New Year's Eve is not just celebrated with laughter, good camaraderie, great ambiance, and an uplift spirit. The tradition where people welcome the upcoming year is also made complete by mouth-watering dishes beautifully crafted out of love and passion for the family and friends to feast on.
Given this reason, people can't help but be thankful for their refrigerator in keeping their New Year leftovers fresh and healthier longer. Unfortunately, most of these foods are already kept inside the fridge for so long without us being aware that it could already cause more harm than good.
Experts warn that keeping your foods and beverages inside the fridge doesn't just prolong its life, as it can also make it more susceptible to other microbes that could start to live, grow and multiply in your favorite dish. Mayo Clinic shared, "Leftovers can be kept for three to four days in the refrigerator. Be sure to eat them within that time."
Experts also added that not consuming these foods within the allotted time will only result in a much worse scenario. Eating foods that are stored inside the fridge for more than four days can already put you at risk of acquiring digestive illnesses such as cholera, diarrhea, amoebiasis, and food poisoning as your leftovers become a breeding ground for bacteria, protozoa, and fungi.
Microbes such as Listeria, E. coli, Salmonella, and Campylobacter doesn't usually change the composition of the food especially the taste and the smell of it. Given this reason, most people would think that consuming New Year leftovers even after four days is still okay.
Unfortunately, experts explain this is not the case. Once the food is already contaminated with these microbes at a very dangerous level, no matter how appealing these could be, these shouldn't be eaten. Doing so will just let the microbes live inside you and produce a negative effect on the body.
Given this, it is indeed crucial for us to know whether when to keep our left-overs and when to throw them out of our reach. The Conversation states three tips that could help us decide what to do with the remaining food.
As stated, there should be guidelines to remember in keeping perishable foods, especially after New Year's Eve celebration. Writers of the article emphasized that if the food has already exposed in the table for more than two to four hours, it is now important to store it inside your fridge appropriately and immediately. But if it is already out for more than that, throw it away.
