Can I eat it? Watermelon cut open left out ~14 hours

March 22, 2023 6:32 AM

I forgot to put the watermelon in the fridge before going to bed last night. It was out in a heated home for about 14 hours after having been cut in half and a couple of slices removed. Is it safe to eat? Safe to feed to a 6 year old?
posted by If only I had a penguin... to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

I'm sure it's fine. Maybe slice off a little bit of whatever was exposed to the air first.
posted by number9dream at 6:51 AM on March 22, 2023 [7 favorites]

It's 100% fine.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:52 AM on March 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

yeah, wouldn't think twice.
posted by stray at 6:59 AM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'd eat that for sure.
posted by mersen at 7:23 AM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yes, it's fine. It's probably not necessary, but I'd trim off an 1/8 of an inch or so.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:27 AM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't eat it x2.

1. I'm a nostalgic-for-fresh-ripe-watermelon-on-a-hot-summer-day snowflake about watermelon so I won't eat it if it's not just so. There's nothing appealing about room-temperature watermelon that's lost 14 hours of its essence to evaporation and settling.

2. Unless you scrubbed the outside before you cut into it, you introduced whatever bacteria etc. from growing conditions/handling that remained on the outside of it to the inside of it, and that's had 14 hours in optimal conditions to grow.

Knowing 1. about me may render my position on 2. moot; E. coli isn't the worst thing in the world but I am a produce-scrubber.

FWIW I don't think regular non-snowflake people can eat bad watermelon by accident; it takes on an unpleasant sour-ish, fizzy-ish taste when it turns, and the flesh turns from crisp/spongy to smooth/slick. Could be the perfect opportunity to introduce the "is this bad? smell it" game to your 6yo, who will find the ritual hilarious until about age 14 when you become uncool.

_{Beanwatermelonplating complete.}
posted by headnsouth at 7:33 AM on March 22, 2023 [6 favorites]

USDA recommendations are obviously pretty conservative, but this is well outside their recommendations for safety. I might consider eating this myself, but would absolutely not serve it to a child or anyone unable to fully assume the risk.
posted by obfuscation at 8:28 AM on March 22, 2023 [5 favorites]

This might not be good practice, but we routinely keep cut watermelon on the counter if there is no room for it in the fridge. It would never even occur to me not to eat that watermelon, and there's a very good chance I would have left it there on purpose. It gets a touch of a yucky skin on it, though, as the surface dries.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:33 AM on March 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

If it’s slick rather than crisp, no.
posted by redlines at 9:55 AM on March 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't eat it. I have twice had some sort of mild food poisoning (overnight vomiting and diarrhea) from watermelon that had been cut and then stored for several hours . Once from a fruit salad that had been stored in a school lovker at room temperature for an afternoon, and once from a cut slice wrapped in clingfilm and bought from a shop in the late afternoon. Neither was refrigerated, Just bin it.
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:27 AM on March 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

Do not feed to child. Warm + sugar + open to environment = ideal bacteria growth potential.
posted by gryphonlover at 10:36 AM on March 22, 2023

I worked in produce marketing and I absolutely wouldn't. Way outside the time/temp regulations for a start, plus melons grow in contact with the ground and as headnsouth says, cutting a melon introduces whatever is on the surface to the flesh, a great source of nutrients for microorganisms. Cantaloupe is the most notorious in this regard because the netted skin provides lots of places to hide, but watermelons do their share.

Growth of Salmonella spp. in Cantaloupe, Watermelon, and Honeydew Melons - "Inoculated melon pieces and [tryptic soy broth] were incubated for 24 h at 5 or 23°C [73F]. Viable populations of salmonellae were determined by surface plating test portions on Hektoen enteric agar. Results indicated that Salmonella growth was rapid and prolific on the melons and in TSB at 23°C incubation."
Melons Stand Out As Produce Safety Problem
Outbreak of Salmonella Infections Linked to Pre-Cut Melons
posted by jocelmeow at 10:41 AM on March 22, 2023 [10 favorites]

I had such traumatising food poisoning from watermelon as a child (cut and left at room temperature for several hours) that I couldn’t eat it again for years. I wouldn’t risk it.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 11:42 AM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

I think we've grown up with food safety practices so focused on meat and dairy that produce just gets put into the "it's produce, it's fine" bucket, but ... melons are an excellent growth medium for whatever gets on them when they're cut and modern industrial farming practices means a lot can get on them.

This is sketchy food. People eat sketchy food all the time and are fine, but you've only got to be unlucky the one time to have a miserable experience. If you do decide to eat this, don't give it to a child.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 12:05 PM on March 22, 2023 [6 favorites]

Well, I’ve just learned what got me food poisoning a couple years ago from this thread. So yeah, I woulda eaten it and did, but I wouldn’t now!!
posted by Bottlecap at 12:08 PM on March 22, 2023

I'd eat it no problem, although I'd slice a bit off any exposed flesh surfaces. I don't like warm watermelon, so I'd re-refrigerate it first just for taste/texture reasons, but I'd eat it. Others have clearly had bad experiences doing this, though, so now I'm not so sure.
posted by dg at 3:22 PM on March 22, 2023

I would not eat this and I would 1000% not feed to a child. Last time my wife got food poisoning was from unrefrigerated cut fruit.
posted by gnutron at 4:32 PM on March 22, 2023 [2 favorites]