I was recently thinking. You know in cases of food poisoning, heating up the food really would never make a difference. Or we would heard about something like that. The board of health or medical personnel would have told us by now. Heating up your food will prevent food poisoning. Food is usually heated anyways. No, I was never stupid enough to do that myself. Heat up my food to avoid food poisoning. But you know know, there's a reason for that, I was thinking. You can't kill all bacteria or other pathogens. Plus they form these things called spores. Spores are highly resistant to heat. They actually can't really be killed. Can they? Also, I was thinking. Food poisoning is more than getting an infection. Bacteria, like Botulism, releases toxins into the food. The drug Botox is based on this idea. No, no, they say. Don't even hold onto the container. Throw it all away. "When in doubt, throw it out". And I would add my own saying. If you ever feel the need to ask yourself "Is this safe to eat?". The answer is always No.
Good points. Yes, it's the toxins given off by the bacteria that are dangerous and can't be destroyed or removed by heating. The point the media has been playing up for months is not to leave food out at room temperature for extended periods. That is the main cause of food poisoning. While use by dates are just guidelines, they are useful to determine whether something is safe to eat.
