SAFE FOOD FAQs
How should I handle take‐out foods? Answer Text: Takeout foods certainly include a trip to your local Chinese spot or pizza place. But the same safe handling must occur with any doggie‐bags you bring from a sit‐down restaurant, as well as the hot or cold ready to eat items you get from the grocery store. It’s important to handle all takeout food safely. Mishandling any of them could make you sick! The first and most important thing to consider is time. How long will it be until you can get that food home and safely refrigerated, or reheated and eaten? Remember, the safe time limit for cooked food without refrigeration is only 2 hours. And if the air temperature around the food is above 90° F, then the safe time is only 1 hour. That has to include the time since the food arrived at your table if you're at a sit‐down restaurant, or when they handed you the bag at the Chinese take‐out. So if you have plans for anything else between getting the food and going home, it's risky. Get the food last! Otherwise, leave leftovers behind. Even feeding them to your doggie could be unsafe. If you do plan on getting take out foods or bringing leftovers home, go prepared. Unless you're positive you'll be home within an hour, take enough coolers or insulated bags for all of it. Bring some frozen ice blocks in the bag or have crushed ice in the cooler for cold items, especially here in Florida’s hot summers. Cold foods need to stay below 40° F. But if you can get the food cold fast, and keep it cold, you'll be in good shape. If you buy a hot dish at the deli or have a hot entree from the restaurant and there's any chance you won't be home within an hour, be prepared. Foam coolers, insulated bags, or ice chests will all work to keep hot foods hot for short periods. If they stay hot, and that means over 140° F, they'll be safe. If your take out is coming from the grocery store deli and you're buying both hot and cold, you might need 2 or more coolers or insulated containers, one for the hot, and another one or more to keep all your refrigerated items on ice. If you plan to save your take out or doggie bag foods for a later day, refrigerate them immediately in a covered container. Don't just stick the foam box in the refrigerator. It can insulate the food and keep it from cooling quickly. If you plan to eat your take out foods immediately and find that they've cooled by the time you get home, reheat them to a safe temperature. That's 165° F. For liquids such as soup, just bring it to a boil. If you’re reheating in a microwave, heat the food in a covered dish. Don’t reheat it in the foam box! Leave it sit for 1 minute so the cold spots even out. Then use your food thermometer in several places. It has to read 165° F all through the dish for your dinner to be safe. Check out our FAQs on Food Safety videos. Look at the list of topics, choose what’s on your mind, and get the facts in 2 minutes or less. They're on our website, easy to access day or night, whenever you have a food safety question! http://hillsborough.extension.ufl.edu Search under Safe Food. Produced by Mary Keith, PhD, LD, Extension Agent IV, Foods, Nutrition and Health Billie Lofland, MS, Senior Video Producer UF/IFAS Hillsborough County Extension, 5339 CR 579, Seffner, FL 33584 813‐744‐5519