Do all leftovers have to be refrigerated or can some cooked foods be placed in an airtight container and kept at room temperature for a few days?

Answer 1

Let me begin by defining what leftovers are;

These are foods that have been cooked/prepared and not consumed at the intended time for a number of reasons;it could be due to the food being in excess or otherwise.

Leftovers do contain a number of microorganisms introduced by either touching by the handler or even by the equipments used for serving.If left for some time, the air form the ambiance brings a lot of micorflora into it and if the temperature has dropped to a level that these m.organisms can survive do flourish.

As seen form above, leftovers should be treated differently depending on their respective properties. For example; foods with high water activity like liquid foods should be refrigerated if not frozen compared to those with low water activity like cereals for they do contain a limited count of microbes.

There fore one can be refrigerated or kept in air tight container but only if the containers were aseptic enough accordingly.

By Mbaziira Mahmud-student of Bsc.Food Science and Technology:Makerere University,Kampala-Uganda.(mbaziiram@agric.mak.ac.ug)