# How long is a sandwich good for?



## mar2007 (Oct 13, 2007)

Heres what happened. I made a sandwich monday morning for lunch. A turkey slice sandwich with mayo mustard lettuce and cumcumober and tomatoes. But my friend invited me to eat lunch at a resturant so i did. And i was planning on eating the sandwich for dinner. But i forgot and left it at work. So this morning. Its still here but its been out of the refridgator for 24 hours now.

I hate wasting food but i smelled it and it smelled ok. Can i put it back in the fridge till lunch...

or will i die if i eat it...

i forgot to mention it was in a zip lock container


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

I wouldn't touch a sandwich with mayo on it that has been left unrefridgerated for 24 hours...


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

Yes, I'm a little concerned about the mayo, particularly if its organic/not loaded with preservatives.


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## BlackViper (Mar 2, 2008)

As a journeyman cook I can tell you not to eat that sandwich. The mayo part is not too bad, assuming it's not home-made. The sliced tomato on turkey is going to support some serious bacterial growth. Remember that there are an estimated Three million cases of food-bourne illness each year in Canada. All of which are caused by food that show no signs of spoilage. The genneral rule is that any potentially hazardous food can only be kept at room temp for four hours, then must be disposed of.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

BlackViper said:


> The genneral rule is that any potentially hazardous food can only be kept at room temp for four hours, then must be disposed of.


That's probably a wee bit overcautious (I remember "brown-bagging" many a sandwich in my school years that didn't get eaten till at least eight hours later), but then a food preparer is absolutely right to be overcautious and as the saying goes "better safe than sorry."


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

Botulism doesn't smell...


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

The whole "mayo is deadly" thing is a myth. As BlackViper said, with the exception of homemade mayo, commercial mayo is pasteurized and acidic and resists bacteria remarkably well. Food Myths

The whole question about "Is it good still" revolves around: What's in it, how was it prepared, how was it stored, and for how long?

If the sandwich was in a ziplock bag in the fridge and consistently cold for 24 hours only, I would have no problems eating it, personally. I would not put it in a brown bag and leave it at room temperature from 7 AM to noon, however, I would eat it for breakfast.

24 hours at room temp? No, bin that one.

The more surface area that a food has, the more opportunity for spoilage - for example hamburger will spoil faster than a roast, because grinding the meat gives way more surface area for bacteria to colonize.


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

chas_m said:


> That's probably a wee bit overcautious (I remember "brown-bagging" many a sandwich in my school years that didn't get eaten till at least eight hours later), but then a food preparer is absolutely right to be overcautious and as the saying goes "better safe than sorry."


Most schools have lunch break around lunch time, not at 3pm. By 3pm, I had already skipped a few classes and was at Horton's.

Most people get food poisoning and don't know it, or attribute it to "stomach flu" - which is food poisoning because a flu virus has no idea what a stomach is, and couldn't exist long in that hostile environment...


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## okaybuddy (Feb 19, 2004)

I'm sure that I have done this as a kid but I would not do it as an adult.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I've taken my chances on morning-after pizza, but I'd toss the sandwich.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Macfury said:


> I've taken my chances on morning-after pizza, but I'd toss the sandwich.


"Morning-after" pizza?

What did you you and the pizza do the night before? !


As for the sandwich, if it's been out of the fridge for a few hours, throw it out. People die from food poisoning, or get very sick.

I agree about the mayo myth thing, except that I'm sure many people use Miracle Whip these days, and that isn't really a food (disclaimer: I use Miracle Whip Lite specifically because it isn't really mayo) so I wouldn't worry about that. I'd worry about the rest of the sandwich, especially if it wasn't covered, being out for more than a few hours.

I guess the question had to be asked--but did it really have to be asked? It makes for an entertaining thread, but would people really eat a sandwich that had been out of a fridge for more than a few hours, and wasn't packed properly to eat at work or school for lunch?

Finally, "refridgator."


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## chasMac (Jul 29, 2008)

HowEver said:


> I guess the question had to be asked--but did it really have to be asked? It makes for an entertaining thread, but would people really eat a sandwich that had been out of a fridge for more than a few hours, and wasn't packed properly to eat at work or school for lunch?


Or how religiously do people abide by "best before" dates.


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

Second hand story; but I have heard of a bar/grill somewhere in NE BC that would put out a half sandwich on the bar. They did this to comply with some regulation requiring that alcohol not be served unless it was accompanied by food. The local crowd knew better than to touch that sandwich but every 3 or 4 weeks someone would eat that sandwich forcing the irate proprietor to make another one.beejacon

Now my source used to drink at that bar which may somewhat damage his credibility.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

How long does it last????....depends on how hungry you are


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

EvanPitts said:


> Botulism doesn't smell...


Good tag line for the feature film version of this thread!


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## KC4 (Feb 2, 2009)

Chuck it or UP-Chuck it!
You Choose.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

I recently left a simple egg salad sandwich my wife had made me on the counter, forgotten for two hours. When I realized it was still there, I put it in plastic wrap and tossed it in the fridge. I had it for lunch at noon the next day when the wife was away. I awoke that night at midnight with severe diarrhea and was violently ill for most of the night with food poisoning.

Trust me when I say get rid of that sandwich.


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## chasMac (Jul 29, 2008)

MazterCBlazter said:


> I read labels carefully. When I buy food that isn't dated, I sometimes even put the date I purchased it on the label.
> 
> When I shop at the Great Canadian Superstore, I frequently find expired products on the shelves. When I used to inform them in the Coquitlam, South Vancouver, East Vancouver, and North Vancouver they didn't care and refused to remove the products from the shelves.


I use what was used back in the day: sight, smell and judgement. In the UK they've gone so far as to stamp dates on eggs.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

We have best-before dates on our eggs as well.

Once I had food poisoning due to a chicken salad sandwich bought at a deli near work, and I'll *never* forget it. It came from the deli's refrigerated section, it looked, smelled, and tasted perfectly fine, but I fell violently ill within an hour of eating it. I was sick as hell for two days afterwards. Needless to say the only chicken salad sandwiches I'll ever eat are ones I make at home, nice & fresh.

In any case I concur with the other replies - just throw that sandwich out. If it's been out of the fridge for any amount of time it's not worth taking a chance.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

O must have a cast iron stomach or it's the active yogurt I eat - never have had food poisoning that I can recall except once with that green stuff that is on potato chips once in while which apparently can be pretty vicious.



> Potatoes belong to the nightshade family, and most green portions of plants in this family contain an alkaloid poison called solanine.


But it might have been motion sickness as I was a kid at the time.


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## fellfromtree (May 18, 2005)

Reminds me of a recent study/test that came out of the of the 5 second rule (can't remember where I read about it- maybe boingboing)- if you drop food on the floor/ground, and pick it up before 5 seconds, it's still good to eat.
I recall something about putting a pizza slice face down on a New York city sidewalk, waiting 5 secs, and testing for bacteria. Testing at various intervals, it took about 2 mins of face down on the sidewalk before there was any harmful bacteria on the slice to consider it unfit to eat. (And no, I don't believe it was a 'scientific' study, so don't try this on your local sidewalk)


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