Expert: Carol Schlitt - 2/13/2006

Question
Good morning Carol,

My wife spent most of yesterday preparing a very large pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs and sausage. After eating and cleaning everything up, the sauce unfortunately spent the night on the stove as I forgot to put it in the fridge.
I feel absolutely awful and I hope the sauce does not have to be thrown away due to my negligence. My question is: is the sauce okay to eat? It spent roughly 12 hours at room temperature and then I put it in the fridge 1st thing this morning when I saw it. I don't want my wife's hard work to go to waste but I also don't want any of us to get sick either. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Earle,

I wish I could be the bearer of better news but the recommendation is that potentially hazardous food - which meat sauce is -- should be refrigerated after 2 hours at room temperature. Since it was at room temperature 12 hours, bacteria can grow to harmful levels in that time period.

So.... my recommendation is to not consume the spaghetti sauce.

Sorry.

Carol C. Schlitt
Extension Educator, Nutrition and Wellness
University of Illinois Extension