In sci.bio.food-science on Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:29:26 -0500 Goomba38
> posted:

>Dave Smith wrote:
>
>> Goomba38 wrote:
>>
>>
>>>A case where a little knowledge will get a person
>>>in trouble.
>>>Don't you reheat leftovers at home and live to
>>>tell about it? Most everyone does. What your
>>>sister does, I can't imagine? She sounds like a
>>>fruit loop to me.
>>>
>>
>>
>> The concern was not about reheating the dish. It was about reheating it,
>> transporting it approx, 20 minutes and then heating it again. This is a
>> situation where the food would spend longer in the temperature range where
>> bacteria thrives. I think there is some valid concern there. It really
>> doesn't take much of that stuff to make a person really sick, and if you have
>> ever hd a good case of food poisoning it's an experience that you don't ever
>> want to repeat.
>
>People bring casseroles and dishes to potlucks all
>the time. Transporting them directly from oven to
>car to event. Perhaps additional heating on
>arrival. A 20 min drive isn't terribly excessive
>where I'd start to worry?
>Goomba

None of this describes the original plans of the original poster.

He wasn't going to take the food from the oven where he *cooked* the
food to his sister's, but from the overn where he reheated it. Nor
was he planning to reheat it to a high temp like boiling temperature
in the center of the food. That would just dry it out. People reheat
food until it is about 110 or 120 degrees F in the center, not 200+.

So whether his plan was risky or not, your comparisons are not valid.

Why would he reheat it before leaving home? It seemed pointless to me
but maybe it was so he could eat some of it? If that is the case, the
amount to be eaten can be separated from the rest and heated
separately, then eaten.

As to how many people are poisoned at pot-luck, or how many you've
seen at your hospital, it really doesn't matter. One is too many if
that one is eating at one's own house. Personally, whenever I get
sick, I figure it's another way to lose weight, but for people who are
already sick, or old, or young, it can be very bad.





Meirman
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