How long can I keep food in the refrigerator without affecting my health?

It is important to keep food safe, be it leftovers from lunch or preparing for a meal with family and friends. Food poisoning, also known as food illness, is caused by contamination by microbes, such as bacteria.

Since bacteria do not usually change the taste, smell or appearance of food, so if in doubt, discard the food.

Fortunately, most cases of food poisoning can be prevented with management and according to Mayo Clinic.

Practice the following food safety rules:

• Refrigerate all perishable food, such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products promptly.
• , or more than one hour at temperatures above 32 ° C (90 ° F).
• Raw food, such as cold salads or sandwiches, should also be eaten or refrigerated soon.
• The aim is to reduce the time a food spends in the ‘danger zone’, which is 4.5 ° C to 60 ° C, when bacteria grow rapidly.

If you are having a picnic or barbecue, do the following:

• Keep food cold in a cooler with ice or frozen gel packs until serving time.
• In order to preserve the quality of the food and keep it safe, place the container or the or in a bowl with ice.
• Have a separate cooler for drinks, because that one will open more often and the temperature can change.

For more tips, visit the US Food and Drug Administration’s Handling Food Safely While Eating Outdoors.

Although you shouldn’t use a slow cooker to reheat food, you can use it to maintain the temperature of food that is already hot. Keep food at a minimum temperature of 60 ° C, which generally corresponds to the low temperature setting. Suggestion: and hamburgers or meat must be kept warm after grilling.

After that time, the risk of food poisoning increases. If you don’t think you will be able to consume the leftovers within four days, then freeze them right away. When it’s time to eat leftovers, reheat them on the stove, in a traditional oven, or in a microwave until they reach an internal temperature of 74 ° C..

Mayo Clinic

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