situation–raw beef in crock pot for 3 hours before I noticed it was the toaster I plugged up not the crock pot
question - safe to go ahead and cook and eat?
need answer before dinner
-rainy
possible mitigating circumstance
a can of condensed soup was stirred in among the chunks of beef, so lots of salt from that
First post: no.
Second post: hell no to the 5th power.
I would eat it. I’ve thawed meat on the countertop for longer than that, so I would assume it was okay. Actually I might ask my husband to smell it.
i personally would have no problem cooking it up.
But the official answer is don’t eat raw meat that’s been left out for more than two hours in temps between 40 and 140F.
ETA: Actually, my one concern would be that since it’s being slow cooked, it’s going to spend a good deal more time in that “danger zone.” I, personally, would still risk it, but I probably wouldn’t serve it to my kids or the elderly, just in case.
If the cover was on the crockpot, I don’t see an issue either. What time?
I’d eat it.
I’m not sure why you think the cover would make a difference. It’s the bacteria that’s already on the meat that is the problem.
For the same reason that the thawing meat in a Ziploc on the counter doesn’t intimidate me, and there will be cooking to temperature involved. Unless his crock pot isn’t uncovered on a picnic table in the backyard or his kitchen isn’t a disgusting mess, I’d have no reservations eating what he’s making.
In fact, I don’t have reservations, so I still need to know what time we’re eating.
Unless you’re going to be eating raw meat, why would it matter?
Cooking should kill all the harmful bacterial.
It isn’t necessarily the bacteria per se - it is the toxins they produce. Think of it as the bacteria pooping on your food. Cooking might kill the bacteria, but doesn’t necessarily eliminate the toxins they’ve already secreted.
Honestly in this case it is probably okay, but knowing me I’d personally err on the side of caution and let it go.
Need I point out the OP/username here?
My wife and I have done the equivalent of this, with beef, lamb, chicken, and even fish hundreds of times. In many other countries it’s entirely normal to defrost frozen meat on the counter. I’ve never gotten sick from it, and neither has my wife.
Welcome to one of my pet peeves:
My slow cooker has an on/off switch but no power light.
My rice cooker has a power light but no off switch.
These two manufacturers REALLY need to compare notes.
I’ve done exactly what you’ve done; I’ve also left half a pot of rice slowly carbonizing itself overnight.
:smack: I usually avoid those obvious ones!
Yes, this issue has happen before when the lack of a power light meant it was just sitting all day – came home to room temp pork roast. That one went into the garbage. Luckily I was working from home today and caught the mistake. I could have sworn as I was adding ingredients (onions first) that I could smell them warming up. One of these days I am going to splurge for a fancy crockpot.
I’ve decided to eat it. So if this is my last post somebody continue to gripe about this season of The Walking Dead in my memory!
Rainy, would you mind checking in at about the 24-hour mark to let us know if you got food poisoning? Enquiring minds want to know!
Unless you have impaired immunity issues, it’s likely fine. Maybe I’d consider putting it in a regular oven to avoid the slow cooker as suggested above.
If this happen again you should try calling the grocery store you brought the beef from and see what they say. I know if cooked food is left out for 2 hours it’s throw out in restaurants , this happen at my wedding party .