I know I'll get backlash for saying this, but, meh, eat it.
Just throw it in a frying pan to heat it well before you eat it. You should be fine. Maybe don't give it to small children or the elderly, just in case, but I have absolutely done things like this before and been fine.

If you had this in a dish with the lid on, it cooled down slowly. Much more of a chance to gather "nasties". Also, it's PORK! If this was fish or chicken, yes, you could cook it a little longer and use it. Pork, no way!

Yikes, I'd say you'd be safer to just toss it out. Why gamble with your health?

The DOE's Ask a Scientist page has this answer, from a Dr. Wasserman:

toxins produced by bacteria on spoiled food are NOT inactivated by microwave cooking--so food that has gone off DOES NOT become safe (or tasty!) in a microwave

I'm in the "eat it" camp. As long as you have no immune health worries, go for it.

I would heat it properly and eat it... Make it the base ingredient for the next recipe! :)

I just tossed 3 qts of chili from the slow cooker that I'd turned on before leaving the house but forgot to actually plug in. Agree with @try146: the hospital bill will be higher than the cost of the food wasted and the misery sure isn't worth it.

heat and eat it.

In many cases, it's not the heat-susceptible bacteria (the ones that would be killed off by heating the food as recommended above) that you need to worry about, but rather the heat-stable toxins that they excrete/produce.

Which is to say, heating that pulled pork may kill off the original bacteria, but whatever harmful products they spewed out are still in your food, unaffected by the heat and ready to make you sick.

Eat it. You'll be fine.

If you're not immune compromised, prone to stomach issues, elderly, feeding small kids, or pregnant, I would eat it. But then I'm the person who also just scrapes mold off my cheese and eats the rest (and never has a problem, fwiw!)

I think it might depend on how well you digest food! lol! I know my nonna ALWAYS left food out, and apparently it's fine as long as it's covered?! (You could always eat it-if you get sick then there's your answer!!) ;-)

I've done the same! lol!

I've done the same thing many times before. I'll eat it if the room did not get warmer than room temp -- winter is fine, but I'd toss it in the summer.

As a professional chef, i feel like i need to comment here. simply reheating the meat might kill any "nasties" that have grown on your food, but as the nasties die, they leave behind toxins that can make you sick.

as sad as it is, you need to throw out the food. it is not safe to eat it.
home cooks need tom pay attention to food safety and since i have been poisoned twice recently at dinner parties in friend's homes, i am begging you to be careful.

next time, take the roast and cut it into smaller pieces, place the pieces in a pan over a bed of slushy ice water. allow the meat to cool over the ice bath and then you can safely store it.

Smell test, taste test, heat it, and eat it.

If I am going to reheat it, and it has no discernible rotten/spoiled smell to it, I still eat it. I don't make other people eat it, but I am not letting the garbage can eat it if it was tasty.

OH, it would get tossed in my house. Done it before. It would make my Depression Era grandparents weep.

What strikes me about these questions is that if someone wanted a medical answer, they would ask their doctor or nurse (or at least Google the CDC food safety page). What I think people are looking for here is permission. Why else ask an interior design blog? Anyway, it's fun to gawk and yes there is no "guarantee" you will get sick. But really, if you want to avoid serious illness, I'd say go with that the professionals say, not some random commenters (like me) on the internet.

I would personally not eat any of pork, chicken, or fish that had been left on the counter overnight, but just because it's pork doesn't make it more likely to harbor pathogens. Pork is just traditionally scarier because of Trichinella spiralis.

In the US, between 1997--2001, 12 cases [of trichinosis] were associated with eating commercial pork products, including four cases traced to a foreign source. Nine cases were associated with eating noncommercial pork from home-raised or direct-from-farm swine where U.S. commercial pork production industry standards and regulations do not apply. Between 2002 and 2007, 11 cases were reported to CDC each year on average in the United States; these were mostly the result of eating undercooked game, bear meat, or home-reared pigs.

The threat of foodborne illnesses in all types of meats these days mostly stems from dirty slaughtering and unsafe handling in "butcher" sections of supermarkets that can lead to salmonella and e.coli contamination.

I tend to play on the risky side and eat questionable food (like leifie with the moldy cheese and so on).

However, cooked food left out all night, unless we're talking delivery pizza or some other food full of preservatives, is something I do not mess with after seeing my mom get horribly sick after eating a meat stew that had been left out overnight.

I say toss it.

I wouldn't risk it. Especially after reading a few professionals weigh in! Maybe if it had just been at room temperature, but it was basically perfect bacteria incubator temp!

I've been lackadaisical about this kind of thing my whole life - tsk - and I think I have a less sensitive tummy because of it. I had food poisoning twice, decades ago, from street food in Spain and Israel, but in recent years and recent travels have escaped drama. I generally feel that I can trust my nose and my palate to warn me of risks...though those may be famous last words. :-)

Both Elsa Macbebekin and ChefLaura1 are totally right. The toxins are still present after heating and will cause illness.

Also, I completly agree with ChefLaura1 about the nessesity for home cooks to take a food handling safety training course. Food born illnesses are a BIG deal, and instances of home cooks causing those illnesses are all too common.

I'm not recommending people do this, but I leave cooked food out overnight all the time. I make sure it's properly reheated before eating, and have never had problems. However, I would be wary of doing this with food that I did not cook myself, if I couldn't vouch for freshness of ingredients or standards of hygiene during food prep.

Having had an instance or four where questionably aged food was presented for a meal, I'll have to agree with those folks who say "Just don't do it."

I tried really hard to bypass this thread but the potential entertainment value was just too tempting. If the health risks are even a FRACTION of what's indicated here, I'm a walking miracle. And if we're talking *chances*, what are the chances one could eat like this for over half a century and never once get sick?

*wipes tears*

(not sure if its due to mourning the death of common sense or the hilarious idea that someone would think cutting mold off cheese is risky behavior)

Heat it; it eat; and enjoy it.

Many countries with little or no refrigeration having been doing this with little to no bad outcome. This is especially true of highly seasoned foods (seasoning can act as a preservative).

You may simply have cut down on the refrigeration/freezing shelf life of your pork.

I've never gotten sick over eating food that's been sitting out overnight. Heck, college kids live off of leftover pizza! ;)

Off the top of my head, the only things I won't eat if they've been left out over night are: fish, seafood, eggs, some cheeses, animal milk, overripe avocadoes.

Other foods, if they've been left out in their pot, pan, casserole, dish overnight, I will eat. If left out on a plate, it'll depend on how it looks and smells.

I grew up with my parents leaving out some foods on the stove for a day or two. Before eating, they'd reheat it on the stove. It's just a custom they brought with them from their home country. Of course, this has to do with the nature of the food. My parents don't cook (when they used) meat medium or rare or anything in between. All meat (chicken, pork, fish, etc.) has always been very well done.

I say, "When in doubt, throw it out."

No amount of time put into a dish, or costs are worth jeopardizing your health.

What I know from experience is that now you will never, ever forget to put a dish in the fridge.

I can't recommend what you should do, but I'd probably eat it (though I wouldn't serve it to guests - I'm fine taking on a calculated risk, but I wouldn't make that choice for others).

In case like Rivercat0338 described, I would have tossed the whole thing as they did, but that's because that food was never cooked in the first place.

By my own metric, I believe I take reasonable care about germs and other microscopic fiendish thingies without being overly cautious, and I think my stomach and immune system are stronger for it.

I've had this problem before and Heat & Eat works for me. But if you tend to worry much about such things, throw it out if it will cause you some potential sleeplessness LOL

It's staggering the amount of safe food practices that go ignored in the home. Even from reading the comments on this post, it's quite clear that health regulations, much of it common sense, are blatantly ignored in the home for reasons of cheapness and pride and not just inexperience. Food poisoning is bad enough in some restaurants with people who are suppose to be trained in food handling but these comments from home cooks are anxiety inducing. If you want professional advice, ask a professional. Thank you ChefLaura1 for being a beacon in the fog.

Eggs? People all over the world leave eggs out on the counter. In the US in many parts of the country, eggs are left out all the time. Heck, my grandmother kept a basket of eggs on the counter until the day she died. The only reason to refrigerate them is that it keeps them fresh longer.

Health regulations are designed to protect the "weakest" -- infants, elderly, and people with compromised immune systems. They have to err on the side of extreme caution because of that. They are not always necessary to follow to a T for an average, healthy, non-compromised adult. People who get all hysterical about how you have to throw out mayo that's sat on the counter for 30 mins are ... well ... just being fear mongers.

Common sense should tell you that people have been eating unrefrigerated food for centuries and that a reasonable, rational person should be able to judge if food is spoiled or risky.

These questions always dredge up so much anecdotal evidence. It's one thing to say "I know it's taking a risk, but I would eat it", but it's quite another to claim "because I have done this and not gotten sick, I believe the safety risk is overstated." People use this kind of non-logic to justify smoking (their grandpa smoked a pack a day and lived to 90!), and it just doesn't hold water -- neither will your bowels after you eat funky food.

There are hundreds of kinds of bacteria that can grow in food, so if you think you've never had food poisoning, it's doubtful. When people talk about food poisoning, they think about exploding from both ends from scary bacteria like listeria or e coli, but there's plenty more bacteria that can cause gastric unpleasantness without sending you to the hospital.

If you got sick, you'd kick yourself for eating it. If you've ever had food poisoning, you wouldn't risk it.

You keep your house at 68 all night??? Wow!

I'd reheat and eat. And...I have.

Eat it! Personally I'm guilty of leaving things out and snacking on them for a makeshift breakfast. Pushing the limits... I found some overnight sushi made me feel a wee bit unsettled for an hour or so - but an another commenter pointed out - we are descendants of millions of years of folks without refrigeration. The successful ones are our ancestors.

Eat it. I do that all the time and having grown up in Indonesia, let me tell you, many people do this all the time as well. They'll leave whole dinner meals on the table covered up to prevent bugs and mosquito, and then eat it for breakfast in the morning.

What kind of rice do you think is best for fried rice???? Day old rice! Not refrigerated... day old!

I like to say that if it's re-heating by itself, throw it on the garden!

Love Descerning's response. And Picantel. HAHA. Day old rice. Love it. Makes sense.
And I've done this so many times... I'd have dropped so many dishes in the garbage if not!

Yikes! I'm hearing a lot of scary comments. As a professional who teaches home kitchen food safety I have to say there are a lot of comments here that could led to some potentially fatal food borne illnesses.

I think that "thekitchn" needs to clarify, and give a definite answer; too much misinformation is being shared like it's fact.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/basics/index.html

Everyone take the time to review or watch the videos on food safety.

Leaving food overnight is like feeding bacteria go go juice. Optimal growth conditions means that food just needs: moisture, low acidity, and the proper temperature (room temp) to grow.

Rice is the perfect example of something that should not be left over night, condensation forms between the grains, giving toxins a warm, moist nest to multiply in.

It's not worth the risk. I had a professor who used to say, "it's only a little diarrhea". People, even adults, end up hospitalized when a little diarrhea goes awry.

I suppose it depends on how hot it was when you left it out. America's Test Kitchen did a segment a while ago on cooling food on the counter vs. sticking it straight in the fridge. The result? No more bacteria was found in counter cooled food than food stuck straight in the fridge. Food stuck straight in the fridge did raise the temperature of everything else in the fridge though. So, if you're like my family and it was hot until midnight because that's when you eat, then you got up at 6 to feed the cat and noticed it was still out, I would wager it was probably not in the "danger zone" for very long. My crock pot (which is what I would have put pork shoulder in) cools very slowly as it's wicked heavy duty. If, however, you ate dinner at 6pm, and it was out for 12 hours, it might be time to toss it.

I'm in the "heat and eat" camp, but only if it wasn't out for very long.

After skimming through the comments, it sounds like the technical answer is that you should toss it. However, many people see no problem eating food that has been left out and 9 times out of 10 you probably won't get sick from it. It is commonplace in many cultures to leave food out overnight. I lived with a family in Honduras for a summer and their fridge would be completely empty and yet they would store cooked food in their cupboards or covered on the stove. My mother in law (from Mexico), came to stay with us for a month after my daughter was born and she left cooked food on the stove overnight ALL the time. It drove me crazy because it was delicious food (chicken soup, arroz con leche, steak, etc) that I no longer wanted to eat as a nursing mother after it had sat out all night.

I do this all the time (not on purpose, i'm just kind of forgetful) and i never throw it out and it has never bothered me. Ever. If it smells fine, tastes fine, you'll be fine.

Must comment on this again.

If this were food from a restaurant and had been left out over night once I go it home, I probably would not heat and eat. Why not? Due to my not knowing who was around this food and their hygienic habits, before the food got to me. This would include prep cook, chefs, dishwashers, waiters/waitresses.

Food prepared in my own home, by myself, would pass the test for me (unless the meat was at the end of its shelf life when I cooked it.)

I believe many of the rules/laws/regulations in place for restaurants are to cover instances where some kitchens and their staff are not following good practices and thereby could and have poisioned their customers.

Americans waste/toss out, so much food. We are a country of wasters.

When you have common sense, it should be your guide. There should be no blanket rule here unless you do not have common sense.

I could scare you with what they would teach in a food safety class, but I leave food out frequently at home. Also, it's only been in the past 75, or so, years that we have had refrigeration, and eating the food from the prior day used to be the norm. I say, as long as it was covered, go for it, just don't feed to high risk groups.

In Ireland this would be a no brainier. Eat it. As an American, I would toss it.

Just curious here... as a "professional who teaches home kitchen food safety", how do you account for your very existance? Considering that refrigeration is a relatively new thing in mankind's history and all..

@ karacooks: Ohhh man, tell me you did not just invoke the egg discussion, lol.That one always cracks me up.

It's a no brainer here in the U.S. too...for anyone with common sense.

there are far too many variables left out of the OP for anyone, including the pros, to really have enough info to weigh in with authority. for example, what was the temp of the food when 'found'? what was the ambient temp of the room? what type of cooking vessel was used? what was volume within that vessel? how much sugar/salt/acid was used? all these factors -- and probably more -- would have been needed to know to calculate how slowly or quickly the contents cooled down and how long the food was in the actual danger zone. then, you'd need to figure out what actual the risk level would be based on the counterbalances of salt/sugar/acid and their cumulative offsetting of the initial risk level. mostly, though, I'm curious what the OP ended up doing!