My question is that if,around dinner time, we happen to come across a salad and we know for sure that it has been kept in the open in the kitchen for the better part of a day, should we eat it? or is there a good chance that it is spoilt.
Depeneds what you mean by spoiled? If you mean that the lettuce or other vegetables are rotton, probably not, but you should be able to tell by looking. But it takes more then a few hours at room teprature to do that. If you had to be worried about anything it would be something more along the lines of e.coli or salmonalla(sp?). At room temprature if any thing like that got on it while it was being prepared will multiply pretty fast (room temp is right in the middle of the Danger Zone). But if your chef’s hands were clean and nothing cross contaminated it (ie the lettuce was cut with the same knife that cut the meat) and things like eggs were cooked properly, it’s probably not going to be a big deal.
Oh, and how long is ‘the better part of the day’ if it’s less then two hours, even in a restaurant kitchen that would be considered legal. Maybe not appetizing, but technically legal/safe.
Does the salad already have dressig on it?
A clean piece of lettuce will be fine for a day or more. A clean piece of lettuce covered with a mayo-based creamy dressing will be potentially dangerous very shortly after the dressing reaches room temp.
Depends on what’s on it. If it’s just lettuce and greens and some sliced vegetables with no dressing it should be OK (barring mentioned cross-contamination)
Oil and vinegar dressing would probably still be OK.
Creamy dressing, meat, fish, eggs, or anything else of that nature - anything past two hours is taking a chance.
Produce usually will not spoil at room temp. It really depends on if your utensils were clean when preparing it, and if it has any dressing on it. If you used clean utensils and there is no dressing I’m pretty sure it could sit out all day with no problems other than the lettuce wilting a bit.
Honestly this is the one thing I’d be careful with. I’m well known for eating just about anything without a care. But when I do end up sick (which is often enough) it can often be traced back to salad. Lettuce is inherently dirty and gets rotten quickly. Many salad dressings are a good growth medium. Eating old salad is just asking for trouble.
Of course there are plenty of factors. An undressed salad on a cool day for a few hours would almost certainly be fine. A creamy dressing in hundred degree heat overnight would probably be a bad idea.