String cheese is awesome, because it doesn’t only taste delicious, it also looks interesting. Thanks to that, string cheese is a fantastic choice to put on the table at a party – not only can people enjoy snacking on it, it also simply looks fancy at the table!
However, if you want to use string cheese in this way, you firstly need to know the answer to this question:
How long can string cheese sit out? If you want to be entirely sure that it is safe to eat, string cheese can sit out for only two hours. After more than two hours without refrigeration, eating the string cheese might not unlikely be dangerous.
But this was just to put it briefly – if we indeed want to understand this topic, we’re going to have to dive deeper into it.
So let’s not waste any more time and just get started!
Table of Contents
- Does string cheese need to be refrigerated?
- How long can string cheese stay at room temperature?
- Can string cheese be left out overnight?
- How long can unopened string cheese sit out?
- How long can sealed string cheese sit out?
- How can you tell if string cheese is bad?
- How do you keep string cheese fresh?
- What happens when you eat bad string cheese?
- Summary
- Resources
Does string cheese need to be refrigerated?
Yes, string cheese needs to be refrigerated because otherwise, it turns bad just in a matter of a few hours. When you put it into the fridge, though, string cheese can last for even as long as a week.
How long can string cheese stay at room temperature?
As the United States Department of Agriculture says, it is dangerous to eat any perishable food left out for more than two hours, with string cheese not excluded. Hence, string cheese can stay at room temperature for only two hours.
After that, eating it may be dangerous, though, because bacteria grow exceptionally quickly at temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F, resulting in things like string cheese spoiling very fast.
Can string cheese be left out overnight?
As we have explained above, it is dangerous to eat string cheese left out for more than two hours. Because of that, string cheese can’t be left out overnight without any doubt.
Although string cheese will probably stay good for a bit longer than the mentioned two hours in most cases, leaving it out overnight is simply far too long, and you’d better throw it out as soon as possible.
How long can unopened string cheese sit out?
According to the safety guidelines by the USDA, unopened string cheese can sit out for just two hours. Since bacteria grow rapidly at room temperature, eating string cheese that was left out longer may be dangerous, and it doesn’t matter that it hasn’t been yet opened.
How long can sealed string cheese sit out?
Just like any other perishable food, sealed string cheese cannot sit out for any more than two hours if you want to be completely sure that it’s safe to eat. The reason for that is the extremely high activity bacteria have at room temperatures.
How can you tell if string cheese is bad?
Eating spoiled string cheese surely isn’t an overwhelmingly fantastic experience. Hence, knowing how to tell bad string cheese from the good one may come in handy. To tell if string cheese is bad, take a good look at it.
Noticed anything weird? If not, also make sure that there isn’t any weird smell coming from it either. If that’s good too, the string cheese is safe to eat; otherwise, just toss it out as soon as possible, though.
How do you keep string cheese fresh?
If you want to make sure that your string cheese stays as fresh as possible, you have to do two crucial things – firstly, carefully seal the cheese into some airtight containers. After that, just put the bags into the fridge, and voila, your string cheese will stay in excellent shape for even a week!
What happens when you eat bad string cheese?
When you eat bad string cheese, it is more than probable that you will get sick or food poisoned, if you will. What does that mean specifically? Well, eating bad string cheese may result in you vomiting or having a stomach ache, so it’s always better to throw the string cheese out if you’re not entirely sure that it’s good to go.
Summary
String cheese, like basically every other kind of perishable food out there, can never sit out for more than two hours if you want to be completely sure that it’s safe to eat. The reason for that is bacteria proliferate at room temperatures, which means it may be dangerous to eat string cheese even when it sits out just for a while.
Related:
- How Long Can Mozzarella Cheese Sit Out?
- How Long Can American Cheese Sit Out?
- How Long Can Goat Cheese Sit Out?
- How Long Can Feta Cheese Sit Out?
- How Long Can Cream Cheese Sit Out?
Resources
Image credits – Canva
