Wednesday, 01 February 2012 08:10
Leftovers can only be stored safely within a narrow window. If your refrigerator is stuffed with leftovers, is it safe from bacterial contamination?
That depends on how you prepare and store it, says Elizabeth Scott, co-director of the Center for Hygiene and Health in Home and Community at Simmons College in Boston. She says leftovers need to be chilled within two hours.
Vegetarian dishes aren’t exempt from the two-hour rule. A microbe called Bacillus cereus has been associated with dried foods like peas, beans and rice, says Dr. Scott. When the bacteria experience environmental stress, as with cooking, they form protective spores, which can germinate into the potentially dangerous bacteria at room temperature.
Refrigerated leftovers should be eaten within two or three days, she says. “There’s this misconception that if you throw it into the fridge again, it’s endlessly safe”, she says. Not true. The cool temperatures don’t kill most bacteria, but just stop or slow their growth.
Kathleen Hobson
