You understand that leaving leftover pizza on the kitchen desk in a single day after which consuming it the subsequent morning most likely isn’t the most secure guess. So it ought to maintain true that the reverse—instantly placing piping scorching leftovers within the fridge—is the higher technique to go…proper?

Sounds good in concept, however sticking steaming, just-cooked meals proper into the fridge raises its personal set of questions. Specifically, does it mess with the meals’s capacity to chill down correctly? And might it heat up the leftovers already within the fridge to the purpose that they’re now not fit for human consumption? SELF linked with just a few meals security specialists to search out out.

There are some strong causes to maintain your leftovers chilly.

Earlier than we get into the most secure technique to refrigerate your meal, let’s take a step again to speak about why it issues: Cooling leftovers correctly “is a extremely essential part of meals security,” Nicole Richard, MS, a meals security analysis affiliate on the College of Rhode Island and the chair of the RI Meals Security Job Power, tells SELF.

Doing so limits the period of time your dish hangs out within the “hazard zone,” or that temperature limbo between 40 and 140 levels Fahrenheit by which pathogenic micro organism—bugs that may trigger illness—flourish. Once you’re coping with cooling meals, the principle menace comes from two particular species, Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus, Donald Schaffner, PhD, chair of the Rutgers College Division of Meals Science, tells SELF.

These bugs are totally different from infamous food-poisoning gamers like salmonella and E. coli, that are killed by thorough cooking. C. perfringens and B. cereus, alternatively, can kind heat-stable spores able to surviving excessive temperatures, which means they will lurk even in correctly cooked meals, in line with Dr. Schaffner. These micro organism can multiply if the meals hangs out within the hazard zone for too lengthy and may make you sick, Dr. Schaffner says. The end result? Gnarly meals poisoning signs like vomiting and diarrhea.

Some meals are higher-risk than others, in line with Dr. Schaffner. These embrace meat and poultry (related to C. perfringens) and grain merchandise like rice and pasta (linked to B. cereus). So in case your leftovers embrace steak, spaghetti, or paella, for instance, it’s much more essential you cool them correctly.

So does this imply sticking leftovers within the fridge ASAP is your greatest guess?

Not essentially. Correct cooling is essential to stopping meals poisoning, however you may take a while to refrigerate your leftovers—simply not too lengthy. Meals needs to be simply superb to take a seat out for as much as two hours, says Dr. Schaffner.

The truth is, it’s most likely greatest follow not to refrigerate leftovers immediately, he says. For one, it really doesn’t velocity the method alongside in any significant manner. Scorching meals will really cool nearly as quick on the counter as it should within the fridge, Dr. Schaffner says, as a result of the distinction between the temperature of the meals and that of the room is “not that a lot larger.”