How long can food stay out before you have to through it away?!
Answers: For instance oatmeal, scrambled eggs, or rice.
four hours is the limit on COOKED food items. and that is combined time. like you can't bring it out for four hours put it back in the fridge and take it out for another four hours because you could get some serious food borne illness from that. so becareful, now uncooked foods need to be refrigerated after 1/2 hour unless you are marinating. if you are marinating the vinegar in the marinade usually "protects" the meat but i don't care what they say because i always marinate in the fridge. i don't like buggies in my meats!
Considering that hot to cold invites mold, the food should be refrigerated immediately after it cools down otherwise it should be turfed.
The Muse
I would not leave anything out for more than 3 to 4 hours. After that I would throw it out.
One hour