would you cook/eat this ?

[Murphy101]

So I was planning on making ox tail soup today and I set the bones to soak in cold water in a sealed bowl on the counter last night around 7pm with the intention of rinsing and boiling once before bed. 

However I failed to return to the kitchen until 7am this morning.

Would you continue on with the making of your ox tail soup or should I throw them away and go buy more?

[Katy]

Ehhhh…  I personally would toss it. Mostly because the toxins from many kinds of food poisoning can’t be boiled away. 

[gstharr]

Unless something is obviously wrong, I would eat it especially if it being thoroughly cooked.  Found this on Quora:

After discovering that your meat package was left out, open it, look at it, smell it, feel the surface. If it’s already greenish, with a very sour foul odour, and a slimy surface, the choice it up to you: You may not want to cook it and for peace of mind you may want to discard it (but it probably wouldn’t hurt you in any case!).

Otherwise, raw meat is highly contaminated on the outer surfaces- yes! But if cooked properly, it will be perfectly fine.

Now as I write this some people with good intentions are reaching for their keyboard eager to tell me about the perils of E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Botulism, toxins, the FDA 2 hr “limit”, etc. So here goes: Vegetative cells (e.g. E. coli, Salmonella, etc.) are all destroyed by proper cooking, just as you do with poultry. No toxin-producer affects raw meat in 8 hrs. The only thing that grows rapidly on raw meat is SPOILAGE organisms. They don’t cause disease, only decay, and they outgrow the pathogens.

The advice about the fabled “2 hr limit”, is designed for READY-TO-EAT-FOODS (egg salad sandwiches, sliced ham, cabbage rolls, etc., etc.,), not raw meat. Specifically, most regulations define these foods as “Food which can support the growth of pathogens or the production of their toxins”. Raw meat is NOT in this group.

And even then, it’s overkill, designed for people who cut corners anyway. The “lag time” for pathogen growth after having reached ideal growth temperature, is closer to 4–6 hrs.

I have been investigating, teaching, consulting, and writing about food borne illnesses on four continents, and never once have we encountered a case of illness due to raw meat being kept too long before proper cooking. Refrigeration only arrived less than 100 years ago….. What do you think happened to people eating meat for the tens of thousands of years before then?

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, gstharr said:

Unless something is obviously wrong, I would eat it especially if it being thoroughly cooked.  Found this on Quora:

After discovering that your meat package was left out, open it, look at it, smell it, feel the surface. If it’s already greenish, with a very sour foul odour, and a slimy surface, the choice it up to you: You may not want to cook it and for peace of mind you may want to discard it (but it probably wouldn’t hurt you in any case!).

Otherwise, raw meat is highly contaminated on the outer surfaces- yes! But if cooked properly, it will be perfectly fine.

Now as I write this some people with good intentions are reaching for their keyboard eager to tell me about the perils of E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Botulism, toxins, the FDA 2 hr “limit”, etc. So here goes: Vegetative cells (e.g. E. coli, Salmonella, etc.) are all destroyed by proper cooking, just as you do with poultry. No toxin-producer affects raw meat in 8 hrs. The only thing that grows rapidly on raw meat is SPOILAGE organisms. They don’t cause disease, only decay, and they outgrow the pathogens.

The advice about the fabled “2 hr limit”, is designed for READY-TO-EAT-FOODS (egg salad sandwiches, sliced ham, cabbage rolls, etc., etc.,), not raw meat. Specifically, most regulations define these foods as “Food which can support the growth of pathogens or the production of their toxins”. Raw meat is NOT in this group.

And even then, it’s overkill, designed for people who cut corners anyway. The “lag time” for pathogen growth after having reached ideal growth temperature, is closer to 4–6 hrs.

I have been investigating, teaching, consulting, and writing about food borne illnesses on four continents, and never once have we encountered a case of illness due to raw meat being kept too long before proper cooking. Refrigeration only arrived less than 100 years ago….. What do you think happened to people eating meat for the tens of thousands of years before then?

These threads always remind me of Sunday dinners at my house growing up.  We would eat around 1 or 2 and then the leftover  food would be left on the stove top-covered- the rest of the afternoon.  People would graze and we would finish it off or put it away by bedtime.  Never had a single episode of illness tied to that practice.  I will say something like potato salad was not left out.  

[Eos]

I would, after sniffing and following my reaction.

[Ann.without.an.e]

1 hour ago, Eos said:

I would, after sniffing and following my reaction.

I mean, the sniff test can be pretty accurate right lol

[Murphy101]

I’ve been to other countries where the raw meat is hanging on hooks in street markets outside for hours and there’s nothing wrong with their delicious food.

I have continue with making it. Especially since it was covered the entire time by both water in the bowl and a lid.  It didn’t smell or look obviously bad  either.

Saturday dinner 🍲 is in process!

[Grace Hopper]

I would not. But I am quick to toss after a serious food poisoning experience. 

[Murphy101]

9 minutes ago, Grace Hopper said:

I would not. But I am quick to toss after a serious food poisoning experience. 

If it hadn’t been covered in water and in a sealed bowl - I might have tossed it.