Is it ok to eat chicken that is left out for 4-5 hours wrapped in foil
okay i made this account only for this question. so i had some chicken strips from dairy queen and i had a volleyball thing so i wrapped them in tinfoil. they stayed hot for probably around an hour so they were only cold for 4-5 hours. the tin foil was wrapped pretty securely and im pretty sure ive done this before. the reason i ask is because google says im not supposed to eat chicken thats been left out for more than an hour and i just dont want to get sick. i ate them about an hour ago and google also says salmonella takes 12-72 hours to set in. im freaking the freak out. is it okay? should i have not eaten it and am i going to get salmonella ? how do i avoid getting salmonella at this point? please help
Fairly confident your chicken was cooked properly and and thus no harmful microorganisms were present. However, this does not preclude safe handling practices post process which could be a possible source of contamination (employee hygiene, sanitary practices, environment).
The pathology of organisms which cause food-borne illness is a bit complicated by host variables, time-temperature, moisture, etc. Since the infective dose is generally regarded as one organism, the onset of symptoms is usually between 6-12 hours, because if one organisms is present then most likely poor hygiene/sanitation or process failure would cause log phase. If you experience any flu like symptoms or gastrointestinal distress seek medical attention. The mortality of salmonella spp. is less than 1% in healthy individuals that receive proper care, so you have that for comfort at least.
In the future, to keep foods safe:
Hot hold: 140 deg F (60 C) or greater
Cold: 45 deg F (7 C) or less
Aluminum foil: is not a magic blanket
Food safety is a public health risk, not generally a personal risk. You will probably be fine, it takes a lot of factors to make your specific scenario unsafe from your perspective. The disposal recommendation comes from the fact that if hundreds/thousands/millions of people make the same decision, a lot of folks will get sick, but they will still be the minority.
End of the day, would I eat something like that? Probably, but my personal risk is low and I'm a healthy younger person without underlying illness. Would I feed those chicken strips to my two-year-old nephew? Not a chance.