Last night I bought two vacumn-sealed packages of lunch meat but forgot to put them in the refrigerator until this morning. I’d say they were out for about eight or nine hours in a room that was about 68F. When I found them this morning, I put them in the fridge. Neither package has been opened and the meat looks okay to me.
Could it be ok, or should I throw it all away? I hate to waste so much costly meat, but it’s small change compared to a nasty case of food poisoning…
If it stayed sealed, then it should be OK. Plus, if it is deli meat, it is stuffed with preservatives including salt.
A long as there wasn’t any Mayo on it…
Actually, if it’s just vacuum packed, it probably wasn’t sterile to begin with, so there probably was microbial growth while it was left out. Generally, you’ll be able to at least smell something off before microbial levels become dangerous, but there’s no guarantee.
And while mayo on its own is, as has been said, fairly safe, it becomes a hazard when it contacts other foods. Salmonella contamination of the mayo isn’t unusual, and while it can’t grow in mayo alone, mayo could transfer it onto other foods, where it can grow.
It also depends on the sort of lunch meat. Salami, for instance, keeps a bit longer than most, and would probably be OK.
Well, smell it and feel it. If it smells wrong or feels slimy, then it’s probably bad. At least that’s what I’ve come to expect from years of my mom asking me “do you think this tastes OK?”
If you do not have a compromised immune system the odds are very high that you should have zero problem harfing the stuff down.