How long can lunch meat sit out?

Answer 1

That's going to vary with the source, the packaging, handling and storage temperature.

Fresh cut deli meats will only last a few days. Discard them when they start to become slimy or smell yeasty or acidic - that's microbial growth.

Answer 2

Meats should be kept at either over 138 degrees or below 41 degrees to avoid contamination. Meats can be kept from 41 - 70 degrees for about 4 hours, and from 70 - 135 degrees for only about 2 hours before becoming potentially dangerous. This could range from an upset stomach to an increased risk of contracting an influenza virus to a disease requiring hospitalization. Those who don't properly maintain meats at appropriate temperatures probably complain often of indigestion or diarrhea thinking it's a "flu bug", but it's actually the bacteria infested food they regularly eat.

Answer 3

This food will keep for about 5 days in the refrigerator. Place the food in an air tight container for the best results. This food can easily be transferred to the freezer for longer storage time.

Answer 4

Most store-bought, pre-packaged lunch meat (brand names like Oscar Meyer, Deli Fresh, etc) have expiration dates on them. The colder you keep your fridge (without ice crystals forming, so between 34-40 degrees F), the closer you'll get to this date before the meat begins to spoil. You may even exceed it.

These foods have preservatives in them, as well as different types of salt, that extend their lifespan much longer than a piece of oven-cooked meat might last.

If you're concerned about sliced deli meat, say something like ham or turkey that you buy per pound at your supermarket deli, the life span is just a bit shorter, although not as much as you'd think. Most supermarket deli meat is sliced right in front of you and bagged in those cheap plastic folding bags with no air-barrier (like ziplock or the package of the brand name stuff). If you were to seal that stuff in something airtight like tupperware or a zip bag you'd get a lot more life out of it.

At the end of the day, until the meat starts showing signs of spoilage, it's usually good. Signs of spoilage include: slime, discoloration, foul odor, foul taste. Sliminess is usually the first thing you'll notice, and believe it or not you can take your piece of ham or turkey or whatnot and rinse it in the sink with warm water until you get the slime off, and then pack it on your sando and eat it just the same. It won't really taste as good as once it did, but it likely won't make you sick.

Slime is about the only sign of spoilage that is really negotiable. By the time you're getting a foul smell or discoloration, you're going to want to throw the stuff out.

Hope this helps - and when in doubt, always throw it out. A $2-$3 chunk of lunch meat is definitely not worth the pain and potential complications of food-poisoning, missing work, school, whatever.

If you find that you've eaten something dubious and your stomach is getting bad, go ahead and throw up. Within 1-1.5 hours you'll usually still have most of the contents in your stomach, they won't have made it into the intestines yet, and you'll mitigate at least some of the eventual food-poisoning issues - forcing the throwup at hour 1.5 will save you some way worse throwup around hour 6.

Bon Apetit!

Answer 5

Lunch meat should not be left out for more than 2 to 3 hours. If it has been sitting out longer it may be unsafe to consume.

Answer 6

A lunch meat sandwich should not be unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours. Less than one hour is better, particularly if the ambient temperature is around 90 degrees F.

Answer 7

No more than 2 hours. Less time is better.

Answer 8

no longer than a day at the most

Answer 9

Uh