I did a lot of checking, everything I read said --4 hours max without power and many of the foods would be unedible. once the temp reaches 40 degrees ,things are downhill.
there are lists available on what can be kept and what should be gotten rid of.
Tom
mostly lies from the do gooders who need to be able to say if it ever goes below 40 it is all bad
the reality is you could have made something with a lot of that
eggs,milk,soymilk,sour cream,sald dressings,lunch meats ,polska keobasa and a lot of other good stuff.
I let eggs sit on the counter for days , they would have been fine
the plska klelbasa , you were going to cook them through they would have been find unless they were already old.
salad dressing , so somehting that is shelf stable till you open it goes bad in a couple hours below 40 but not hot , shoot the stuff at the salad bar sits out longer then that.
that leftover roast up it was already cooked killing anything on it
most any thing that could have grown in a few hours is easily killed by cooking
sour cream gets cultured by being 115 degrees for hours , it would have been fine it may not have lasted as long as it would have other wise.
I make a lunch meat sandwich and it often sits in a bag till noon from 6 hasn't killed me yet it gets slimy when it is going bad
if you as a food manufacturer how they can guarantee something stays good they will say if it goes below 40
they are avoiding liability
sniff test and taste test , you can alwasy spit if it tastes bad go a very long ways.
