Leftover pizza

I ordered pizza last night, ate a few slices and then left it out on the counter overnight. It is now 10 a.m. and I am hungry but scared. The pizza looks like leftover pizza. Can I eat it?

My professional answer is “No, you probably shouldn’t.” My personal answer is yes, I would eat every slice. 

Pizza is a fairly safe food for the simple reason that pizza ovens are incredibly hot, and heat kills bacteria. Assuming there weren’t too many filthy raw toppings added to your order, that pie was pretty safe when it came out the oven. 

The concern here, of course, is that bacteria could have grown rapidly on the pizza while it was out on the counter all night. Where did this bacteria come from? Anywhere— but probably from you, at the moment when you pulled the slices apart with your grubby little hands. A bit of bacteria on your pizza wouldn’t have been an issue if you’d remembered to refrigerate it. But alas, you were stoned, and who can blame you?

To err on the side of caution, take a few precautions: Microwave leftover slices until they are piping hot. Throw away any pizza that has shellfish on it — improperly stored shellfish can lead to toxin formation, which won’t be destroyed in the microwave and could make you stupid sick. Finally, wash your goddamn hands.

One more thing. The onset of foodborne illness is typically more delayed than people realize. If you have food poisoning it’s highly likely that the culprit was not the last thing you ate. More likely, it was something from 2-4 days ago. So, go for it — in the unlikely chance that the pizza does make you sick, you will most likely mis-attribute the cause to something else which did not actually make you sick. Leftover pizza is a wonderful breakfast and ignorance is bliss.

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