Tell the host ... you're doing them and the other guests a favor. If they don't correct the situation, then don't eat the dangerously stored/handled food. Look out for yourself!!

maybe you should've just (helpfully) sneaked it into the fridge !

I would definitely tell the host, but in a very inconspicuous way of course. If the host chooses not to listen to me, I will not eat it and advise my family (if present) to follow my example.
I gladly help others to overcome whatever food knowledge they are missing, but if my advice is not being acted upon, than clearly my friend does not value my health enough and I would reconsider the friendship. And this may sound dramatic, but food poisoning is not something I enjoy overly much.

You can say something without being rude. Just say, hey, let me put this in the fridge for you. You really don't want to leave it sitting out until it's ready to cook.

a similar problem which has vexed me. Wonderful friend, excellent cook and baker but who has 2 cats who roam freely about the kitchen, including the table and counters. As a result, almost every dish which is served has hair in it! I've resorted to tiny bites and rearranging my plate so that it looks like I've eaten. Hair in food, hair on the tablecloth, hair on the dishes. EEwww. She is oblivious or just isn't bothered by her kitty's fur.

ack! I can vividly remember my mom coming over to me at a biggg family Thanksgiving one year and whispering that whoever made the turkey had LEFT THE BAGS OF GUTS INSIDE IT and that it wasn't cooked through all the way. I avoided it throughout the night and had a turkey-less Thanksgiving due to someone else's odd mistake. It turned out later that word had travelled and the turkey went untouched by all. I wish I was there in the earlier stages of turkey prep to make sure it was done right, so IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!!

I'm with @Rosaak and @WelcomeReality. I can't think of any friends who would mind if I just put the meat in the fridge for them, even with a "hey, just moved it so it stays cold." Of course, my group of friends are all pretty open and easygoing, we're all comfortable rummaging around in each other's kitchens when we cook together anyway. It's rare that one person "hosts" in the traditional sense; usually we all contribute to the meal and are in the kitchen together.

....one more reason to always bring something to a party - at least that way you'll know there's ONE thing that's safe to eat.

I've brought up food safety issues with my extended family and they think I'm crazy. I won't eat chicken that has been sitting in the refrigerator uncooked for a week and I skip any soups containing broth that have been around for more than a couple of days. I tell them and then they are on their own.

I will usually say something like, "Do you want me to put this in the fridge?" and maybe put the blame on myself by saying that I'm sort of weird about food safety...maybe it's a little passive, but mostly I want to avoid burning anyones ego, especially if they are hosting and feeding me.

I'm with the above poster. I'll "oh hey, want me to pop this in the fridge?" or something. I think it's rude to point it out in any other way, but thats just me. If its something particularly offensive, I just will conveniently skip that item when we eat.

Most people appreciate guests who help..."You want me to stick that in the fridge for you so it stays cold?" or "Here, let me help wipe those counters for you." If they decline, you have to decide whether you know them well enough to call them on the error of their ways. If not, avoid the questionable food and warn anyone you care about.

Actually, the time limit for food being left in the danger zone is four hours. However, I prefer not to push that limit and would try to get that chicken in the fridge! I think a bigger cause of food poisoning is improper handling of raw meat. I have seen people try to use the same platter for grilled meat that was used to carry their raw food. Yuk! I say try, because I jump into action when I see that.

My issue like @LITTLE BONBON is also with improper handling of raw meat. My mom is notorious for cutting meat, then using the same cutting board to cut veggies, and such afterward. AND not wash her hands, but rather rinses them, and wipes them on the kitchen towel. It drives me crazy and I have no issue telling her that she is about to poison us all, but it is on felled ears. Her response is that it all gets killed when she cooks it.

To her credit, we've never been poisoned in all of my 38 years of being her daughter.

@little bonbon the USDA recently changed the time to two hours

www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Danger_Zone/index.asp

I am known by friends and family for being fastidious about food safety, so I try to keep my comments light and usually just end up helping out by putting things in the fridge and if I bring something to a potluck I brink an ice pack for it to sit on so I know it is good to go. A lot of people just don't know that much about food safety and are more responsive if they know the "why" behind the rules.

That's a hot topic!

I'm writing from Brazil, where lots of people like to cook and very few eat processed foods (ok, maybe in big cities this is no more the case, but let's keep the big picture). And not so many have received food safety training or information whatsoever.

So I'm a Food Engineer in this Universe. Have come a long way to train my own family to cook and handle food properly, but much more, to take my word on the issue.

And then I married. I hate being married sometimes.

The problem is not my husband, who loves, supports and listens to me (and doesn't cook at all). The problem is in-laws. Traditional italian family. With small garbage bins over the counter. And cooking Xmas meals long before serving (and keeping them at room temperature for long long hours in our Brazilian 35°C summer). And not always washing hands. And people bringing down their own food to share from other cities - things like roasted chicken and potato salad.

Don't fool yourselves, food is delicious and the party memorable (much better than my own familiy's).

But I've still have to come a long way as to be listened.

And what's better - I'm a Food Safety Coordinator at work.

Go figure.

I once went to a backyard "kebab party." The ingredients were prepped and in bowls nested with ice, which was great. What wasn't great was that there was only one set of tongs at the grill, and they were used to touch everything. The host would place a raw chicken kebab on the grill then immediately serve a finished one with the same raw chicken tongs. I didn't think of it at the time or I would have said something (too busy enjoying the party and not watching the grill). I ended up getting sick and tried mentioning something after the fact "for future reference," but it was met with "how dare you accuse me of getting you sick." Sigh...

You should tell the host. Just do it in a tactful way. Take them to the side, mention that it's unsafe and should be refrigerated. If they take offense, add them to your "no more dinner parties there" list, and have a salad instead.

Reasonable people will take your polite suggestion, even if it doesn't change the way they cook, they will likely follow your advice out of courtesy for your concern, saving the other guests from potential gastronomical distress.

My inlaws will do things like make chicken soup the night before, cover it and serve it the next day, with no refrigeration in between. They're from a rural part of Mexico without refrigeration. I worked for a grocery store and was trained as a food safety specialist. We've lived with them for a few months at a time several times. It's not a pleasant situation. Over the years though I've relaxed and eaten many things they've cooked and never gotten sick. They never get sick from them. I'm more cautious with my children though and won't give them anything of grandma's that wasn't freshly made. It's a tough situation. I agree with the above poster who said they'd suggest putting the food away.

It sounds like I'm lucky to not know anyone so oblivious to food safety. If anything, most people I know are overly cautious (and this is coming from an immunodeficient cancer patient!).

When I told my brother that his steak would sear better if he let it sit out for a few minutes before he put it on the grill, he got squirmy and nervous, saying he didn't want to get sick.

One more reason to eat vegetarian/vegan- not having to worry about improper handling of meat and poultry makes food safety a lot easier. Not that there's still not risk with a veg/vegan diet, but really, it is so much easier. Before I went veg, I would always always worry about how I was cooking/ handling the meat, and it was very messy (a new dish/plate/spoon for every step, and time consuming- I would bleach clean everything that came into even the briefest of contact with the raw meat.

my ex-MIL would touch raw meat and then touch other surfaces- a drawer pull, the refrigerator handle, a door handle- without so much as toweling off her meat hands. Once, she was handling a raw turkey, and someone knocked on the door. her hand went raw turkey ---> door handle without skipping a beat. WHY?!

as a side note, seeing people with long or dirty fingernails touching food (worst, hand-mixing something like stuffing at thanksgiving) is so nauseating, I almost break into cold sweats just thinking about it.

I didn't pay much attention to food safety until I got cantgetoutofbedorleavethebathroom sick. Twice. Now I probably wash my hands too much...

Also, as the guy mentions in the article, most people don't realize it when they DO get food poisoning. SO many people will talk about how they had the "stomach flu" or a "stomach virus" and never make the connection to the food they ate.

@eallen, thanks for the update! I retired from food service a year and a half ago, and did not know of the change.

Isn't it funny how many people say "oh my family cooks like that all the time and I tell them they're going to kill us but actually I've never gotten sick". Um ... ya think there might be something to that?

Americans are the only people I know who are so obsessive about their food. Leaving chicken in a marinade for a couple of hours and then cooking it properly shows no risk. If someone gave me grief about that, I'd tell them that they were welcome not to eat it.

My boyfriend's family has a habit of leaving cooked food out for super long periods of time - even for two days, and still eating it. Leftover pizza never sees the inside of the fridge at his mom's house and it still gets microwaved days later. Pies at Thanksgiving sit uncovered on plates overnight, the turkey and ham are out from 9:00 am or whenever they've finished (usually early, or she has them cooked by a restaurant in advance) until well past midnight, huge bowls of queso sit on the counter all day long, etc. Being a vegetarian helps some, since I'm avoiding most of the dangerous foods, but I still won't touch that pizza and my boyfriend has learned that any leftovers go straight into the fridge when we're at home. (Oddly enough, none of them ever seem to get food poisoning, though I wonder if they'd recognize the symptoms anyway.)

Oh, and his mom gave me a recipe for jelly that he loved as a kid so I could make it. When I was looking up information about water bath canning (it was my first project), she said to just close the jars and they'll seal on their own. That scared the hell out of me, let me tell you!

Food safety is one thing, but most of these comments are over the top and present as OCD. Heres a clue: you know you have OCD if you would even consider severing a friendship because you're too paranoid to eat food a friend has prepared. I worry about any children you might have and their [poorly developing] immune systems as a result.
On one hand, it saddens me to think you are all so fearful & miserable. On the other hand, I chuckle at the thought of you eating in a restaurant.

karacooks pretty much summed it up

Yes, I quite a lot agree with Karacooks... Or maybe meat is better here in France ? I'm much more concerned with milk or ice-cream storage, which will make you really sick too.

Ugh, this would be a nightmare for me, I am super paranoid and always am getting on my fiance and dad for not cleaning things properly or handling raw meat then wiping their hands on the communal hand towel without even rinsing! Freaks me out, I do NOT want to get sick! In this situation, I would probably only eat bread and packaged foods, and if asked would say I was paranoid about food safety and had some concerns about how long the chicken was out of the fridge. Yikes!

Ugh! If I were really concerned I'd say something but as a healthy 20-something I wouldn't make a big deal about it. If I had kids who might be eating the food I'd casually say something like "Oh, here let me put that in the fridge for you if we aren't going to be getting going soon" (if I"d seen it sitting for an hour or two: sometimes people just lose track of time).

That being said I feel comfortable sharing information with my friends but I'd never say anything to my family. I'm the black sheep as it is and they'd just make fun of me: incidentally my family HAS poisoned me before so I feel justified in my cautiousness. I just don't eat what I know to be suspect food. If you got sick after eating at someone's place, I'd give them a call and let them know not to be rude but say something like "Hey, I got really sick after that BBQ. I don't know if I passed it on or not, maybe you should check on everyone we might all have eaten something". In my friend group that wouldn't be like saying "OMG You Poisoned Me!" because we all bring dishes so it could have been anyone.

I'm with Karacooks too. I'll leave chicken out to marinade for hours. Red meats we always cook at room temp which means its been sitting out maybe all day. Never once become sick from it (however I did get dysentery from lettuce when I was in Mexico City). I'm pretty fastidious about washing my hands and equipment after handling raw meat- cutting veggies on raw chicken is just gross to me, and I don't want raw chicken goo on anything else in the kitchen, but when it comes to leaving it out for 4 hours, that wouldn't bother me one bit. I most certainly wouldn't say anything to somebody about it, especially if it's going to be cooked through.

Chicken tastes better when it's been marinading at room temp. But then again I eat room temp eggs, milk, butter, raw meat...Never had food poisoning. My parents are the same way. No need to be paranoid. Feed it to your kids. It builds immunities. They'll be fine. Obviously don't leave chicken out for a week, boil it, and then say "hey kids, bacteria's ready!, eat up!" But seriously, no need to be anal retentive about the whole thing. If you're willing to throw a temper tantrum over some chicken fingers at a friend's party you shold prob rethink your friendship.

The amount of acids and salt in marinades can make the ' bacteria doubling in 20 minutes' a total falsehood.

Do your cutting logically with meats at the end of your prep. Cross contamination is always the bigger issue when you start. You're cutting up that meat, toss all the boards, knives, etc into the sink when you're done before you do anything else and wash your hands.

I have to ask, Do you ever eat AGED MEATS? Hung game? You know that it's aged by bacteria at between 40-60 degrees up to 30 days or more. What temp do you think farm cured hams or prosciutto is made at? Do you really think they sterilize the air? Go over to Gallagher's or Loeb's in NY and take a peek, and then ask what temperature they age at. Now remember that in a vast majority of world they don't have the temperature controls or facilties here in the USA. They often just hang it outside or in a shed or root cellar.

Not all bacteria are bad for us.
Not everything will be a breeding site for bad bacteria.
Food sickness sucks.
It is easy to be risk-adverse and over-generalise (overcook everything then refrigerate it immediately).

My biggest area of concern is the stuff we can't control directly:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_foodborne_illness_outbreaks