In some villages in Africa they would keep cooked food unrefrigerated for several days or even a couple of weeks. They made sure to boil or heat the food at at least once a day however. Many of the people who were engaged in these practices never got sick and lived into their 90s.

Sure, food handled that way might kill an American. But it just goes to show how durable or how weak the human body is capable of becoming subject to its conditioning.

In comment 5, it states that it's safe to keep leftover turkey up to a weak in the fidge, in answer to a statement made earlier on this page, which states that a three day keeping period is safe. Who has the right information? Need to do something now.

This is ridiculous! The turkey will "accumulate" salmonella? If the turkey was properly cooked to begin with, then properly handled and stored after cooking, it shouldn't "accumulate" salmonella unless some fiend comes along and poisons it with same.

If there is salmonella still left in the turkey after cooking the first time, the turkey wasn't cooked properly! Buy a meat thermometer or use a pop up timer. They both go into the breast meat and don't touch bone.

When the thermometer registers 180 degrees or the pop up pops, the turkey is done and should be thoroughly cooked. Let it rest a bit after removing from oven (about 10 minutes or so), then open up the bird and take out the stuffing, putting it in a separate serving dish.

Don't worry about taking every crumb out, the idea is to allow the air to get to the inside of the bird and the stuffing so anaerobic bacteria can't grow (these wouldn't be killed by your oven's temp, but won't be a danger as long as you don't allow an airless environment to exist for very long -- these kind of bacteria are different from salmonella and are only a danger in airless conditions).

Store the leftover turkey in the fridge and it should be good for at least seven days, and probably longer, assuming the fridge is properly cold and everybody practices safe food handling when serving (i.e., clean hands, utensils, etc). I find the quality stays better in meat left on the carcass, rather than carving it off the bird, because more of the meat is exposed to air and can oxidize when sliced up for storage, leading to unappetizing meat.

And no, this doesn't contradict the previous advice about opening up the inside of the bird because the spoilage that happens with time and air in the fridge is different than the spoilage that is a real risk from things like botulism, salmonella, etc.

Many people get tired of the turkey after a day or so or find it gets gray, dry or less flavorful, but that's not the same as spoilage that would harm you.

Also, if you were careless about cleaning up after preparing the turkey for the oven, you could theoretically recontaminate the cooked bird or other foods from bacteria that splashed around or dirtied utensils, so wash everything in soap and hot water and rinse in hot water, and use a solution of bleach and water to sanitize sink, counter, etc.

As for reheating, it is not a good idea to reheat the whole bird again unless you are going to consume it in one go, because the quality suffers a lot with repeated reheatings. Just prepare a serving and heat that up in a microwave. The reheating is not supposed to kill bacteria -- you should have done that with the initial cooking, and then handle the food properly (again, clean hands, utensils) thereafter.

If you are really worried about this stuff, you can carve up the bird and put all the portions in the freezer and then just reheat as needed, but this is not really necessary if you are willing/able to eat that bird up in a week or 10 days (we do that in my house -- have cooked and eaten many turkeys with these practices and have never had an illness).

There is no magical cut-off date when the bird becomes unsafe to eat. Use common sense. The turkey will become really unappetizing long before it is a danger to eat.

Does reheating turkey or chicken at boiling temperatures (100 deg C) kill *all* dangerous bacteria and leave the poultry safe to eat? If not, why not?

I will never understand comments like "it's amazing people ever survived before refrigerators were invented". That's the whole point. They didn't! They had a REALLY short life expectancy and died from things like food poisoning all the time!

Its a wonder how people ever survived before the refrigerator was invented. People need to relax, and if you're so worried about your kids getting sick stop bottle feeding them so that they can develop an immune system. Oh and the bird flu is coming so run inside and hide before it kills you!

is reheating cooked turkey leftovers a safe and reliable way to kill bacteria or salmonella?