Sheldon wrote:
>
> Mark Thorson wrote:
> > Peter A wrote:
> >
> > > Complete claptrap. What part of "sterile" do you not understand?
> >
> > It's not sterile. As the pot cooled, the contraction
> > of the air inside the pot would have drawn in
> > unsterilized room air containing bacterial spores.
>
> Boiling at average atmospheric pressure (~212deg. F.) does not
> sterilize anyway, but certainly reduces bacteria enough to make sauce
> food safe for at least 24 hours, probably a lot longer... undisturbed
> the sauce in question will be fine for two days... nothing, absolutely
> nothing we eat is sterile. What's truly sterile around here is
> Thorazine's pea brain.

We can't say that in every kitchen that every pot of
tomato sauce would be safe under those conditions.
Maybe the number of fatal pots would be small, but
it won't be zero. How safe would it have to be
to satisfy the value equation?

If even one pot out of a thousand were bad, and
the value of one's life were a paltry $20,000,
it flunks the value equation.

I consider my life worth much more than $1,000,000
and I'd want to beat the value equation by at least
a safety margin of 10. Under those conditions,
your not beating the value equation even if
only 1 out of 100,000 pots of sauce is a killer.

I don't think anyone can make a reasonable argument
that the risk is that low. It may be low, but it's
not that low. Certainly, it flunks my value equation.

However, if I replace the value of my life with the
value of yours (and forget about the safety margin),
the equation is satisfied. Go right ahead and eat it.
Have seconds. Enjoy! :-)