Expert: Carol Schlitt - 12/31/2006

Question
Last night at about 12:30 a.m. I cut up a brisket added chili powder, jabs and juice, a beer, garlic,etc.  The outlet I pluged the crock pot into did not work and I did not realize this untill 9:30 a.m. today.  I put it on high cook since.  Will it be ok?  

Answer
Hi Erika,

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the brisket will be safe.  When potentially hazardous foods - phf for short ( meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, etc) are left in the danger zone (40 to 140 degrees) for an extended period of time - 9 hours, you have given it sufficient time for any bacteria present to grow to sufficient numbers to make you ill. The problem is -- you just don't know for sure so since we don't don't know, we suggest erroring on the side of caution and advise not consuming the meat.

Even if you cook food that was subject to being left at room temperature for an extended period of time some bacteria may have produced a toxin that is no deactivated by heat and can still make you ill.  That's why we advise not consuming phf foods that have been subject to time abuse in the danger zone.

Sorry...

Happy New Year.

Carol