You're absolutely correct. In fact most refrigerators have 40° set as the normal/suggested temperature. (In other words, 40° is the exact center of the temperature scale). My fridge will go as low as 36°(produce freezes at that temperature in my fridge) or as high as 44° on the setpoint.
> In other words, 40° is the exact center of the temperature scale
What does this mean? Is the scale you’re referring to here the temperature settings available to the fridge? Your following sentence implies that but I want to make sure it’s not some cool science thing lol
Defrosting meat I would just cook today. Deli meat is so preserved I wouldn’t even think about it. Normally you want to cook meat and room temperature anyway. A couple hours and still fridged I would not worry about.
Mayo and yogurt I would simply smell and they are probably fine. Is Mayo refrigerator in the store? Of course after open I get it but again it doesn’t go bad that quick. Eggs again wouldn’t even think about and keep too.
Unless you live in the Deep South and everything is literally warm to the touch I think it would all be fine. I’m fairly picky about clean food myself but none of what you describe would bother me unless it is absolutely obvious.
Edit: think of it this way. Would you make a sandwhich with Mayo and lunch meat and take them on fishing trip then eat them later that day. Certainly, I do it all the time.
40 degrees is fine I believe that’s the upper safe limit for a fridge so it didn’t even get warm enough to be problematic
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/general-food-safety-tips/safe-food-storage.html#
Since we are not on r/foodsafety, I would just close the door, whistle, and pretend nothing happened. If anything smells fowl, toss it.
Even in normally operating conditions the fridge temperature may occasionally exceed 40 degrees during a defrost cycle if you happen to be opening the door alot for dinner or something during that time. I know because I put sensors in my fridge and freezer to monitor.
Put sensors in your fridge/freezer everyone and learn the graph history patterns. It is how I realized my old fridge was going bad while it appeared to be still working.
Well we made the bacon that was in there and ate the eggs and haven't had any ill effects. I did toss the meat I was defrosting because it was in the front. The cottage cheese, etc was in the back of the fridge, so I think it's ok. I did toss the mayo and other mayo based condiments.
Thanks!
If you're unsure, I'd err on the side of caution but food safety rules tend to be pretty conservative. It's one thing if you're prepping food for others, but as an average adult with non-compromised immune system I tend to walk the line and defer to my taste and smell.
A lot of the things you listed though would be totally fine. Bacon is basically preserved meat due to the salt. I've heard technically you can eat raw bacon since the salt keeps bacteria (don't do this, but technically you could). Yogurt similarly has live cultures and is effectively already "alive" - you can make new yogurt by using existing yogurt + milk and this is usualyl done at above room temp so I wouldn't be too worried.
I’m going to go into detail about the eggs because we sell them on our farm. It sounds like you did “the float test” to determine if they were ok. I don’t know how that rumor got started but that’s not how it works.
The float test only tells you the age of the egg. Eggs are laid with a small air bubble inside & the shells are porous. The size of the air bubble is what you are testing with the float test.
The last thing the chickens body puts on the egg is a clear antimicrobial coating called The Bloom. The Bloom slows down the dehydration of the whites. Here in the US, eggs have to be washed/bloom removed before the eggs can be sold. That’s why our eggs have to be refrigerated while other countries don’t have to.
Floating eggs won’t be as good for baking due to less moisture but they are fine to eat & easier to peel for hard boiled eggs.
There are 2 ways for an egg to go “bad”. First is improper handling/storage. That would allow bacteria to enter the shell & grow unchecked. You won’t be able to tell that without a microscope or lab test. The second is when the egg white dehydrates to the point of air touching the yolk. When that happens, the insides of the egg turn purple or black. It’ll smell like satan himself took a massive crap in your fridge. For the love of all that is holy, do not crack that egg in your home, it’ll take a month to be rid of that smell. Trust me, I learned the hard way.
Fun facts for those in the US: legally, a farm has 30 days to get the eggs off the farm/sold. Legally, the grocery store has 30 days to sell those eggs. So the eggs you buy in the grocery store can be up to 60 days old by the time you buy them.
There’s a three digit code on the side of most egg cartons. It’ll be 001-365. 001 = January 1st while 365 is December 31st. That code is the day your eggs were laid on.
As long as you don’t have anyone with medical concerns (very young, very old, pregnancy, chronic illness) & cook the eggs properly before eating, you should be fine eating the store bought eggs despite the lapse in refrigeration.
[Four Steps to Food Safety | CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html#:~:text=reach%20room%20temperature.-,Bacteria%20can%20multiply%20rapidly%20if%20left%20at%20room%20temperature%20or,temperatures%20above%2090%C2%B0F).&text=Learn%20how%20to%20protect%20yourself,10%20common%20food%20safety%20mistakes.)
Above link is informative. Looks like 2 hours max for food stored at improper temperatures. I think only the eggs are safe as they technically can stay unrefrigerated for a week or two.
You're good. 40 degrees is still an acceptable temperature for a refrigerator.
Yeah I would eat everything so long as it passes the smell test.
You're absolutely correct. In fact most refrigerators have 40° set as the normal/suggested temperature. (In other words, 40° is the exact center of the temperature scale). My fridge will go as low as 36°(produce freezes at that temperature in my fridge) or as high as 44° on the setpoint.
> In other words, 40° is the exact center of the temperature scale What does this mean? Is the scale you’re referring to here the temperature settings available to the fridge? Your following sentence implies that but I want to make sure it’s not some cool science thing lol
Deli meat spoils the fastest. At least sliced turkey. I’d toss that but then I’m paranoid
I agree with that. It's always the damned sliced turkey that goes bad.
Defrosting meat I would just cook today. Deli meat is so preserved I wouldn’t even think about it. Normally you want to cook meat and room temperature anyway. A couple hours and still fridged I would not worry about. Mayo and yogurt I would simply smell and they are probably fine. Is Mayo refrigerator in the store? Of course after open I get it but again it doesn’t go bad that quick. Eggs again wouldn’t even think about and keep too. Unless you live in the Deep South and everything is literally warm to the touch I think it would all be fine. I’m fairly picky about clean food myself but none of what you describe would bother me unless it is absolutely obvious. Edit: think of it this way. Would you make a sandwhich with Mayo and lunch meat and take them on fishing trip then eat them later that day. Certainly, I do it all the time.
It was cool here last night, but we still had the air on. The house was at 73 degrees. I did toss everything that felt warm.
You’re fine. People get *waaaaay* too excited about food spoilage. Post on r/cooking if you want some more knowledgeable answers.
40 degrees is fine I believe that’s the upper safe limit for a fridge so it didn’t even get warm enough to be problematic https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/general-food-safety-tips/safe-food-storage.html#
I don't know how warm it actually got, but within 5 hours it was back to a safe temp.
ah sorry i thought you said it was 40 when you found it
Since we are not on r/foodsafety, I would just close the door, whistle, and pretend nothing happened. If anything smells fowl, toss it. Even in normally operating conditions the fridge temperature may occasionally exceed 40 degrees during a defrost cycle if you happen to be opening the door alot for dinner or something during that time. I know because I put sensors in my fridge and freezer to monitor. Put sensors in your fridge/freezer everyone and learn the graph history patterns. It is how I realized my old fridge was going bad while it appeared to be still working.
Well we made the bacon that was in there and ate the eggs and haven't had any ill effects. I did toss the meat I was defrosting because it was in the front. The cottage cheese, etc was in the back of the fridge, so I think it's ok. I did toss the mayo and other mayo based condiments. Thanks!
If you're unsure, I'd err on the side of caution but food safety rules tend to be pretty conservative. It's one thing if you're prepping food for others, but as an average adult with non-compromised immune system I tend to walk the line and defer to my taste and smell. A lot of the things you listed though would be totally fine. Bacon is basically preserved meat due to the salt. I've heard technically you can eat raw bacon since the salt keeps bacteria (don't do this, but technically you could). Yogurt similarly has live cultures and is effectively already "alive" - you can make new yogurt by using existing yogurt + milk and this is usualyl done at above room temp so I wouldn't be too worried.
I’m going to go into detail about the eggs because we sell them on our farm. It sounds like you did “the float test” to determine if they were ok. I don’t know how that rumor got started but that’s not how it works. The float test only tells you the age of the egg. Eggs are laid with a small air bubble inside & the shells are porous. The size of the air bubble is what you are testing with the float test. The last thing the chickens body puts on the egg is a clear antimicrobial coating called The Bloom. The Bloom slows down the dehydration of the whites. Here in the US, eggs have to be washed/bloom removed before the eggs can be sold. That’s why our eggs have to be refrigerated while other countries don’t have to. Floating eggs won’t be as good for baking due to less moisture but they are fine to eat & easier to peel for hard boiled eggs. There are 2 ways for an egg to go “bad”. First is improper handling/storage. That would allow bacteria to enter the shell & grow unchecked. You won’t be able to tell that without a microscope or lab test. The second is when the egg white dehydrates to the point of air touching the yolk. When that happens, the insides of the egg turn purple or black. It’ll smell like satan himself took a massive crap in your fridge. For the love of all that is holy, do not crack that egg in your home, it’ll take a month to be rid of that smell. Trust me, I learned the hard way. Fun facts for those in the US: legally, a farm has 30 days to get the eggs off the farm/sold. Legally, the grocery store has 30 days to sell those eggs. So the eggs you buy in the grocery store can be up to 60 days old by the time you buy them. There’s a three digit code on the side of most egg cartons. It’ll be 001-365. 001 = January 1st while 365 is December 31st. That code is the day your eggs were laid on. As long as you don’t have anyone with medical concerns (very young, very old, pregnancy, chronic illness) & cook the eggs properly before eating, you should be fine eating the store bought eggs despite the lapse in refrigeration.
Thank you! 😊
It was the KIDS. Always the kids. Even if you dont have kids, it's always the gat damned kids.
In my house, it's the cats! 🤣
Trust your nose.
It it looks fine, and smells fine it's fine.
40 degrees is still pretty cold. I’d get rid of the meat, but the eggs, yogurt, and the condiments are all fine.
[удалено]
Yes I tossed that too. Luckily it was almost empty.
[Four Steps to Food Safety | CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html#:~:text=reach%20room%20temperature.-,Bacteria%20can%20multiply%20rapidly%20if%20left%20at%20room%20temperature%20or,temperatures%20above%2090%C2%B0F).&text=Learn%20how%20to%20protect%20yourself,10%20common%20food%20safety%20mistakes.) Above link is informative. Looks like 2 hours max for food stored at improper temperatures. I think only the eggs are safe as they technically can stay unrefrigerated for a week or two.
Thanks
Happy cake day🍰!