I have no problem consuming it myself, but for the sake of my wife and kids I want to make sure.
I made a batch of salsa the day before yesterday, “garden fresh” style- all raw ingredients: jalapeño, habanero, bell pepper, onion, garlic, lime juice, diced tomatoes out of cans, dried oregano, salt. Yesterday I left it out, as mentioned for 4 or 5 hours. I used my last jalapeño on this salsa and don’t want to make a grocery run again soon! I’m guessing the acidity from the lime juice and tomatoes is a protective factor, but again, I want to use an abundance of caution for my family.
On the Counter
Freshly made salsa only keeps for two hours outside of the refrigerator before bacteria begins to grow to dangerous levels. If the surrounding air temperatures are 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, the salsa only remains safe to eat for one hour before bacteria levels begin to rise. Do not refrigerate or freeze fresh salsa that sits out longer than recommended. Instead, throw it away and thoroughly wash the container with hot, soapy water.
If it was in the refrigerator and nice and cold before you left it out then you just missed the eat by time. At this point you’d be playing Salsa Roulette. Your problem is the fresh ingredients you used providing a starter culture for all sorts of bacteria.
Dammit. Yeah I was thinking about native bacteria since it’s all raw ingredients. Would I maybe be able to tell if there was bacterial activity by any bubbles forming? At this point I won’t let my family eat it but I may still play roulette. It’s a tasty batch and I don’t want to dump it.
You need to take multiple samples, let the bacteria grow in the samples for set periods of time at a known temperature, then use a microscope to count the number of bacteria found after each incubation period. Take those numbers and you can use extrapolation to determine the bacteria count in the salsa at the time the samples were taken.