Do you think that the food I left in the car is still good?!
Answers: Last night my family went to Olive Garden. I ordered this pasta dish. I only ate about 1/2 of it, so I put the rest in a to-go box. I accidently left the to-go box in my car (in the garage) overnight and this morning. I discovered it about 12:00pm today, so it had been in the car for about 15 hours. The temperature in the garage was approx 65-70 degrees overnight. In my meal there was cheese, noodles, and sauce. Do you think it is okay if I eat it, or will I get sick? I have smelled it and it smells fine, but I'm not sure. Thank you for answering!
40-140 is what they call 'The Danger Zone'. That's they area where bacteria grow the best. In the food industry, food that has been in the danger zone for 2 hrs or more is discarded. Then there's the old saying... "When in doubt, throw it out".
I would toss it, hospital bills and Dr. bills far outweigh worrying about wasting a little food.
Throw it out. It's been 'stored' for more than two hours at a temperature in excess of 40*F; so unless you want a good dose of food poisoning... toss it.
There is no actual way to know the condition of the food - but a good "rule-of-thumb" is to never eat food left in the automobile for over an hour.
All of the ingredients in that food may have already started turning bad. It's best to just never take the chance.
It was not cold enough to keep bacteria from growing on it. Honestly, you couldn't pay me to eat it if I were you.
No darlin, you cannot eat it. It may smell fine, but put all that under a microscope and it would probably make you faint.