How long can food sit out at a party?

Saturday afternoon, a birthday in a garden near Ede. At four o'clock the grazing boards, the devilled eggs and the salmon salad go outside, and by nine there is still half a platter left. Can it stay there until the last guests leave? The Dutch Nutrition Centre is strict about that, and with a little planning it needn't get in the way of the party.

The 2 hour limit

Food that spoils quickly should never be out of the fridge for more than 2 hours, says the Voedingscentrum, the Dutch Nutrition Centre. It gives milk, meat and fish as examples. On a party table that means the cured meats on the grazing board, the smoked salmon and anything made with milk. If it has been out longer, the advice is short: throw it away.

There is a reason for the limit. Bacteria grow best between 15 and 60°C, the centre explains on its page about bacteria. At room temperature a single bacterium can turn into millions in about 7 hours. The worked example on that page makes it concrete: after 2 hours there are 64 outside the fridge and 4 inside it, after 8 hours 16 million outside and 256 inside.

Set the fridge to 4°C

The fridge is your buffer during the party. Set it to 4°C, the temperature at which harmful bacteria barely grow. Not sure what yours really reaches? Check it with a fridge thermometer in the middle of the bottom shelf and read it after half a day or a night.

Make room the day before. In fridges with a three or four star freezer compartment the coldest spot is at the back and at the bottom. That is where the platters waiting their turn belong, covered.

Hot food has to stay properly hot

For the hot side of a buffet the principle works the other way round. Keep cooked food piping hot, above 60°C, until you serve it, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in its food safety tips for summer. A stew that slowly turns lukewarm drops right into the range where bacteria grow fastest.

So leave hot dishes in the oven, on a food warmer or in a chafing dish until they are needed. Once a dish sits lukewarm on the table, the same 2 hour limit applies as for cold food.

Rice deserves extra care. The Voedingscentrum names Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that often makes people ill through badly stored rice dishes. The advice is the same: cool leftovers quickly and get them into the fridge within 2 hours.

A garden party in summer

On a warm day things move faster. Hot and humid weather gives bacteria the chance to multiply quickly, the WHO writes. A garden at 25 degrees sits well inside that range of 15 to 60°C, so the 2 hours becomes a hard limit rather than a target.

Keep cold platters as far as you can from heat, such as the barbecue and full sun. In its advice on gourmetten, the Dutch tabletop grill evening, the Voedingscentrum gives a tip that works just as well outdoors: cover the food airtight and set the closed box on an ice pack.

A plan for the host

The smartest advice is on that same page. Wait until the old snacks are finished, so the new ones can stay in the fridge. For a buffet at home, it looks like this.

• Set the fridge to 4°C the day before and clear space at the back and bottom.
• Split every cold dish over two or three small platters instead of one big one.
• Put out one platter at a time and only bring the next when the first is empty.
• Note when each platter went out, or set a timer on your phone.
• Keep hot dishes in the oven or on a warmer and serve them in small portions.
• Wash your hands with soap and water before and after preparing the food.

Afterwards, sort. Anything perishable that was out for more than 2 hours goes. Split big pans of hot food into small, shallow containers before they go into the fridge, as the WHO suggests. What you keep, the Voedingscentrum says to eat within 2 days. There is more on that in our piece on party leftovers.

If you would rather not spend the evening carrying dishes between kitchen and garden, you can hand the hot part over. Maximus Catering, chef David Nagib's catering in Ede and the surrounding area, makes a warm buffet among other things, tailored to what you want. That leaves your hands free for your guests.