How long can you leave cream cheese out before it is considered harmful to eat?

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Last night there was cream cheese that was left out for 3 hours. It was garlic and chives-flavored cream cheese spread. I put it in the refrigerator after the fact. I am tempted to eat it, but I am wondering if it would make me sick if I ate it. How long can you leave cream cheese out before it is harmful for eating?

You're fine. My wife throws stuff out after like 10 minutes. Drives me up the wall.

[Paula Lynn]

jimbob,

Your wife is throwing hard earned money away

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Paula Lynn

jimbob,

Your wife is throwing hard earned money away

Forget the money, she's throwing tastey food away!

[TKramar]

On the other hand, keeping the food in the refrigerator is no guarantee that it will remain edible.

I had a jar of alfredo sauce made by Ragu. I used it on some pizzas about a month ago, and still had a bit left.

When I opened the jar, it seemed a little more "watery" than it had when I'd previously used it. But I hadn't smelled or tasted anything funny about it. I tried to stir it up a little bit before using it to top some noodles. Later that evening, I felt a little nauseous, like I needed to vomit.

It is possible that my pork steak didn't cook all the way through, but I put the skillet in the oven after browning it up, to help ensure that it had the opportunity to cook in the middle. Nope, I blame that alfredo sauce.

[calel]

It's fine. People purposely leave cream cheese out for several hours to bring it up to room temp in order to make cheesecake. Butter is made with room temperature cream that is allowed to sour.

['M']

Good topic...personally, I have been cooking for over 40 years...cream cheese could be left out overnight with no problem...but keep it in the package so it doesn't dry out. I make cake frosting with it, and like it to be really soft when I mix it up.

[cat1116]

I think it would depend on the temp of the room/area where you left it out ?

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by 'M'

Good topic...personally, I have been cooking for over 40 years...cream cheese could be left out overnight with no problem...but keep it in the package so it doesn't dry out. I make cake frosting with it, and like it to be really soft when I mix it up.

I ate it. I didn't get sick. I didn't leave it out overnight, just for 3 hours. It was never opened either.