Pizza left out on the counter: Is it safe to eat? Here's what to know

Fox News

12-02-2025

Did you order pizza, chicken wings or some other grab-and-go selection and forget to put away the leftovers last night? You're probably not alone.
But are these foods still safe to eat, even if they've been left inside at room temperature?
A food safety expert got to the bottom of a common predicament.
"Even in a controlled indoor environment, you should avoid eating any foods – including pizza and dips – that have been sitting out at room temperature for more than two hours," Christine Schindler told Fox News Digital.
Schindler is CEO and co-founder of PathSpot, a food safety system that detects pathogens on the hands of restaurant employees. The company is based in New York.
In a restaurant setting, systems like PathSpot are able to monitor the conditions of food, she said.
But at home, "you'll want to keep an eye on both time and temperature yourself."
All leftovers should be refrigerated within two hours of being cooked or served, Schindler said. They should be stored in shallow containers, which enable the food to cool quicker.
"Keep hot foods above 140 degrees Fahrenheit and cold foods below 40 degrees – standards that modern monitoring systems track digitally," she said.
Schindler continued, "The golden rule is simple: If food has been sitting out longer than two hours, it's safer to discard it."
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This means that "it's not safe to eat pizza that's been left out overnight," she said.
Schindler said she follows what she called "science-based guidelines" for food safety at her own home.
"Never keep leftovers in the refrigerator longer than three or four days, always reheat them to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and if there's any doubt about whether food is safe — throw it out," she said.
"These standards have been developed through extensive research and real-world data collection, making them reliable even if they sometimes seem overly cautious."