True or False: Two Hour Old Pizza Is Okay To Eat
Unfortunately, the answer is false and my heart is broken.
According to StillTasty.com, it's dangerous to eat pizza that has been sitting at room temperature for two hours or more.
Two hours?! Honestly, I'm surprised I'm not dead by now. I've definitely eaten two-hour old pizza. Heck, I've eaten pizza that sat in a trash can over night! Don't get all "that's disgusting" with me, it was still in the box and just sitting on top of the garbage can.
Seriously though, when I ate trash pizza I was worried about garbage germs when really those were the least of my worries. Pathogenic bacteria are what I should have been watching out for. StillTasty explains that temperatures between 40° F and 140° F provide the perfect breeding environment for "pathogenic bacteria" aka the kind of bacteria that causes food borne illness.
So, what's the moral or the story? Don't eat two hour old pizza. Leftover pizza is a-ok, but only for 3-4 days.
If you want to check out a little more about the shelf life of leftover pizza, or any food, take a peak at StillTasty.com.