I wonder if this is an US/the rest thing or maybe a meat eater / vegetarian thing. For exact scientific evaluation, please tell in which groups you fit in when commenting.
When the topic food is brought up here or there is always this guy saying "omg you can't leave your food for 30 minutes on the counter because bacteria you know" (exaggerated) and I don't get where that sentiment comes from. Many people agree and say you will get food poisoning from that.
First of all, let me tell you I am not an idiot (at least I hope so) and I know how microbiology works - bacteria is everywhere. I don't doubt your food on the counter will get populated by bacteria, probably more than it would be in the fridge. The question is, is this bad for you?
Now, where I live (central Europe) people are not so fast with that and I wonder why this is. We have a temperate climate which could play a role, so a large portion of the year the temperature is pretty moderate, compared to let's say south US. But apart from that I don't really know.
I am a vegetarian, mostly vegan. I am pretty sure it's not a good idea to leave animal parts out of the fridge, as they are already populated with bad bacteria when you buy them. But for vegetables? Pasta, soup, lasagna? To be honest, I have no shame to leave that stuff on the counter the whole day and even take a spoon from time to time without reheating. Over night I put it of course in the fridge, and in summer when we have 35°C it's also a different thing. But in general I don't really care. I know I cannot extrapolate on humanity, only because ai never felt bad after doing this. But honestly, am I an idiot? Or are you just a bit sensitive? Do you assume everybody eats meats?
Really interested in your ideas. Don't forget to tell the region you are coming from and your diet preferences.
Thank you so much my respected lemmings and pie people
The ignorance in here of how food can go bad is impressive. Refrigerate within one hour. You don’t need to let it cool down before putting it into the refrigerator.
https://www.cdc.gov/food-safety/prevention/index.html
It really depends on how hot it is, how much there is, and how big the fridge is. Basically just try not to put so much energy in the fridge that other things start to heat up as well; then everything in your fridge is in the 'danger zone', or at least uncomfortably close to it. Also saves energy.
Personally I always leave things out to cool off and only put it away quicker if there's meat in it.
You can use a temp probe into food to prove that waiting isn’t needed.
Naw, they're right. Cooling food before cold storage is a food safety standard where I live.
I'm a former chef. We tracked our cold storage temps twice a day and had digital displays on some, they absolutely heat up when a lot of energy is introduced relative to the temperature/volume/efficiency of the unit. We cooled everything before putting away, but we had methods and tools for cooling things down quickly if it was going to take more than 30min—1hr.
This is because hot food not only heats up the whole fridge/freezer, it can warm/thaw food next to it, and it raises the humidity in the fridge. While temperatures may not reach the danger zone, more warmth=bacteria replicate faster. Mold still grows in a fridge, so if it's even a little bit more warm and moist, food's going to go bad a little faster.