Overnight cook died on me, would it be safe to continue?

[PatrickC]

Due to an error on my part, the charcoal went out on an overnight smoke on my kettle grill. The pork butt I was smoking reached a temp of 150F and was above 140 for three hours, but dropped below 140 for another three hours to a bottom out temp of a bit above 100F. I asked on reddit and was advised to toss the meat. I honestly trust their advice, but my wife is giving me such a hard time about it, I thought I'd get a second opinion.

If I get the meat up to 200-ish, will that make it safe to eat? In my mind that seems logical, but I'm far from being an expert and really don't want to take an unnecessary risk here. I couldn't really find much info about my particular situation, just that you don't want it to drop below 140 for very long when serving.

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

Pork Butts are relatively cheap. If it were me, I'd toss it, grill something else to save the day and try again later. Just my opinion.

 

[PatrickC]

I've read a few things that make me feel that it might be okay to consume it, but I decided to go with an abundance of caution and toss it. Damnit. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[timothy]

I've read a few things that make me feel that it might be okay to consume it, but I decided to go with an abundance of caution and toss it. Damnit. Thanks for the feedback.

I don't know if you've seen this https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?39803-The-Kruger-Safety-Compilation-v0-1 but there's some really good reads on food safety and some that come into play on your recent issue.

Tim

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

The fact that you even say"It might be OK" is enough for me to opt for a fresh piece of pork, not worth the worry for me.

 

[Matt in CT]

not worth playing russian roulette with your digestive system. you made the right call

 

[Dennis.B]

I'd put it in the oven, heat it upp to 200 ish and eat it like nothing happend

 

[K Kruger]

Due to an error on my part, the charcoal went out on an overnight smoke on my kettle grill. The pork butt I was smoking reached a temp of 150F and was above 140 for three hours, but dropped below 140 for another three hours to a bottom out temp of a bit above 100F. I asked on reddit and was advised to toss the meat. I honestly trust their advice, but my wife is giving me such a hard time about it, I thought I'd get a second opinion.

If I get the meat up to 200-ish, will that make it safe to eat? In my mind that seems logical, but I'm far from being an expert and really don't want to take an unnecessary risk here. I couldn't really find much info about my particular situation, just that you don't want it to drop below 140 for very long when serving.

The advice to toss the meat is, simply, wrong. And wrong-headed. You can tell your wife she was correct. So was your logical mind.

Here's how to look at it: You stated that the pork temp reached 150˚ and was above 140˚ for 3 hours. Assuming we're talking internal temp here, the pork was pasteurized at that point, thus safe. The odds that some bacteria or other pathogen could colonize on/in the pork in the subsequent 3 hours are virtually nil. Further, since the plan would be to crank the cooker again and cook the pork till done (to temps significantly north of 140˚) and this would take care of any bacteria that might show up in this brief interim time (again, extremely unlikely that this would have occurred), there's no need for concern. There are a couple pathogens that produce heat resistant toxins. These, however, would need much more time (were they even to become present, again, not likely) to produce enough toxin to be problematic. The answer, then, would have been to continue to cook the meat and enjoy it.

 

[Jeff Davidson]

kevin, it's wonderful to see you post here again!

best,
jd

 

[Mike Durso]

The advice to toss the meat is, simply, wrong. And wrong-headed. You can tell your wife she was correct. So was your logical mind.

Here's how to look at it: You stated that the pork temp reached 150˚ and was above 140˚ for 3 hours. Assuming we're talking internal temp here, the pork was pasteurized at that point, thus safe. The odds that some bacteria or other pathogen could colonize on/in the pork in the subsequent 3 hours are virtually nil. Further, since the plan would be to crank the cooker again and cook the pork till done (to temps significantly north of 140˚) and this would take care of any bacteria that might show up in this brief interim time (again, extremely unlikely that this would have occurred), there's no need for concern. There are a couple pathogens that produce heat resistant toxins. These, however, would need much more time (were they even to become present, again, not likely) to produce enough toxin to be problematic. The answer, then, would have been to continue to cook the meat and enjoy it.

I agree with this 100%. I did an 8lb shoulder over the weekend starting about 12am and I 1) let the temps drop sometime between 5:30 and 8:30am and I had no idea what the internal temp was. When I woke up, I just threw in a few coals and left it until 6pm. It was perfect.