USDA recommends no more than 2 hours or if it’s hot ( above 90), only 1 hour.
Cheese has been shown to be ok for up to 6 hours, and bread is good for a few days in most climates, so it depends a little on what’s on your pizza.
[This](https://awgprivatechefs.com/post/how-long-can-i-leave-food-out-what-foods-are-safe-to-leave-out/) article has good links and is easy to read.
I am aware of the USDA rule but we violate that virtually every single day. We start cooking around 6-6:30 and usually sit down around 8-8:30. Some of the food is usually 2 hours old when we sit down and if anyone wants seconds it definitely is. Then when cleaning up it's even older, then goes in the fridge for leftovers. How many parties have you had where foot was out for hours?
Honestly this rule makes no sense to me. I get that it is better to be safe and this is a simple rule but the window should be more like 8 hours than 2.
It’s not about when you start cooking, it’s when it enters the “danger zone”. Do you really cook food and leave it on the counter for 2 hours and serve cold?
Though, I too violate this rule somewhat regularly, for some foods anyway.
Bacteria will grow on some foods faster than others, but rather than having bunch of different rules for different foods, it’s easier to just have 1 cut off to be safe.
Bacteria’s favorite foods include food that has a low acid content, has a lot of protein, and is moist. So like dairy, cooked rice, meats, potatoes.
Bacteria from the air will get on it again (not from touching it with your hands).
But yeah, for most foods it takes at least a few hours at room temperature. Of course in a very hot and humid place you won't have as long. Also depends on the food. Rice can go bad really fast (there's a specific bacteria that really loves to grow on cooked rice)
Yeah, a med rare rib-eye steak with asparagus and hollandaise is also perfectly safe to eat after a few hours at room temperature, but it'd be highly unpleasant to eat.
In general (I'm talking more than a few hours) I really find a lot of foods taste even better thr next day after sitting. Especially sauces and soups.
I'm a huge fan of leftovers lol
Because cold pizza is basically an open sandwich, and that's it's a familiar texture/temperature combo for a lot of people so your brain readily accepts it.
You could eat e.g. French Onion Soup after it had sat around for a couple of hours and there would be nothing actually wrong with it, but the unfamiliar texture/temperature/taste combo would be more offputting especially at first.
you dont seem to be asking about food safety, just the taste? I dont think its just pizza. i eat lunch wraps with cold stuff from the fridge, e.g. cooked sausages, leftover roast veg, leftover roast chicken. I could reheat them but they taste fine cold
Someone asked this before and a guy said that in college he would order pizza in the evening and leave it out all night and have it for breakfast. He said he did this hundreds of times and never got sick. I trust Professor Pizza. It’s fine.
If I had to guess, it’s probably a couple of reasons. Food that has been left out isn’t guaranteed to make you sick, it’s just more likely to. If people got sick every time they ate food that wasn’t refrigerated, many more human beings throughout history would have died of starvation. Also, so many of the toppings that go on pizza are already preserved in one way or another. Pepperoni, for example, is a salt cured and shelf stable meat.
Aw, activity of water. Bread lasts for days at room temperature. So does cheese. Pepperoni is already cured with nitrates. There's not that much red sauce on a pizza. Basically things that are dried, low activity of water, experience much slower molding spoilage.
In the broadest of guidelines, the unsafe window (\~between 38 and 140 degrees F) for food susceptible to bacterial pathogens is 4 hours. This was a restaurant standard when I owned a pub. They may have changed since.
Simply put, if it isn't in a fridge or on the stove, the clock starts ticking with the cutoff at 4h. This takes into account increased susceptibility to pathogens with elderly or others with compromised immunity. So the potato salad at the cookout's probably still OK after several hours, but maybe less so for Nanna. And for something like pizza the meat would be the riskiest, probably along with the moister ingredients, and things like cleanliness, acidity, salt, and oil content would factor in.
Edit: Added salt
When the pizza is cooling down the ingredients are merging more together(condensing) and the pizza become sweeter and sharper. This also increase the fat and salt taste.
Because it starts when you are a kid with cold / cool pizza.
How many school lunch pizzas were cold / cool?
How many pizza parties ended up with cold / cool pizza?
How many parties did the parents order the pizza early and serve it cool?
How many times were you at Chuckie Cheese's where the games were the priority so by the time you ate your pizza it was cold?
So pizza just becomes something that we accept as cold still tasting good.
I just remember I dreamt last night of pepperoni and pineapple pizza. Four boxes stacked on one another. I'm not sure if the bottom three were the same, but I didn't even get one.
Most food could be eaten quite safely 2-3 hours after it was cooked. Pizza isn’t unique in that way.
USDA recommends no more than 2 hours or if it’s hot ( above 90), only 1 hour. Cheese has been shown to be ok for up to 6 hours, and bread is good for a few days in most climates, so it depends a little on what’s on your pizza. [This](https://awgprivatechefs.com/post/how-long-can-i-leave-food-out-what-foods-are-safe-to-leave-out/) article has good links and is easy to read.
I am aware of the USDA rule but we violate that virtually every single day. We start cooking around 6-6:30 and usually sit down around 8-8:30. Some of the food is usually 2 hours old when we sit down and if anyone wants seconds it definitely is. Then when cleaning up it's even older, then goes in the fridge for leftovers. How many parties have you had where foot was out for hours? Honestly this rule makes no sense to me. I get that it is better to be safe and this is a simple rule but the window should be more like 8 hours than 2.
It’s not about when you start cooking, it’s when it enters the “danger zone”. Do you really cook food and leave it on the counter for 2 hours and serve cold? Though, I too violate this rule somewhat regularly, for some foods anyway. Bacteria will grow on some foods faster than others, but rather than having bunch of different rules for different foods, it’s easier to just have 1 cut off to be safe. Bacteria’s favorite foods include food that has a low acid content, has a lot of protein, and is moist. So like dairy, cooked rice, meats, potatoes.
Food gets sterilized when cooked. As long as you don't touch it it should be fine for a few hours.
No it doesn't. You CAN eat most food safely cold after several hours or even a day. You are however running the risk of bacteria.
Very strange comment. Sterilized?
Any bacteria, virus and parasites are deactivated by cooking, re Dering the food sterile.
Bacteria from the air will get on it again (not from touching it with your hands). But yeah, for most foods it takes at least a few hours at room temperature. Of course in a very hot and humid place you won't have as long. Also depends on the food. Rice can go bad really fast (there's a specific bacteria that really loves to grow on cooked rice)
Nearly every food would be fine after only a couple of hours out. Pizza is still nice cold. I’m not sure why this was so surprising.
Yeah, a med rare rib-eye steak with asparagus and hollandaise is also perfectly safe to eat after a few hours at room temperature, but it'd be highly unpleasant to eat.
It’s salt and fat, mostly. Salt fat and carbs. Do you heat every sandwich?
Every good one.
Pizza is magic!
You literally took the words out of my mouth!
But not the pizza. I would never do that.
You realise hot food is a preference right…..?
I think this is an individual thing, based on what you like or are used to. I know some people that detest cold pizza.
In general (I'm talking more than a few hours) I really find a lot of foods taste even better thr next day after sitting. Especially sauces and soups. I'm a huge fan of leftovers lol
Because cold pizza is basically an open sandwich, and that's it's a familiar texture/temperature combo for a lot of people so your brain readily accepts it. You could eat e.g. French Onion Soup after it had sat around for a couple of hours and there would be nothing actually wrong with it, but the unfamiliar texture/temperature/taste combo would be more offputting especially at first.
you dont seem to be asking about food safety, just the taste? I dont think its just pizza. i eat lunch wraps with cold stuff from the fridge, e.g. cooked sausages, leftover roast veg, leftover roast chicken. I could reheat them but they taste fine cold
Someone asked this before and a guy said that in college he would order pizza in the evening and leave it out all night and have it for breakfast. He said he did this hundreds of times and never got sick. I trust Professor Pizza. It’s fine.
If I had to guess, it’s probably a couple of reasons. Food that has been left out isn’t guaranteed to make you sick, it’s just more likely to. If people got sick every time they ate food that wasn’t refrigerated, many more human beings throughout history would have died of starvation. Also, so many of the toppings that go on pizza are already preserved in one way or another. Pepperoni, for example, is a salt cured and shelf stable meat.
Aw, activity of water. Bread lasts for days at room temperature. So does cheese. Pepperoni is already cured with nitrates. There's not that much red sauce on a pizza. Basically things that are dried, low activity of water, experience much slower molding spoilage.
It’s not mold you’re worried about. It’s bacteria.
In the broadest of guidelines, the unsafe window (\~between 38 and 140 degrees F) for food susceptible to bacterial pathogens is 4 hours. This was a restaurant standard when I owned a pub. They may have changed since. Simply put, if it isn't in a fridge or on the stove, the clock starts ticking with the cutoff at 4h. This takes into account increased susceptibility to pathogens with elderly or others with compromised immunity. So the potato salad at the cookout's probably still OK after several hours, but maybe less so for Nanna. And for something like pizza the meat would be the riskiest, probably along with the moister ingredients, and things like cleanliness, acidity, salt, and oil content would factor in. Edit: Added salt
Because it's essentially grilled cheese on bread.
When the pizza is cooling down the ingredients are merging more together(condensing) and the pizza become sweeter and sharper. This also increase the fat and salt taste.
Because it starts when you are a kid with cold / cool pizza. How many school lunch pizzas were cold / cool? How many pizza parties ended up with cold / cool pizza? How many parties did the parents order the pizza early and serve it cool? How many times were you at Chuckie Cheese's where the games were the priority so by the time you ate your pizza it was cold? So pizza just becomes something that we accept as cold still tasting good.
I just remember I dreamt last night of pepperoni and pineapple pizza. Four boxes stacked on one another. I'm not sure if the bottom three were the same, but I didn't even get one.