Pizza has become a staple for bachelors or even families when they are not in the mood to eat a home-cooked meal. It is also a great party food because, apparently, it has so many flavors and has everything that everyone loves. It would be a serious understatement to say that people love late-night pizza. However, you need to be conscious about how you are going to eat the pizza once it arrives at your home or you bake it yourself. One thing is for sure, you cannot leave your pizza out for an indefinite amount of time and then eat it later. So, how long can a pizza sit out? Let’s find out.

Leaving It Outside

Pizza is made of floury crust topped with cheese and stuffing of varying kinds, from pineapple to all-favorite chicken. You need to understand the chemistry of these ingredients between one another and the surrounding environment. If you leave a pizza outside for the night that is not refrigerated, it is not okay if you eat that pizza in the morning. It is because;

• The floury crust alone cannot go bad overnight.
• Even cooked chicken can survive a night out.
• Cheese is vulnerable out in the open, especially if you live in a temperate region. Overnight, it is going to attract bacteria and fungi.

Packaging – Not Protection

The worst of all is to leave the pizza, as it is, in the cardboard packaging. It is packaging, after all, designed to keep it warm till your pizza reaches your home and not further. Nonetheless, whether you leave it in the cardboard box or a plate covered with another, you are calling out to pathogens to cause you all sorts of food-borne diseases.

How Long, Exactly?

Fortunately, it does not take many detective or researching skills to find out how long your pizza can survive out in the open before going bad. According to the US Department of Agriculture, cooked food, including pizza, can sit out at room temperature for two hours before you need to throw it out. The reason is the beginning of the colonization of your pizza by pathogenic bacteria. The ideal temperature for these bacteria to grow and multiply on food items is 40 to 140 degrees F. So unless you live in an industrial freezer, it is best to put the leftover pizza in the fridge before you go to bed.

No Apparent Signs

The best part about pathogenic bacteria is that they act silently, without leaving a trace. It means you cannot tell by the look and smell of the pizza in the morning if it has been subjected to serious bacterial treatment. Even if you try the first bite and find no change in any discernible characters of the pizza, you are pushing disease-causing bacteria inside. No one is forcing you to deny yourself a taste of the leftovers. But, you need to store it properly if you want to enjoy it in the morning. Visit the best pizza restaurant in Croydon for more.