Expert: Carol Schlitt - 7/11/2007

Question
I accidently left yogurt, frozen pancakes, fat free half and half and sliced deli turkey in the car upon returning from the grocery store.  I am afraid that they were left in the car for about 5 hours.  I know that this is beyond two hours, but I am wondering if the foods are still safe to eat if the items were still cold when I realized I had left them.  Is this wishful thinking?
Thank you.

Answer
Hi Cristina,

Unfortunately, I can not recommend consuming the food. Of course it is your call. If you feel confident that they were sufficiently cold during the 5 hours then you can make the call.  The recommendation is to not consume foods that have been out of refrigeration over 2 hours.

Until we have a way of determining that foods that have been abused by  being out of refrigeration are still safe, the recommendation will remain to not consume the foods.

Sorry....

Carol