw it away.
• Is it okay to finish a gourmet coffee left on your desk overnight? No. Bacteria grow like crazy in warm liquid, especially if it’s got milk and sugar in it. So, toss it.
• Is it safe to eat the pizza you left overnight on the kitchen counter? No. According to experts, after two hours it should go in the fridge. Any longer than that, and it should go in the trash.
• Okay, is it safe to eat something moldy? Maybe. If the mold is on a piece of hard cheese, you can cut away the green, along with an inch of cheese, and eat the rest. If the mold’s on soft cheese, bread or fruit, toss it, because it means there’s mold you can’t see on the rest of it.
• If you have a four-hour power outage, is everything in your fridge still safe to eat? No. Experts say you can keep things like mustard, catsup, and vinegar-based salad dressings, but bacteria will have been multiplying like crazy in everything else, so toss it.
… So, what about refrigerated pickles and olives? Are they safe to eat if you have no idea when you opened them? Nope. The USDA website says to toss them if they’ve been open longer than four weeks.
• Is it okay to eat sliced deli meats that are several days old? No. When you bring sliced meats home from the deli — or open a factory-sealed package — you have three days max before they need to be tossed.
