Pork Butt...is it safe?

[racertrader]

I seem to be having some tough luck lately with butts. I put a boneless butt in the slow cooker, set it for 18 hours and went off to the office. Somehow the stupid cooker shut itself off somewhere in between, leaving an essentially raw butt sitting there for 9 hours. After calming down, and testing the stupid cooker, I just stuck it in the oven for 4 hours at 350 (internal temp when pulled was 210), wrapped it and cambroed for a couple more hours. Now my question is: do you think it is edible, or should I throw it out? After all that cooking, should I be worried about getting sick? Thanks

[Jfrosty27]

Toss it. 9 hours in a warm, moist environment? That’s a petrie dish growing lab samples.

[scottranda]

Prob right

[jfmorris]

Yeah... if it sat in the danger zone between 40F and 140F for much more than a couple of hours, I would toss it. Botulism spores like to produce their toxins in that temp range, and you cannot cook out the toxin once its in the food. I.e. no amount of cooking gets rid of botulism. 9 hours is a super long time.

We have a slow cooker with a digital control panel, and my experience is that a brief flicker in the power causes it to shut off. I found that out after something similar happened to us, and we had to toss food that sat uncooked for most of the day. I now only trust the older crockpot with the manual High-Low-Warm knob for overnight or all day cooks when we are asleep or gone.

[Strat50]

You're half right. Toss it, yes. When in doubt, throw it out. For the botulism part, not so much. Botulism require two conditions to grow, a low oxygen(anaerobic) environment, and danger zone temps. Both must be present, or growth will not happen. However listeria, e.coli, etc, will grow. Current HACCP regs and protocols dictate 8 hours in the danger zone, then the food must be discarded, regardless if cooked or raw. I certify on this every 3 years.

[jfmorris]

Strat50 thanks for the clarification. The low-oxygen environment wouldn't be an issue in this case I suppose. This is probably the same reason we are told to remove frozen fish from vacuum sealed packages before thawing (anaerobic environment).

[radiodome21]

This was something that happened to me a few times when I had a flame out during an overnight cook on my weber smoky mountain. Every time it happened I tossed it out. Better to be safe than risk it.

[racertrader]

Thanks for confirming everyone...sent an email to Crock Pot for an explanation (it's not a very old or used CP). Thanks again.

[jfmorris]

Is it a touch control panel or those membrane soft press buttons, rather than the old rotary knob?

[CaptainMike]

Yeah, pork butts are cheap, ER visits are expensive.

[CaptainMike]

C'mon, tbob4, you can do it!

[tbob4]

Nope - there will be rule 14

[troymeister]

CaptainMike Well said.

[DavidNorcross]

I subscribe to when in doubt throw it out....

[smokin fool]

A wise decision

[wu7y]

And since once it's established you can't cook the toxin out of the food you may want to give special attention to cleaning the container(s) it was cooked in.

[bbqLuv]

165*F kills the bad stuff according to the FDA. It should be safe. If it tastes funny add BBQ sauce mixed with 151 rum.
Or it may be better to throw it out than throw it up.
Live long, BBQ, and PBR too.

[jfmorris]

If it was in the danger zone too long, toxins can be produced by bacteria which no amount of cooking will remove.

[JohnPaul]

I personally would eat it, but I've eaten plenty of questionable things in my fridge. Salmonella is the culprit you'd have to worry about and it dies pretty easy. Botulism only grows in an anaerobic state which wouldn't apply here. I definitely live by the what doesn't kill you makes you stronger motto. But hey it's yours and the decision is yours.

[troymeister]

When that happens...Order a pizza...call it a day.

[texastweeter]

Did you temp it when you got home?

[GBA]

Eat it, have a spare roll of toilet paper handy. Pics?

[bbqLuv]

No grunt, no pain, just sit and drain.

[Strat50]

I feel 'ya brother...lol