AboutCarol Schlitt Expertise I can answer questions on home food safety, sanitation, home food preservation and commercial food safety (HACCP).
Experience I am an Extension educator, nutrition, wellness and food safety. I am a certified HACCP manager and a food safety instructor for the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Organizations International Association for Food Protection, American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (Certified CFCS), National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Society for Nutrition Education.
Education/Credentials BS - University of Illinois
MS - Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Question The a portion of "HoneybakedHam" was left out for 15 hours after serving.
Discard, or is it still okay? It is currently back in the refrigerator.
Answer Dear David,
First -- Merry Christmas!
Unfortunately, ham is considered a potentially hazardous food (phf)-- in other words, it can easily support the growth of harmful bacteria. One of the things that causes harmful bacteria to grow rapidly is providing a temperature between 40 to 140 degrees. Since room temperature is smack dab right in the middle of this temperature range, leaving a phf food at room temperature for an extended period of time only encourages any bacteria that would be present to grow.
Now I can just hear you saying -- okay I'll heat the food and that will kill any bacteria. While most bacteria are killed by heating, some bacteria produce a toxin which is not inactivated by heat -- in other words heating the ham may not make it safe.
With that knowledge, we recommend not eating phf that have been left at room temperature over 2 hours.
While the ham may be perfectly fine, we don't know this for fact. All we know is that the potential for bacteria to grow is present and that since bacteria don't give off signals that they are present (no change in taste, smell or visual changes (color, texture, etc) we can only know that the potential for harm is greatly increased. Therefore, the recommendation is to not eat phf that has been subject to temperatures within 40 and 140 for over 2 hours.
Wish I had better news this Christmas day....sorry!!!
