It's not in every country that you will find diners leaving restaurants and bistros with a small bag containing leftover morsels. Americans have no problem taking food home for an easy second meal or a late night snack, or sometimes -- even for the dog. Most restaurants serve perhaps half again as much food as most people should be eating at any one time. It is no wonder patrons feel the need to take food home that they had paid for and were entitled to.</p><p>Not everyone goes right home from the restaurant to put the food in a refrigerator so the potential for food-borne illness could be high. Potentially hazardous foods like chicken, eggs, beans and other high protein foods tend to be the most common carriers of bacteria, and other dangerous microorganisms. Going shopping or to a movie with a take-home meal in the car could mean nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain later. This can occur within about 30 minutes of eating contaminated food and can last a few hours to several days. Some less hearty souls can get severely sick and could even die. The Center for Disease Control estimates that in the United States every year there are approximately 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths from foodborne illness.</p><p>There are a few simple things that diners can do to stay safe. The most important thing is to refrigerate food from the restaurant as soon as possible. Food not refrigerated to below 40&#186;F within 4 hours (including the time in the restaurant) should be discarded. When reheating the leftover food, it should be heated until steaming hot and above 165&#186;C for at least two minutes.</p><p>The bacteria that cause food poisoning grow rapidly between 40 and 140 degrees. Bacteria can double in population every 20 to 30 minutes so in just two hours there could be a 16 fold increase (2, 4, 8, 16 times). No wonder having food sit in the danger zone for 4 hours is hazardous. There could be a whopping 250 times as much bacteria present in that time.</p><p>If all of this wasn't enough to give you second thoughts think about potlucks. The caution is right there in the name "luck." Not everyone may be as diligent in practicing good food safety. Consider the nice, elderly lady at church who is determined to make a new recipe for chicken casserole for the festive potluck gathering. She makes a bigger quantity than she ever would have normally so it never quite reaches high enough temperature in the middle to kill all of the bacteria. She comes early to the potluck and at the end she finds there is still some left over. She wraps it up, takes it home and puts it in the refrigerator. The next day she warms some up in the microwave but not enough to destroy the massive numbers of bacteria now lurking inside. </p><p>You can never be too careful but at least you can be sure to practice some good common sense. Be responsible to practice food safety yourself. Refrigerate food as soon as possible and thoroughly heat it before eating. And if in doubt throw it out. Why is it dogs seem to eat anything and everything, even out of the garbage and never get sick? </p><p>For more information on food safety check out fightbac.org.</p><p><i>Chuck Newcomb, MS, RD, CDE is a consulting Registered Dietitian currently providing medical nutrition therapy services for Memorial Hospital Los Banos. He has a Masters of Science in Clinical Nutrition from New York University. E-mail questions to the Attention of ChuckRD at: MHALosBanos@SutterHealth.org.</i>