I accidentally left two pounds of 80-20 ground beef on the counter overnight.

[Grasswire2]

Wrapped in butcher paper. I simply didn't realize it was still out.

Whaddya think?

Do I need to toss it?

Or cook it off?

It's in the fridge now. Was out for about ten hours. In butcher paper, inside a paper bag.

[stuffmatters]

1. I'd toss it.

[elleng]

2. Wrapped?

Cook it.

[Grasswire2]

5. yes, wrapped nt

[samnsara]

3. ive had food poisoning too many times... so.....its up to you.

[Beakybird]

4. Garbage! Don't risk getting sick!

[qazplm135]

6. I mean if you really thoroughly cook it

it's probably ok, it's not chicken, but I mean, if it's not a big hit to your pocketbook, I'd probably let it go.

[Grasswire2]

10. yeah, it's also a function of only buying meat from one market..

....that takes an hour trip. A real butcher shop. I don't buy supermarket meat.

So there's that factor, too.

[qazplm135]

14. I mean the FDA standard is 2 hours

and you've beat it by a factor of four.

So that's a wee bit dicey.

[hlthe2b]

7. Toss it. It isn't whether or not it was wrapped/unwrapped, it is that the enteric bacteria

has had hours at room temperature to grow and incubate--and all meat has some bacterial presence. Cooking renders low level contamination fairly safe to eat. Not necessarily that which has incubated overnight.

[gademocrat7]

8. Please toss it.

[madaboutharry]

9. You should throw it away,

10 hours is way too long.

[brush]

11. Do the smell test. If it smells off, toss it. If not cook it all but taste test first.

If it's ok, store it in the fridge and use it when you're ready.

It's probably ok since it was wrapped and sealed...no bacteria was able to form.

[enough]

12. I'd say cook it off, in something that takes thorough cooking, like chili or

spaghetti sauce.

[asiliveandbreathe]

13. THROW IT OUTwhy would you take any chances..think about the cost

to eating it compared to the cost of replacing it..when it comes to hamburg, or meat of any kind, fish too..PULEEZ don't make me come over there..out overnight ten hours!!!..oh dear..

ALSO, do not put raw hamburg in your garbage disposal..I did and it backed up my drain..had to call plumber..what a mess.. OMG..

[Kali]

15. was it frozen or at least very cold when you left it out? what is your room temp?

smell it - if a little off cook it now and use a lot of chile powder

if it gags you, chuck it

[Grasswire2]

18. it wasn't frozen, but it had been in refrigerator all afternoon until supper. I bought it yesterday.

So....it was freshly ground yesterday. Good, clean, very careful butcher.

I'm gonna smell it.

[Wellstone ruled]

22. Toss it!

Way too risky to even mess with this. Different if it was frozen. Sounds like your bought it out of the fresh meat case,if that is the case,that case temp is usually 38 degrees and the bacteria numbers now off the chart.

[mr_lebowski]

16. Well, I've totally done exactly that before ...

Then I cooked immediately and used the meat for something like chili or spaghetti sauce, and it was perfectly fine.

I would do that, esp if it came from a high quality butcher shop, meaning the meat was probably very fresh to begin with.

IMHO people are way too paranoid about germs.

This is all being said under the assumption you are not immuno-compromised. If that's case, don't even f*** around, of course.

MHO, YMMV

[Patterson]

17. Toss it. This is an easy decision.

[katusha]

19. the time ground beef should be in the 'danger zone' temp

is recommended 2 hours max, you have beef that exceeds that 5 times over, and while you can kill most of the e. coli by cooking to well done, their are other contaminants that it doesn't matter if you kill them as they produce toxins that remain in the beef(Staphylococcus and Clostridium botulinum bacteria). So you are rolling the dice if you ingest the beef.

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/ground-beef-and-food-safety/ct_index#:~:text=Never%20leave%20ground%20beef%20or,meat%20may%20contain%20harmful%20bacteria.

[TheRealNorth]

20. This is correct

I would toss it.

[Grasswire2]

24. okay, I'm convinced by USDA.

Wah.

I hate to throw food away, remembering that one in five American children is going hungry without sufficient nutrition right now.

[Nay]

26. Yes, but you getting seriously sick over bad meat isn't going to help those kids. nt

[Rule of Claw]

21. Take it to the trash

don't unwrap it, don't smell it, don't even touch it. Not worth it.

[FBaggins]

23. Cook it thoroughly in the oldest pan you own...

... then add any broccoli, asparagus, or brussel sprouts that you have in the house.

Allow to cool and then place (pan and all) in a lined round garbage can (though I've heard that the rectangular ones work as well).

Seal the bag and leave wherever your garbage fairies pick up.

[Raster]

28. so Frodo, are we correct in assuming you don't like...

...broccoli, asparagus or brussel sprouts?

[cilla4progress]

25. I go by smell.

Hasn't been a problem so far!

Good luck.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. You must not have dogs or cats in your house.

Otherwise it wouldn't have been on the counter overnight.

[Grasswire2]

32. I do have kitty

But she hibernates when the weather gets cooler, and burrows under blankets and pillows a good part of the time.

And she never jumps on the counter. Not even to lick butter.

Good kitty.

[dameatball]

29. Grinding meat increases the exposed surface area from the git-go. And git-go will be your new motto.

[LuvLoogie]

30. Chili or picadillo

[Lars39]

31. You don't want to do anything to wind up in the ER.

Don’t take that chance...toss it.

[Squinch]

33. What's it smell like? If there's any smell at all, I'd toss it. If none, I'd use it. My house was

pretty cold last night. Maybe yours too.

[Luciferous]

34. Throw it out.

[Kali]

35. so what did you decide?

[Grasswire2]

36. I tossed it. nt