From SALON.COM
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The short answer is four hours, but there’s a lot more to it than that
There’s a caption to a cartoon in the July 5 issue of the New Yorker that reads, “That which doesn’t kill you might give you stomach trouble.” And of life’s most educational episodes, one lesson you really don’t want to learn is what it feels like to experience all the parts of your digestive system at the same time.
Avoiding food poisoning is complex (the p.c. term now is “foodborne illness,” lest we start tainting the deli guy as a “poisoner”), but it can be largely boiled down to a few key points about how bacteria grow, taught to us by our friend Fat Tom.
Fat Tom is not, in fact, a person, but a mnemonic device used by the National Restaurant Association, for whom wit and cuteness don’t come easily. (Its literature contains earnest warnings against foods that have been “time temperature abused,” and warns against getting your customers sick with an illustration of a judge’s gavel banging on a stack of cash.) But it is good at telling you how to keep bacteria from growing on your lunch. So, Fat Tom helps you remember what makes a bacteria-friendly environment and how to avoid creating one:
F is for Food: Bacteria need food to grow. They specifically feed on protein and carbohydrates, so things like roast beef and mashed potatoes are tasty, tasty to them. (But things like dry salami and bread aren’t, particularly — see “moisture” below.)…
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© Andres Rodriguez | Dreamstime.com
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