Are we just giant pussys in America or what? I see meat not frozen or cold at room temperature outball day and people eat it?

This is why people from Europe and America get sick so often when they travel to second and third world places that don't understand food safety.

Sure you can leave the meat just dangling out if you do that your whole life and your body gets used to fighting off all the bacteria. It's not good for you in the long run but you can avoid some acute reactions.

This is why some people have an "iron gut" and can eat anything without getting sick.

Stop using toilet paper and use your hand while your at it.

If it doesn't stink, eat it.

America has a unique history with meat compared to the rest of the world. America produces more meat and more local meat products per capita than any other country on earth. Our longest meat shortages have never lasted a whole decade and we still had as much or more dietary meat than any other western nation at those times.

Americans having access to fresher meats historically have learned to under cook food relative to what the rest of the world, especially the developing world, do and we haven't had to develop tougher gut flora to stave off infections from youth.

I probably wouldn't eat your fajitas and I do have an iron gut but if I made the same error and knew I had a correct mixture of antiseptic spices mixed with the meat while it was left out, garlic and various hot peppers and no lemon, the meat will be mush if you left citrus or enzymatics on it at room temperature for 24 hours, I would eat it knowing if it was kept in an antisceptic solution but I'd still do the following and cook the hell out of it.

My brother's FIL cooks with a loose definition of "cooked" and "fresh" so a proven technique I have learned is just taking a shot of the strongest liquor at hand after any meal he serves, I'm the only person he's never made sick and since I covertly taught my trick to everyone else he hasn't made a soul sick again. Strong whiskey or bourbon is preferable to similar clear spirits, the brown coloration in a genuine barrel aged product is from leeched tannins in the wood and tannins are basically poison for microorganisms, us too but it really fucks molds and bacteria.

NYC in the 80's. Chinatown. They had carcasses hanging out in the open.

This is kind of like asking why do they just shit in the streets in India, while Americans use the toilet. We have proper sewage systems and know that pooping in the streets spreads disease (excluding certain places like San Francisco). Likewise, we know that leaving foods at room temp for more than 2 hours can cause harmful bacteria growth.

I bet a lot of those places that don't follow proper food preparation have higher rates of food borne illnesses. But it goes mostly unreported because no one cares that Abdul got the shits again. Or Xong Lau ate at the budget fried bat place and now he has a fever and a cough, he probably should stop eating there.

That being said, your fajitas probably won't make you sick, but is it worth the risk? When I was a kid, my family would leave pizza out overnight and eat it the next day for lunch, and I don't ever recall getting sick, but now I would just throw it in the trash. I like having solid poops.

Cooked/raw is the thing you're missing here.

It's fine to leave raw meat out for several days. The whole point of cooking it is that you kill the bacteria and parasites.

2 hours is overkill, you can leave things out longer than that, even thawing meat in warm water is fine which they say you'll basically die if you do. But I wouldn't leave meat out overnight, just why do that?

The 2 hour thing is pure BS. Usually you can leave cooked food out for 12 hours with no issues. It might reduce the time you can store the food in the fridge afterwards but frankly I haven't noticed. It seems that the bacteria that grows in your food at room temperature is different from the kind that grows in the fridge.

This all assumes that you were the one who cooked the food. If the cooked food comes from somewhere else you don't know how long it's been sitting out. The two hour thing might not be a bad idea in that case.

Carbs like pasta can go bad relatively quickly especially in the presence of water, but it will have a very bad smell, so there's no chance you will accidentally eat it in that state.

We are good at detecting spoiled food. Look for changes in texture (slime), look (mold), smell and taste. If something looks off it's probably not a good idea to eat. Otherwise I wouldn't worry too much.

Of course you don't want to eat food that's too old as the nutrients in the food break down over time making it less nutritious. Usually foods that are tasty (freshly cooked) are also the most nutritious.