Food-safety guidance on handling, cooking, storage, spoilage signs and when food should be discarded.
As a general rule, cooked food and other perishables should not stay at room temperature for more than 2 hours. FDA shortens that limit to 1 hour when the air temperature is above 90°F (32°C). Once food has spent too long warm, refrigerating, freezing or reheating it later does not erase bacterial growth or toxins that may already have formed.
In the United States, cooked pasta should generally be refrigerated within 2 hours and eaten within 3–4 days, following USDA leftover guidance. The clock starts when the pasta is cooked and reheating does not reset it. If the dish contains meat, seafood, cream or another more perishable ingredient, follow the shorter storage limit for the whole dish.
Hard-boiled eggs can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, peeled or still in the shell, according to FDA guidance. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below and refrigerate the eggs within 2 hours of cooking. The shell generally protects moisture and texture better; peeled eggs should stay in a clean covered container.
The answer depends mainly on texture. On a solid block of hard cheese, a small patch of accidental mold can be removed by cutting at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) around and below it without dragging the knife through the mold. Soft or fresh cheese, plus shredded, sliced or crumbled cheese, should be discarded because growth can extend beyond what you can see. Intentional mold in blue cheese or Brie is a different case.
Yes. In the United States, commercially sold shell eggs should be refrigerated promptly at 40°F (4°C) or below and kept cold until use. U.S. eggs are commercially washed and normally sold under refrigeration, so storing them on the counter after purchase breaks that cold chain. Keep the carton on an interior refrigerator shelf and take out only the eggs you are about to use.
USDA guidance gives most properly refrigerated cooked meat and leftovers 3–4 days at 40°F / 4°C or below. That window assumes the food was refrigerated promptly; reheating later cannot make up for hours spent warm.
There is no single refrigerator limit for all raw meat. USDA gives raw steaks, chops and roasts of beef, pork, veal and lamb about 3–5 days at 40°F / 4°C or below, while ground meat and many organ meats get only 1–2 days.
Raw ground meat has a short refrigerator window: USDA recommends cooking or freezing ground beef, pork, lamb or veal within 1–2 days at 40°F / 4°C or below. Grinding spreads surface organisms through the meat and greatly increases exposed area.
Cooked rice is safest when it is cooled quickly, refrigerated within 2 hours and reheated evenly to 165°F / 74°C. The key hazard is not reheating itself: Bacillus cereus spores can survive cooking, and heat-stable toxin may form if rice spends too long warm.
USDA recommends cooking or freezing fresh raw chicken within 1–2 days when the refrigerator is 40°F / 4°C or below. Smell and color can reveal obvious spoilage, but they should not be used to stretch that storage window.
Persistent off odor, a slimy or sticky surface, mold or obvious deterioration are reasons to discard meat. Color alone is less reliable: meat can turn brown as myoglobin changes without necessarily being spoiled, and meat that looks normal can still be unsafe if time or temperature limits were exceeded.
The green pigment itself is chlorophyll and is not toxic, but greening signals light exposure that can also increase natural potato glycoalkaloids such as α-solanine and α-chaconine.